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| Aloe breviflora |
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| Euphorbia horrida |
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| Lampranthus spectabilis |
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| Cotyledon orbiculata |
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| Euphorbia inermis var. huttonae |
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| Euphorbia stellispina |
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Our speaker at the November meeting will be Rob Skillin, who has been growing cacti and succulents for 30 years. Along with his interest in these plants, he enjoys photography and travel. These interests have come together in a wonderful way during botanical explorations of the western US and Mexico, plus portions of South America, Africa, and the Middle East. Many of his photographs have been published as illustrations for articles in the Cactus & Succulent Journal, as well as its cover and that of Haseltonia.
Rob has been involved with various local cactus & succulent societies over the years, beginning with the Santa Barbara society. After moving to the Central Valley, he became a founding member of the Bakersfield C&S Soc., and then after another move he helped to start the Central Coast C&S Soc., serving as its first president. He is currently on the board of directors of the CSSA, and has judged numerous shows.
Rob's presentation for our meeting is titled The Succulent Karoo. In south-western Africa, the Succulent Karoo ("dry place") is a relatively narrow band of habitat stretching along the coastal regions from southern Namibia into South Africa, and then extending inland in an easterly direction from Cape Town. It contains an astonishing abundance and diversity of succulents and bulbs. This program highlights many of the sub-regions of the Succulent Karoo, such as the Richtersveld, Namaqualand, and the Little Karoo, and features succulents from the many plant families found there. Also included is a discussion of the topography and climate, as well as some of the culture aspects of growing southern African plants.
In addition to speaking at the meeting, Rob will be our featured grower. He is an avid grower of plants from seed, and has propagated many interesting plants from his collection which he will bring to share with us.
For our show and tell table, we will feature Euphorbias on the succulent side, and the unusual cacti of Mexico on the cactus side (Ariocarpus, Aztekium, Strombocactus, etc.). As always, members are encouraged to bring in any plant which is looking especially good, no matter what it is. |
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