| TUCSON CACTUS AND SUCCULENT SOCIETY |
2023 - Monthly Meetings
First Thursdays January through November at 7 PM
A short business meeting followed by an informative presentation, door prizes, and free plants.
_________________________________________________________________
June 2023 Meeting Announcement
June 1, 2023 7:00 pm
There are now three ways to view this presentation:
1. Attend the in-person meeting. ALL attendees must be vaccinated and masks are strongly suggested and appreciated.
In-Person meetings are held at 6000 E. 14th St., Tucson AZ 85711
Sky Islands Public High School
School Location Map
2. Join online Zoom meeting. Zoom Link Zoom Instructions
3. View the recorded presentation a few days after the meeting.
See a List of Previous Monthly Meetings including Overviews, Videos, Free and Raffle Plant Slide Shows
Also, you can view previous presentations on YouTube See Index
|
June 1, 2023 7:00 pm "Landscaping with Large Succulents" Presented by Jan Emming |
| Jan’s program will feature his experiences with growing ocotillos and other desert adaptive plants. He will also feature the rescue and replanting of yuccas and cacti in some rather hostile areas. Jan Emming has been a member of the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society for 23 years, joining shortly after he moved to Arizona in 1999. That was the year he purchased a large, off -grid 40 acre parcel of land in the scenic and biologically diverse Hualapai Mountains south of Kingman, Arizona, where the Sonoran Desert merges with the Mojave Desert. This ecological conjunction on bringing together both Saguaro cacti and Joshua trees, alongside a whole range of other species. Since then he’s been working on accumulating a large horticultural collection of plants grown outdoors in the ground, mainly succulents but also other xerically-adapted trees, shrubs, and bulbs. Desert Sense Nursery at Destination: Forever Ranch and Gardens offers tours and plant sales by appointment. Jan assures people that the detour off of the main roads is worthwhile if they happen to be in the area!
|
If you have been fully vaccinated for Covid-19 you are welcome to come and join us for this excellent in person presentation (masks are not required). This meeting will also be a Zoom program and will be an important educational and informational event you must see. Also, if using Zoom, be sure to log in to win a $25.00 gift certificate from TCSS or choose a copy of the new 3rd edition of the Field Guide to Cacti & Other Succulents of Arizona. Excellent plant give aways will take place at the in person meeting but that portion of the program, because of the recording, will not appear on Zoom. When leaving the live in person meeting, please enjoy great refreshments provided by our member volunteers and also, everyone can get a special free plant offered to you by the TCSS. TCSS Meeting Refreshments Please share and socialize with your fellow members at our monthly meetings by bringing some type of finger food for the refreshment table. |
|
|
|
May 4, 2023 7:00 pm "On Growth and Form: the columnar cacti of NW Mexico" Presented by Alberto Búrquez |
| I will speak about a subject that has attracted me all my life; the morphology of organisms and how growth modifies biological structures. I will use as examples trees and cacti, describing first their distribution patterns, and later their functional traits and their growth and form. I remember my childhood in the desert hills and arroyos of the Sonoran Desert where I harvested sweet and red organ pipe cactus fruits and searched for prized flint arrowheads and eggshell pottery of ancient Seri Indians. At home, I spent hours going through adventure books. They provided valuable information about the wilderness, like the unique species of the arctic tundra and the plants of the Malaysian archipelago. Others offered more practical advice, like survival skills in the desert and improvisation of fishing gear, still others included building boats of Styrofoam, making black powder, or exploring caves with smoky torches that once inside the dark underworld extinguished and almost choked us to death. A happy childhood wandering in the desert and seashore and discovering the pleasure and value of reading and exploring. Later, I left the desert to study biology at the National University of Mexico (UNAM). I wrote my bachelor dissertation on the reproductive ecology of wild and cultivated scarlet runner beans. I got my Master of Sciences degree at UNAM on inheritance and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of seed heteromorphism. Soon after finishing, UNAM offered me a scholarship to study the PhD at the University of Cambridge (Clare Hall) where I analyzed the process of nectar secretion in flowers. Coming back to Mexico I received a researcher position at the Institute of Ecology-UNAM in Mexico City, and one year later the chance to work at UNAM’s Research station in Sonora. I did not hesitate and came back to work in the desert among my beloved cactus, Burseras and my childhood Sea of Cortés. I have written many research articles on the ecology and evolution of desert plants. Also, I am coauthor on several books, including one on the mining spill on the Sonora River in 2014, and another on the biocultural complexes of indigenous nations of Sonora, Mexico. Our recent book on the natural history of the saguaro cactus has been widely read, and on the third quarter of this year, our forthcoming book on the ecology and ethnography of the Tehuacán and Cuicatlán Valleys of southern Mexico will be launched by the University of Arizona Press. |
If you have been fully vaccinated for Covid-19 you are welcome to come and join us for this excellent in person presentation (masks are not required). This meeting will also be a Zoom program and will be an important educational and informational event you must see. Also, if using Zoom, be sure to log in to win a $25.00 gift certificate from TCSS or choose a copy of the new 3rd edition of the Field Guide to Cacti & Other Succulents of Arizona. Excellent plant give aways will take place at the in person meeting but that portion of the program, because of the recording, will not appear on Zoom. When leaving the live in person meeting, please enjoy great refreshments provided by our member volunteers and also, everyone can get a special free plant offered to you by the TCSS.
|
|
|
|
|
April 6, 2023 7:00 pm "Digital Cactus and Succulent Photography" Digital Cactus and Succulent Photography 2023 Whether it's by cellphone or a more traditional camera, we take pictures of the plants we love. In his program, Irwin provides tips on how to create images with greater visual impact and personal meaning. At the same time, he will discuss how photography can reinforce the joy, wonder, and appreciation we experience with our hobby. Pursuing his passion over his profession, Irwin closed his law practice of 29 years to become a full-time photographer. From 2010 through 2013, he was a staff photographer, then head of the photography department of the Wilson History and Research Center in Little Rock Arkansas. Irwin is the longtime President of the North Texas Cactus and Succulent Society. He is Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America. |
|
|
|
|
If you have been fully vaccinated for Covid-19, you are welcome to come and join us for this excellent presentation (masks will be highly encouraged but not required). When leaving the live in-person meeting, please enjoy excellent refreshments provided by our member volunteers and also, everyone can get a free plant offered to you by the TCSS. |
| 
|
|
March 2, 2023 7:00 pm Presented by Marcus White |
| I started my adventures with plants as a kid growing up on the west side of Albuquerque where the upper Chihuahuan Desert meets the Rio Grande River. Roaming the sand hills of the desert and the banks of the river opened my eyes to the natural world and sparked my interests in all things wild. I migrated south to study horticulture at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. There I received a Bachelor's Degree in Horticulture (1987) then decided to hang around and get my Masters Degree in Horticulture (1990). In graduate school, I worked with native plants, soil water relations and water stress physiology. This was pure luck; I got to work with the plants I loved at the university where most of my colleagues spent their time with peppers, pine trees and onions. An early student and promoter of native and desert-adapted plant use in landscaping (way before it became cool) enforced my passion of desert plants that began as a kid chasing lizards on Albuquerque's west mesa. My career in horticulture started in southern New Mexico working in greenhouse production of flowering seasonal plants and nursery woody ornamentals. I moved to Tucson in 1992 and involved myself in many aspects of the trade including: education, sales, landscape design, construction, maintenance, and nursery production. My favorite, and where I have spent most of time in the plant world, is production. Nothing beats sowing a seed and watching it grow. Currently, I am the owner of two plant-related businesses, Casa Blanca Horticultural Services and Desert Natives, both proving me with enough plant-related challenges to last two lifetimes. I will be be sharing with you my experiences in production horticulture and how I have used my skills to grow quality succulents and cacti. My hope is that we all will leave with at least one piece of information that helps us have more success with the plants we love.
If you have been fully vaccinated for Covid-19, you are welcome to come and join us for this excellent presentation (masks will be highly encouraged but not required). When leaving the live in-person meeting, please enjoy excellent refreshments provided by our member volunteers and also, everyone can get a free plant offered to you by the TCSS. |
|
|
|
February 2, 2023 7:00 pm "The University of Arizona Campus Arboretum: Building a Botanical and Human Community" Presented by Tanya M. Quist  The University of Arizona has been responding to the needs of Arizona since 1891. Over its more than 120 year history, UA faculty have pioneered and applied innovative approaches that have solved a wide range of state challenges. In agriculture, the UA has played a significant role in testing and introducing arid-adapted crop and ornamental plants on the campus grounds that now serve as a palette for southwest landscapes that are hot, sunny, dry, alkaline, cold, and salty! As a result of this work, the campus landscape has integrated lessons in desert horticulture that benefit our students, the greater Tucson community, and global audience through our online resources. Today's talk will provide examples of ways the Campus Arboretum continues to build plant communities and engage students and the community in plant sciences through research, education and outreach. Tanya Quist earned an undergraduate degree in horticulture science and advanced degrees in both horticulture and plant physiology where she studied the physiological and genetic regulation of plant stress response. This background informs her work in instruction as an Associate Professor of Practice in the School of Plant Sciences where she teaches plant propagation, plant biology, plant physiology and introduction to urban horticulture. In her role as Director of the University of Arizona Campus Arboretum, Tanya provides campus leadership encouraging the application of science in landscape practices, engages students in service-learning, and creates opportunities to integrate plant education into campus landscapes and programs. The central theme of her work promotes arid-adapted trees as foundational to all ecosystems, as they support human health and environmental regulation. |
|
|
January 5, 2023 7:00 pm "Prevalence and Significance of Illegal Trade in the Cactus and Succulent Collector Community:
Jared Margulies is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Alabama. He is a human-environment geographer whose work focuses on the politics of wildlife conservation, trade, and the commodification and management of wildlife. His book, The Cactus Hunters: Desire and Extinction in the Illicit Succulent Trade, will be published by the University of Minnesota Press in |
While illegal wildlife trade (IWT) represents a serious threat to biodiversity globally, research into the prevalence of illegal plant collection and trade remain scarce. Cacti and succulents are known as heavily threatened by over-collection for often illegal, international ornamental trade. In my talk I will present data and evidence from a recent study published in Conservation Biology drawing on a large survey conducted in 2021 on the succulent hobbyist collector community, as well as my forthcoming book on illicit cactus and succulent trade based on ethnographic research I have conducted within cactus and succulent collector communities since 2017. Aims of this research included understanding collector perspectives on the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), the threats IWT poses to cactus and succulent conservation, and how the collector community can better support cactus and succulent conservation efforts worldwide to avoid species extinctions.
|
Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society (TCSS) PO Box 64759 - Tucson, AZ 85728-4759 - Phone: (520) 256-2447 - Email: TCSS@TucsonCactus.org |
.png "Members Only")
Activities
© 2022 TCSS All Rights Reserved.