Upcoming Events!
- January 6, Winter Program Meeting, Rockridge Branch, Oakland Public Library, 12:00PM - 4:00PM
- February 3, Winter Workshop Meeting, Rockridge Branch, Oakland Public Library, 1:30PM - 4:30PM
- August 3-5, ICPS Conference/Carnivorous Plant Show and Sale, Hyatt Vineyard Creek Inn, Santa Rosa, CA
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Winter 2018 Program: January 6, 2018
Date: Saturday, January 6, 2018
Time: 12pm - 4pm
Location: *Rockridge Branch, Oakland Public Library, 5366 College Ave, Oakland, CA 94618
*2nd Floor Community Meeting Room: Before entering the main lobby, take the stairwell or elevator on the left, up to the 2nd floor, then make a right. There is limited parking for library patrons and staff, so we would like to encourage everyone to carpool, park on the streets, or take public transit (*Rockridge BART station is only a block away). There's also ample non-metered parking in the surrounding neighborhoods and within a pleasant stride from the library.
Program: Carnivorous Plants of the Seychelles, Madagascar, and Japan
BACPS member, photographer, explorer, and ICPS Conference field trip coordinator, Arthur Yin, will take us on a virtual trip to the Seychelles, Madagascar, and Japan, recounting his adventures to various sites with a beautiful slideshow depicting exotic carnivorous plants in their native habitats.
We will also discuss the upcoming ICPS Conference, old and new business, and as always, we encourage members to bring their favorite carnivore along to show-off, and extra plants for our raffle. We're looking forward to seeing you all!
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Minutes from the Autumn 2017 Program
By Brian Lipinski
The Autumn Program was held at The Lake Merritt Garden Center, in Oakland, CA on November 4, 2017.
President, Josh Brown and VP, Brian Lipinski were present. Secretary, Anne Smith and Treasurer, Joe Mazrimas were absent.
Josh called the meeting to order at 1:30PM
There was 40 members in attendance including 6 new individuals.
Josh introduced himself, and explained the format/agenda of the meeting. Brian introduced our new guest and program speaker, Jameison Chilton.
Old Business:
Meeting Themes and Frequency
We discussed moving towards more structured program styles or themes around each meeting, for examples, presentations, discussion panels, and hands-on/how-to workshops, or conservation, research, and horticulture, respectively. Over the last 26 years, we've had quarterly meetings coinciding with the seasons. This next year, we will start holding monthly meetings to provide more opportunity for personal contact and fellowship among the members, club's goals, and community.
San Francisco Zoo Bug Day
Brian talked about his experience tabling at SF Zoo's Annual Bug Day event on behalf of the club. From hand-on/brains-on pitcher plant dissection and bug identification, Venus flytrap feeding, and sundew tentacle observation under magnification, both kids and adults got a kick out of the educational demonstrations and enjoyed learning more about our favorite plants.
New Business:
ICPS Con 2018!
Damon talked about the upcoming International Carnivorous Plant Society Conference. The bid application was accepted and we will be co-hosting the conference with California Carnivores, in addition to help from the Los Angeles Carnivorous Plant Society and the San Diego Carnivorous Plant Society! The dates of the conference are August 3-5 and will be held in Santa Rosa at the Hyatt Vineyard Inn, with a banquet dinner closing out the conference being held at California Carnivores. Our Annual CP Show and Sale will be held that Saturday and Sunday as a 2-day event in conjunction with the conference. The proposed theme is Exploration, Victorian to the New Golden Age. Damon reminded us that all the rockstars of the carnivore world will be there and that it will be an amazing opportunity and experience for our club. More details to follow, but members can navigate to the Conference website for more information.
Election Postponement
Because of unexpected events, for examples, lack of candidate declarations, and the untimely resignation of both our Secretary and Treasurer, Officer Elections were postponed until the next meeting on December 2. Brian Lipinski will update us as to times and location as well as details for declaring candidacy, officer roles, and agenda.
GrowBlade/Crystallin Lights
Damon Collingsworth of California Carnivores talked about his experience beta testing a prototype new liquid crystal chemistry light technology for the San Francisco startup, Light Polymers. Damon's experiment groups of Heliamphora colored up red in about a week under his beta reminiscent of kitchen LED flat panel lights. The light panels emit a sensual soft pink coloration like old school plant fluorescent bulbs, are cool to touch, have high CRI ratings so as to be not too harsh on the eyes, and the light emitting phosphor film technology makes for an energy efficient lighting panel. This is some serious next level shine! Contact Damon for more information.
Presentations:
Our guest program speaker, Jameison Chilton, is a botany student at Humboldt State and gave a presentation slideshow on the progress of his independently crowd funded Darlingtonia californica research. To quote Jameison:
"The purpose of this research would be to identify which populations of Darlingtonia californica are significantly different from other populations based on seedling morphology. Hopefully this data could allude to genetic differences within the species and possibly a molecular study on the part of a more able individual or research team. At the current time, Darlingtonia californica is thought to contain a very low amount of genetic diversity, even among between plants that are highly geographically isolated from one another. This experiment would hopefully be able to indicate which populations have diverged from others and possibly which populations may give rise to new species, subspecies, or forms of Darlingtonia californica, which populations of Darlingtonia californica have the greatest chance for long term survival and short term adaptation, and thus which populations should have conservation priority."
The thoroughly knowledgable Jameison impressed us with answers to plenty of questions from our membership concerning our native pitcher plant's conservation, ecology, botany, and horticulture.
Show and Brag:
Josh Brown brought a large specimen Nepenthes muluensis x lowii that he considers to be one of the most charismatic. Rebecca Robinson brought several of her fantastic crochet art pieces: a Nepenthes bicalcarata and a Nepenthes jacquelineae. Stephen Davis brought a nice Nepenthes x tiveyi. Daryl Wilkes* brought along an assortment of various well grown and colorful Sarracenia. Tina Graham* brought a glass terrarium with Nepenthes ampullaria x spectabilis and a Nepenthes X 'Helen' x spectabilis.
*New first time members in attendance.
Raffle:
As always, we like to conclude our meetings with a raffle. This time with the help of donations of plants and supplies including five 1020 nursery trays full of various Sarracenia from Pablo Ramudo, tall hydroponic pots from Brian Lipinski, and various Pinguicula from Matt Byers.
Thanks all for sharing!
-Brian Lipinski, BACPS Vice President
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Minutes from the Elections 2017 Meeting
By Brian Lipinski
The Autumn Program was held at the Temescal Branch, Oakland Public Library, in Oakland, CA on December 2, 2017. President, Josh Brown, Secretary, Anne Smith and Treasurer, Joe Mazrimas were absent. VP, Brian Lipinski, presided and called the meeting to order at 3:00PM. There were 7 members in attendance.
Business:
Member Dues
Membership dues were collected to maintain we had a voting able membership.
ICPS Conference
Daniela Ribbecke discussed updates and final details about the ICPS Conference field trip next year. The trip will cost $1000/person and limited to 20 individuals for liability, environmental impact and logistical reasons. The expectation is that the available slots are for those from abroad or out of the region. This primed the next discussion.
New Officer Elections
Since there were no candidacy contests and an unusual lack of quorum as well as no objections from those present to those declaring their candidacy, our new office was unanimously elected and appointed Brian Lipinski, as President, Rebecca Robinson, as Secretary, and Pablo Ramudo, as Treasurer.
BACPS Future 2018 and beyond...
President elect, Brian Lipinski, left out the granular details because of lack of quorum, but maintained that he's actively pursuing the club's 501(c)3 tax exempt status as the club's sole incorporator. New bylaws and a conflict of interest policy are currently being drafted. Brian maintained that the club's organizational structure won't change too much in the way of our historic meeting programs and our friendly social vibe, but in addition, will be engaged in conservation and restoration projects, field trips, rigorous fundraising, and community outreach and education throughout the year. Lastly, with the help of our newly appointed officers and future Board of Directors, we will adopt a 5 year strategic plan for our organization to address the club's future fiscal responsibility, membership retention, and charitable pursuits if we are to survive as an entity and maintain our tax exempt status.
Late Bloomers Show:
The summers during our Annual Carnivorous Plant Show and Sale can be challenging and stressful for some carnivorous plants. As a result, some members are reluctant to enter their gems, so in recognition of that, we like to hold a Late Bloomer's Show end of year, and cast our votes for our favorite. The winning plant gets a prize, this year, a Cephalotus "OG", one of Brian Lipinski's vigorous Allen Lowrie clones. Lauren Jensen entered a glass dome display case terrarium containing a blooming Pinguicula laueana x emarginata and challenged Jonathan Pham to his beautifully glistening Drosera ordensis. It looked to be a tie, but Lauren, by one vote, took home the Cephalotus.
Thanks to all of our members for making 2017 a grand year! Happy New Year! See you next meeting January 2, 2018!
-Brian Lipinski, President, Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society
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Librarian's Corner
Hello everyone,
The BACPS library is looking for more books! If you are looking to free up some shelf space why not share your gently used books with your fellow club members.
The current BACPS library catalog consists of the following:
- The Savage Garden Peter D'Amato 1998
- Growing Carnivorous Plants Barry A. Rice 2006
- Plant Life on Gunung Kinabalu P. F. Cockburn and Yap Pak Hau 1977
- Report on the Status of Gulf Coast Carnivorous Plant Populations James M. Miller
- Many back issues of the Carnivorous Plant Newsletter starting in 1972
If you would like to borrow any of these books or if you are looking for a specific volume of the CPN send your requests to BACPS Librarian.
Happy reading!
BACPS Librarian
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Membership Dues
According to the bylaws the dues are $12 per calendar year, prorated at $1 per month. The next opportunity for becoming a member in good standing will be at the January meeting, at which time the dues will be $12. As a reminder only members in good standing have the ability to vote, access to the library, or access to the club sales table or discounted hobby grower tables at the Show and Sale. If you have questions about your membership dues, please see our BACPS Secretary, Rebecca Robinson at the January 2 meeting.
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