Welcome to March's eNews

After the wettest period on record, we hope we can at last look forward to spring and all that comes with it. Hopefully, our plants will be coming back into growth and the first buds will be bursting forth into full bloom. It is always a time for optimism as we look forward to the best our hobby can offer. It is also a time for observation, to check the weather forecasts for bright periods and carefully monitor night time temperatures to inform our decisions on when to start watering again. In the South, this could be very soon but it is likely to be slightly later in the North. Also, remember to keep an eye on your plants and pay special attention to any that are reluctant to wake. There may be issues below ground that require attention.

This is a particularly big year for the Society, as it marks the next iteration of our hugely anticipated four-yearly National Show. Rebranded this year as CactusWorldLive – The National Show to give it a broader appeal and capitalise on the momentum of last year’s successful event in Kent, the 2020 version promises to be the best yet, with additional classes and an enormous sales area including, perhaps for the last time, several European nurseries. Shows Committee member Hazel Taylor gives us the latest news.

As always, we are very keen to receive your articles on any matters of interest to members, especially for the ‘Favourite Things’ feature but succulent-related pieces would be especially appreciated over the coming months, as would reviews of shows or events or just photos of favourite plants with a paragraph or two explaining why. Articles can be any length from a paragraph ot two to around 900 words. Longer articles are more suited to CactusWorld. Please feel free to submit items of interest to enews@talktalk.net

Are you ready for CactusWorldLive -
The National Show 2020?

Hazel Taylor provides more information on this year’s major BCSS event.

You will remember that we provided details of the National Show in the February eNews and there is still plenty of time to prepare.

There are lots of ways of joining in the fun of the Show; of course we hope you will come along but how about entering a class or two? It is not necessarily just the domain of experienced growers of many years’ standing, although we look forward welcoming many of them back, bringing along their very best plants for us all to enjoy. The Shows Committee have added some new classes that you may not have noticed in the schedule, so here are some of them.

New Display class – Class 141 – unlimited size and numbers!

So for the 2020 Show, as well as keeping that class (Class 140), we have also added a new display class, Class 141, for one container of any size containing any number of cacti and/or succulents on a stated artistic theme. The theme could be, for example, the title of a book, a film or a song – or indeed anything that takes your fancy! For collections classes, up to 15 points are awarded for artistry of arrangement and up to 5 points for condition of the plants, so you know what to aim for when designing your exhibit.

New Collection Classes – Class 135 and Class 138 – education and trays

Just to remind you of how wonderful a collection class can be, here are images of two of the entries in the 2016 Show.

We are very conscious of the BCSS’s charitable objectives, which include educating people about our plants. CactusWorldLive – The National Show is an opportunity to reach a wider audience drawn from the general public. So, we have introduced a new class, Class 135, for an educational thematic collection of cacti and/or succulents on a base of 450mm x 450mm. Each entry for this class will consist of a number of plants in separate pots, demonstrating the adaptation of the plants to conditions in their native habitat. An explanation of the adaptation will accompany the exhibit. Educational collections are judged on presentation (8 points), condition (6 points) and originality of theme (6 points).

Many Branches enjoy 'tray' classes in their local Branch and Zone shows so we have also added a new class, Class 138, for a collection of at least 12 cacti and/or succulents in separate pots contained in a tray not exceeding 390mm x 240mm internally. Collection classes, other than educational collections, are judged on condition (8 points), presentation (5 points), variety (3 points), maturity (2 points) and difficulty of cultivation (2 points).

So there you have it – all you need to know to put together your exhibits for these new classes.

Calling all Eriosyce and Aloe enthusiasts – an extra class for each

For all those of you who are Eriosyce enthusiasts, we have added a new class for this genus. In 2016, we had two Eriosyce classes, but in 2020 we will have three classes, Classes 35, 36 and 37, for pot sizes unlimited, less than 180mm and less than 140mm (two plants).

And for those who love aloes, we have three classes this year instead of two, Classes 64, 65 and 66, for pot sizes unlimited, less than 260mm and less than 180mm (in 2016 it was 140mm).

New Inter-Branch class – Class 142

We have introduced a new class, Class 142, for a collection of four cacti and four succulents in separate pots with a pot limit of 180mm. The plants must be provided by at least three individual Branch members. This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate the strength and depth of your Branch members’ collections.

If you do not already have these you can download the Class Schedule, and the Entry Form here. The Souvenir Schedule, including the entry form, should be available on paper by the end of the month. For any further details or information please contact the Show Secretary, Bill Darbon.

Just a quick reminder of the details of CactusWorldLive – The National Show: Saturday 4 July from 9:00am (sales, the show opens at 11:30am) to 6pm at the Marshall Arena, Stadium Way West, Milton Keynes, MK1 1ST.

Well that’s it for this month. We look forward to seeing as many of you in Milton Keynes as possible.

Many thanks to Al Laius for supplying the images used in this article. (Hazel Taylor)

CactusWorldLive – The National Show now has its own website. Check it out for more details of the event, including a list of sellers. (Editor)

The March CactusWorld will soon be here!

Al Laius teases us about what to expect from the March iteration of CactusWorld, the Society’s top quality Journal that this month features a smart new look.

The March edition of CactusWorld will have some interesting articles for lovers of both cacti and succulents.

What on earth are filiferous agaves? If you don't know then you soon will if you read this first new-look issue of 2020. What are eriospermums and how does one grow them? How many succulents are there on Anglesey? How do you shoot RAW photos and why would you want to? What about new distributions of the genus Matucana in Peru? Do unusual forms of euphorbias from the Canaries appeal to you? What does a cactus show in a cave in Cyprus look like? Does anyone have a larger or older Denmoza rhodacantha than the one featured? How about some amazing Ariocarpus hybrids? What does a cross between an Aeonium and a Sempervivum look like? Do we finally have the bad news of a cactus that has become extinct? Whose greenhouse will we be visiting in 'In my Greenhouse' this time? What new book is reviewed?

The answers to all these questions can be found in your bumper March edition, which will also contain information about CactusWorldLive – The National Show, as well as your new membership card, the 2019 index, two more cultivation inserts and much, much more. (Al Laius)

Succulents to brighten your world

BCSS member John Yeomans sent eNews these pictures to illustrate the aesthetic appeal of succulent plants in and around the home.

Brighton & Hove Branch – correction to programme

The next meeting on 25 March will be Terrific Turbinicarpus, a talk with live plants and digital images by Graham Evans.

From Windowsill to West Cork

The late Noel Lawlor spent a lifetime in our hobby. Here his widow, Bridget, relates some of his adventures.

Noel Lawlor, my husband, had a life long passion for cacti and succulents. He died of cancer at the age of 67 on 13th January 2020. Dublin and District Branch Secretary Frank Keoghan thought you might like to hear about him.

Noel was 28 when we got together and even then he had started filling up any sunny windowsills we had with cacti. At that time he liked cacti best, particularly Mammillaria, but he threw away the labels with tiresome Latin names for some time. It was only a short while though before he realised that the names of these lovely plants were fascinating, describing their heritage and family; and so he avidly followed the Battles of Nomenclature that were fought in the cactus press between the lumpers and the splitters. He had originally assumed that once a plant had a Latin name it was stuck with it but, of course, as soon as a new plant was named it could either be 'lumped' in with existing names or ‘split’ into a different group. As he started to breed his own plants displaying his favourite different-coloured spines, who knew how they would be named?

Once he got a small greenhouse in our little garden in Bristol, SW England, his interest blossomed and he started collecting books and information from wherever he could get them. It was then with great delight that he discovered the British Cactus and Succulent Society. "At last," he said, and it meant he could find people who could teach him what he needed to know about how to grow and care for his expanding collection. When he discovered the next meeting was only a few evenings away he gathered a load of questions to be answered and set off with high hopes to the Bristol Branch meeting.

Noel came home, ashen faced, clutching a battered old portable typewriter. "I'm Show Secretary!" he groaned. Apparently, at the meeting the Chairman stood and announced to Noel's horror that unless they could find someone to take up this post they might as well close the Branch. "I've only just found them and they were going to close, so I had to volunteer!!" This was in the early 1980s, long before the days of the Internet.

At this time Noel stuck closely to growing only cacti but, as his knowledge and interest developed, he began to take interest in haworthias, euphorbias, gasterias, echeverias and many other plants that included succulents from the South of Africa. By this time we were living in Dartmoor in Devon and he had a 30ft greenhouse and friends who also grew cacti and succulents.

You might think that there could hardly be a more unsuitable climate in which to grow cacti and succulents than Dartmoor, so cold, wet and foggy. Well, we found one. In 1996 we moved to West Cork, where there is an even more inappropriate climate to grow these plants but, not to be daunted, Noel's collection of cacti and succulents grew and grew – until, that is, that fateful day in 2004 when his greenhouse was hit by a tornado! Apparently there are on average 10 per year. The whole glasshouse was uprooted and pushed up against a wall, while his plants flew around the garden. Our house is located in the teeth of the west wind and we can see the Fastnet lighthouse from our bedroom window.

There was nothing for it, an aluminium or wooden greenhouse was no longer an option. Noel decided that he couldn't lose any more of his precious plants and by luck found a local man who imported steel greenhouses from the Netherlands. Between them they constructed a new greenhouse, the roof embedded into one of the barns for extra stability. My brother gave him a solar panel and so they fixed that in the roof at 40 degrees to catch the most of the sun. This was connected to two fans to keep the air moving and cool on truly hot days.

Keeping records became an important part of Noel's pleasure in growing and caring for his cacti and succulents. Over the years he developed a system where he could watch the growth each year of each plant. He would take a photograph of every plant every year. He had thousands of pictures, many of which are being donated to the BCSS library. It took ages to find the best way to make these records. He tried several different cameras but his best results came using a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX camera with macro lens. Mind you, he fairly regularly threatened to throw it out of the window as it had so many applications, none of which he wanted, although his interest in photography gradually developed and he found he had an eye for a good picture.

So, what did he find so fascinating about these amazing plants, over 300 of them? Probably, he would say it was the mathematics of their form that delighted him, their sculptural properties, and their spiral formations. His (and your) plants exemplify this.

Frank Keoghan and Michael Harrington arrived at our house on 5 February and took most of Noel's cacti to Dublin for sale, probably at the Dublin Branch meeting on 11 April. What Noel would have liked would be for the proceeds to fund the Noel Lawlor Memorial Cup for Best Euphorbia in Show, to be presented at the Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin Show on 13 June.  (Bridget Lawlor)

A few of my favourite things

Vicky Davies tells us about one of her favourite sulcorebutias

Over time, I’ve found that I go through phases of having different favourite genera. Some, like Mammillaria, remain a consistent favourite while others come and go. Last year, I had the opportunity to see Keith and Kathy Flanagan’s collection prior to giving a talk at Reading Branch. They have some fabulous mammillarias but also an extensive collection of Sulcorebutia species. Kathy has previously written articles for CactusWorld and Essex Succulent Review on how she grows her sulcorebutias and rebutias.

After seeing the Flanagans’ collection I have found myself acquiring more sulcorebutias, both as plants and as seeds. The genus Sulcorebutia was originally described by Curt Backeberg in 1951; however it has since been included in Rebutia and more recently, supported by DNA analysis, in Weingartia. This means that when looking for plants it is sometimes necessary to search under multiple names.

For me, a plant that I have grown from seed is always slightly more special than one I’ve bought. One of the older sulcorebutias in our collection, Sulcorebutia polymorpha, was grown from seed purchased from Doug and Viv Rowland. This plant is now 11 years old and has formed a clump filling a 10cm (4”) pot. All Sulcorebutia species are endemic to Bolivia and S. polymorpha grows in the area surrounding Cochabamba, Potosí and Santa Cruz. Populations are considered stable with minimal threats to them and so it is assessed at Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

As I don’t have many mature Sulcorebutia species, it is often this plant that I enter into shows. It is occasionally placed but other species seem to do better, so I was pleased when it was awarded a first place card in a recent table show at my Branch. (Vicky Davies)