CSSSN.

ORG

September 2011

AGAVE EDITION

September 2011
Meeting: 2pm Sunday Sept. 11th, 2011 Las Vegas Springs Preserve 333 S. Valley View Blvd Las Vegas, NV 89107

AGAVE EDITION

CALENDAR
September 11th Presentation: Greg Starr from Tucson, AZ October 9th Presentation: Woody Minnich from New Mexico

Please bring plants for the raffle!!!

Amazing Agave and Bountiful Barrels in Beautiful Baja
Come prepared for Greg Starrs mind blowing interpretation of the fantastic peninsula we call Baja California. He will overwhelm you (as there are a lot of them) with his photos of interesting cacti and succulents with a special emphasis on amazing agaves and a feast of ferocacti plus a few surprises. Greg will incorporate the highlights of three recent excursions to Baja California including a whirlwind visit to Isla Cedros of the western coast near mid-peninsula. Bring a hat, sunscreen and plenty of water for a trip not to be missed. Greg was recently featured in the In Search of Growing Treasure article of May Issue of Sunset Magazine. Greg has written a 1

book of his own called Cool Plants for Hot Garden. He is an Agave expert exploring the American southwest and much of Mexico. Mr. Starr owns and operates his own greenhouse called Starr Nursery ( Starrnursery.com ). Greg has introduced and supplied many new species and hybrids that impact the desert landscapes in our area.

Hunting With The Experts Part 1

By Donnie Barnett

Peek-a-boo Canyon

In the fall of 2009, my longtime friend Scott Calhoun was visiting Las Vegas to speak at Desert Green. Scott Calhoun is a very well known Landscape author. He introduced me to Greg Starr on this trip and we all had one thing in mind Agave utahensis forma eboispina. Greg and Scott were interested in seeing the local Agave of Nevada. I showed 2

Scott several locations the day before. All of us were interested in going to the type locality of this paticular species. The Type l ocality is Peek-a-boo canyon in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR). I had been given a great tour of this area by Rick Holmes a year or two before. Greg, Scott and I set out early passing Corn Creek station and heading up the Mormon Wells Road. We stopped a few places along the way to look at a crested Cotton-top barrel and a red barrel wall. Our sights were on peek-a-boo canyon but first we had to drive thru the second largest Joshua Tree forest in the world. After driving on the very bumpy poor dirt road we reached the opening. We parked in a

wide spot and proceeded up the south exposure. Feet from the car we found a unique swirly-spine agave. This is also the only location that the whipples Cholla is found in Clark County, Nevada. After walking around for about a hour Scott spotted the most amazing specimen of 3

Utah Agave ive seen. It was Impressive enough to be the cover of this newsletter. The limestone canyon held thousands of specimens and many amazing large claret cup plants. Several interesting perennials can also be found in this area including Penstemon petiolatus. After spending several hours in the area we headed back to highway 95. From here we headed to Potosi Pass. This is right near Mountain Springs pass on the way to Pahrump. We examined the Agave utahenis in this area. Every form of Agave utahenis is found here. From long to short spined plants and 3 inch to 3 foot large blooming plants. At the end of the day we met our goals and it set up a non-formal yearly hunting hike. I had the chance to go hiking with some of the best in our profession and it was an amazing day.

October Presentation: Peru, From the Sea to The Sky

Woody Minnich will be giving the October presentation. He will be selling plants and giving a slideshow presentation. Dont miss this meeting October 9th at 2:00PM.

2011 CSSSN Nominations and Elections

By Ramona Lesley

Its nearly time to elect officers for CSSSN again. The Bylaws require that a nominating committee be appointed prior to September general meeting (Sept 11) to submit a slate of officers at the October meeting. This year those officers to be elected are Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. If you are interested in being on the Nominating committee (3 members) or running for an office, please contact one of the Board Members before the September meeting. The club appreciates your willingness to help keep the organization active and relevant to members.

Agave neomexicana
By Donnie Barnett

New Mexicos Agave is a upper elevation plant found in southern part of New Mexico. It can be found in chihuahuan grasslands and in areas of Pinon juniper woodlands within the elevations of 3000-8000ft. Plants are very abundant in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The New Mexico century plant has wide leaves similar to A. parryi but has a greener color and black edged margins. The flower spike can reach 16ft tall and flowering is in late spring to early summer. Like most Agave, it is Monocarpic and only flowers once then dies. Plants are very tough taking full and f iltered sun. The plant can reach 3ft x 3ft per head, plants offset readily. The plants can tolerate down to negative 15F and snow is common throughout much of its range. Plant hybridizes with Agave lechuguilla to create Agave gracilipes.

Photo credits: Rick Holmes

Ricks Agave (Agave holmesii)

By Donnie Barnett

Rick Holmes is a local club member with a love of cactus and succulents. He specializes in photography as many of us already know. Four yeas ago when I joined the CSSSN he was one of the first to take me under his wing and show me tips on shooting. The words of where is your tripod and Diffuser? will forever be engraved in my brain. Rick has done a lot for me over the years and because of him my photography has gotten a lot better. Because of this I wanted to share with you some of his creations. Look carefully at these Agave photos you cant always trust your eyes when it comes to Rick Holmes Photography. If you would like to see more of his photos check out his website: Rickholmesphotos.com
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Agave Information and Mail Order Nurserys

Agavaceae website is a good information website Agavaceae.com Mesa Gardens nursery is the supreme mail order nursery for cactus and succulents. Mesagarden.com Cactus Specialtieslives up to its name and always has good plants Cactusspecialties.com Santa Fe Greenhouses specializes in drought tolerant plants in the west. Highcountrygardens.com Starr Nursery is our September presenter. Starrnursery.com Plant Delights nursery out of North Carolina has a lot of unusual Agave Plantdelights.com Yuccado nursery out of Texas specializes in agavaceae Yuccado.com Intermountain Cactus from the Salt Lake Desert in Utah. Specialize in Opuntia but occasionally have Agave Intermountaincactus.com

Local Nurserys
Moon-Sun Cactus and Koi Nursery 6430 McGill Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89122 Moon-sunlandscapes.com Cactus Joes Blue Diamond Nursery 12740 Blue Diamond Road, Las Vegas, NV Cactusjoelasvegas.com Las Vegas Springs Preserve Spring and Fall Plant sales 300 S. Valley View Blvd, Las Vegas, NV

Contact Information
President: Donnie Barnett Rakkasanenterprisez@GMAIL.com Vice President: Vicki YuenYuenvicki@hotmail.com Secretary: Ramona Lesley Ramonadl@aol.com Treasurer: Phil LawtonCoachpcl@gmail.com Membership/website: Jay NietlingJay.nietling@gmail.com

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