{"id":20866,"date":"2011-08-14T15:20:45","date_gmt":"2011-08-14T19:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=20866"},"modified":"2011-08-14T15:20:45","modified_gmt":"2011-08-14T19:20:45","slug":"inter-city-cactus-show-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=20866","title":{"rendered":"Inter-City Cactus Show &#038; Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><big>I went to the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.arboretum.org\/index.php\/events-and-classes\/details\/inter-city_cactus_show_and_sale\/?start_time=1313337600&#038;end_time=1313366400\">show<\/a><\/strong>, had my mind blown, took some pictures.  In other words, a typical succulent show&#8230;except that I introduced myself to a best-selling author on succulents in the landscape and containers and then gushed and fawned and stammered and&#8230;oh, the shame!<\/p>\n<p>But the plants loved being fawned over.  What utter showboats.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m always surprised to see lush leaves and delicate flowers springing from a bloated, contorted, caudiciform base, as in Stephania venosa.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i52.photobucket.com\/albums\/g23\/botanizeme\/august2011\/813succ027.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Photobucket\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Evem common sempervivums and aeoniums strut and preen like show dogs.  That glow is all in the grooming and staging.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i52.photobucket.com\/albums\/g23\/botanizeme\/august2011\/813succ032.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Photobucket\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i52.photobucket.com\/albums\/g23\/botanizeme\/august2011\/813succ031.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Photobucket\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Aloe &#8216;Coral Fire,&#8217; a Kelly Griffin hybrid.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i52.photobucket.com\/albums\/g23\/botanizeme\/august2011\/813succ038.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Photobucket\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Agave stricta.  Brown pot, brown leaf tips.  Sometimes it&#8217;s best not to overanalyze and go with uncomplicated.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i52.photobucket.com\/albums\/g23\/botanizeme\/august2011\/813succ047.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Photobucket\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Or there&#8217;s always the baroque approach.  Succulents on a clamshell.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i52.photobucket.com\/albums\/g23\/botanizeme\/august2011\/813succ050.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Photobucket\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Euphorbia poissonii.  Really makes you wonder what defenses a plant could possibly have to merit this name in a genus well-known for its caustic, milky sap.<br \/>\nFrom <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Euphorbia_poissonii\">Wikipedia<\/a>:  &#8220;The most active toxin&#8230;binds to pain receptors&#8230;It stimulates the neurons to fire repeatedly, causing pain.&#8221;  I note the Wiki photo looks like an entirely different plant, but image searches also show the euphorbia depicted in this photo:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i52.photobucket.com\/albums\/g23\/botanizeme\/august2011\/813succ055.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Photobucket\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The dyckias were ravishing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i52.photobucket.com\/albums\/g23\/botanizeme\/august2011\/_MG_2417.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Photobucket\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes it&#8217;s hard to imagine living with these show plants on a day-to-day basis.  Having a quiet breakfast on the sun porch among your treasures &#8212; wait a second.  Wasn&#8217;t the abromeitiella on <em>that<\/em> table last night?  And who took the sports page?  C&#8217;mon &#8216;bro, give it back.<\/p>\n<p>Abromeitiella brevifolia.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i52.photobucket.com\/albums\/g23\/botanizeme\/august2011\/_MG_2414.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Photobucket\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I think I&#8217;ve seen this enormous Moringa ovalifolia in the several shows I&#8217;ve attended this summer.  Just wheel him in and hand the ribbon over.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i52.photobucket.com\/albums\/g23\/botanizeme\/august2011\/_MG_2399.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Photobucket\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Succulent shows are where horticulture definitely veers off into the fetishistic, obsessive, hobbyist realm, which might make garden designers uncomfortable, but there&#8217;s an incredible amount of cultivation knowledge to be gained, and each plant arrives pre-Photoshopped for your contemplation of its ideal state.   A succulent show is an unapologetic plant zoo.<\/p>\n<p>The show will also be held today, August 14, 2011, at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arboretum.org\/\">LA Arboretum<\/a>,  9 a.m. to 5 p.m.<\/p>\n<p><\/big><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I went to the show, had my mind blown, took some pictures. In other words, a typical succulent show&#8230;except that I introduced myself to a best-selling author on succulents in the landscape and containers and then gushed and fawned and &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=20866\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[28,898,27],"tags":[1376,1374,1372,1375,1291,1373,236,1377,1371],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNJ2E-5qy","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20866"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20866"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20915,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20866\/revisions\/20915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}