I won’t be able to attend the Cactus and Succulent Society of America show to be held at the Huntington Botanical Gardens June 28-30, 2013. But you should definitely go, for reasons photographed below. You will very likely find many of the same vendors I pestered with questions and be able to ogle the same plants I did last weekend at the Los Angeles Cactus and Succulent Society’s Drought Tolerant Plant Festival in Encino. If you can’t make it to the Huntington in June, don’t despair. There’s still the InterCity show and sale held at the Los Angeles Arboretum August 17th and 18th.
Reasons to attend:
The scrolled leaves on this bromeliad drew lots of attention.
But attention swiftly gets snagged on something else, such as the jagged leaves of a deep burgundy dyckia. And so it goes at a plant show.
Attention ricochets around the show room like protons in a Hadron collider.
Chartreuse leaves, burgundy thorns = love
From the bromeliad table
The aloe tables
A Stonehenge of lithops
Yes, even in the plant world there are winners and losers. Well, actually, the caretakers of the plants are the winners/losers.
Plants don’t care much about contests (except in the big, Darwinian sense).
The signage and information at this show was incredible.
A section of the show was devoted to engaging kids, and it was beautifully done
Kelly Griffin’s Agave ‘Snow Glow’
I should know this agave…(fingers drumming desk). Is it a cross of ferdinand-regis with scabra like ‘Sharkskin’?
Cactus and succulent shows have a unique pottery vernacular
There were a couple of these agaves for sale. ‘Blue Flame’ is one of my favorite agaves, so I lingered over this one.
It is beautiful, but I think I prefer a cleaner variegation. So nice to occasionally walk away from temptation.
A show with succulents and pelargoniums — what’s not to love?
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Here is where I got into trouble, a display in the plant sales area of dyckias and hechtias
First off, I always mispronounce dyckia, like “dike” when it should be “dick.” You can probably imagine an easy mnemonic device for that one.
Second, I seriously coveted a plant that was off limits, display purposes only.
Hechtias, Mexican terrestrial bromeliads, are new to me, foreign and intriguing.
Bromeliad of desire, Hechtia glomerata.
Plant people understand such infatuation all too well and are more than willing to work something out.
A pup of the display-only Hechtia glomerata was removed, tagged, and bagged for a very reasonable price.
Last look at the one that got away, Agave ‘Streaker.’ I don’t think I’d have the strength to pass this one up again.
Since I wouldn’t be able to make either show, I appreciate the tour. I confess a fascination with lithops – it’s just a matter of time before one (or more) comes home with me. So glad you found an understanding vendor for the Hechtia pup. And in my head, that was definitely DIKE-ee-uh, so thank you for saving me the future embarrassment of mispronouncing it.
Jane, I would have never taken you for a lithops gal! I loved them displayed here in the same pots.
Inter-City is my fav, but the sale at the Huntington is way better. Sorry to miss it–sort of.
Dickie-uh! Well nobody told me–until you did. Thanks!
I have ‘Streaker’, and boy is it slow
Thank you for the tour, my eyes are definitely going to be peeled for hechtias now. Congrats on your new baby–it’s gorgeous!
Wow! I wish I could go! This looks amazing!
Fabulous plants and photography. Almost makes me salivate….well maybe it does as tongue goes back in mouth. Just wish I wasn’t 4,000 miles away. Sigh.
Wow! How lucky you are to live so close to the Huntington! Sorry you won’t be able to attend but yowsa! what great pictures! Glad you got that beautiful hechita! Thanks also for clearing up the dick/dike thing, now everyone can say that they like DICKias!
@Heather, you’re most welcome! I don’t know how I missed noticing hechtias on the bromeliad tables before.
@Cassidy, there’s a CSSA show coming to Austin in a few weeks — if you’re anywhere close.
@Bob, aren’t these the most photogenic of plants? I bet there’s an arboretum near you with a good glasshouse collection.
@Peter, yes, very lucky. And I don’t go there nearly often enough.
Hi Denise,
Thanks for the terrific tour. I’m so glad you took so many photos. I have so many bromeliads and agaves crowded into my garden that seeing these were ‘safe’ to do at the moment. Enjoy your new pup. I’ve had someone to the very same thing and actually just give me the pup since I showed so much interest in their plants. Gardeners are like that….aren’t we? :0) David
Oh, one other thing about Dykias. I thought for sure they would do well as companions to agaves, but they take (and like) a lot more water than their appearance leads you to believe. Ask about the Hechtias…I’m not sure if they are the same. Anyway, I moved the dykias from the dry bed garden to the moist bed and they are a lot happier now. They need less water when the weather is cool, but here it’s 95 each day of the summer. I also find that they are like little bundles of daggers and in a street fight, they would win over an agave in wounding you. Be careful! I have only one other Bromeliad that’s sharper and it’s a giant Aechmea. The word ‘impaled’ comes to mind just now. LOL David/:0)