The Beaver
Tale
June 2010
The next meeting will be held on June
3rd at 7:00.
The Board meeting will begin at 6:00.
There will be a regular meeting in July,
due to the fact that we missed one in May.
Our June presentation will be given by
our board member Dick Askew.
Dick will speak on Water: Our Most Valuable
and Most Dangerous Chemical.
CSSSN Board Meeting: May 6, 2010
Present:
Ramona Leslie - Secretary
Nancy Thompson Jones – treasurer
Phil Lawton, Board Member at Large
Vicki Yuen, Board Member at Large
Absent:
Victor Lindsey – President
Thomas Garcia – Vice President
Other Club Members Present:
Dick and Liz Askew
Rick Holmes
Jim Grothuesmann
Tim Soldan
Mary Lawton
Sam Valenti
Meeting called to order at 6:06
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Ramona chaired the meeting in the absence
of the President and VP. A quorum was
declared as four of the six Board members
were present. Phil agreed to take the
minutes of the meeting.
Secretary’s minutes from April meeting were
read and approved.
Treasurer’s report and April bank statement
from NSB were passed out and discussed.
Current balance as of April 30, 2010 was
$7216.73 with no outstanding bills or checks.
Approved.
A discussion of the duties of the Treasurer
were discussed. Nancy did not bring the
Treasurer’s “books” with her. She agreed to
turn them over to Phil, so the Audit
Committee (previously appointed: Rick
Holmes and Liz Askew) could conduct the
audit. A discussion relating to the club’s
status as a non-profit organization ensued.
Nancy declared that she had paid the bill plus
the fine to the Secretary of State but provided
no written confirmation. Phil pointed out that
as of now the clubs status as a non-profit
account is “in default” according to NSB and
we are unable to add Ramona to the bank’s
access list to the account as desired. The
current president also needs to sign the
necessary paperwork in order to allow
Ramona to have full access. Phil said that
Victor could call the branch manager at
Sandhill & Flamingo and arrange to have the
form sent by fax to a branch nearer to him, for
Board meeting continued:
his signature. The club’s status as a non-
profit group is also in jeopardy. IRS forms
need to be filed in May. Nancy agreed to take
care of both issues.
Nancy asked that she be allowed to maintain
the membership and function as the
Membership chairperson. Since this has
been the policy in the past there were no
objections.
A discussion relating to the appointment of At
Large Board members ensued. Phil made a
motion to add three new members (the
maximum number allowed by the
Constitution): Dick Askew, Jim
Grothuesmann, and Tim Soldan. All three
were present and agreed to serve. Vicki
seconded the motion. Motion carried 4-0.
Dick Jim and Tim were welcomed to the
Board and hereafter took part in the meeting
as voting members of the Executive Board.
The newsletter and online web site were
discussed. Liz agreed to take over as
Newsletter Editor and produce a newsletter
for June. This will be mailed out to members
who do not use e-mail. Phil agreed to contact
Jay regarding the status of the CSSSN web
site. Jay has apparently been paying fees
relating to the site and he needs to be
reimbursed. Liz will send Jay the June
newsletter so he could post it on the club web
site. Nancy offered to mail the newsletter out
to members, Liz declined the offer.
Action: Phil & Liz
A discussion relating to meeting of the club
through the summer was undertaken. The
consensus among those present was that we
needed to hold meetings in June and July
since no meeting was held in May. August
was left open with the possibility of a picnic
as suggested by Victor in the April
Newsletter.
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A discussion took place regarding Victor’s
hiatus from the club as president and his e-
mail suggestion that the club “take the
summer” off until certain actions took place.
Tim agreed to contact Victor and attempt to
get Victor involved again. The Board agreed
unanimously that taking the summer off was
not in the best interest of the club.
Action: Tim
It was agreed that a June meeting would be
held as scheduled. The program would relate
to landscaping with desert plants. Nancy
knows a landscaper who may be able to
speak on the subject, she will contact him.
Dick Askew also offered to do a
complimentary program. As a back up, in
case Nancy’s offer falls through, Vicki agreed
to work with Dick to find a supplement to his
presentation.
Action: Dick, Vicki, Nancy
There was some discussion relating to the bi-
monthly Cactus Club Journal, which the club
has not received for some time, and our
status as a club in CSSA. As members of
CSSA we should get two copies of the
journal. Jim said that he had not received his
copies either. (He also subscribes) Jim
agreed to contact CSSA and determine if our
mailing address is current and our
membership in good standing.
Action: Jim
The date and time of the next Board meeting
was discussed. It was decided to hold the
next Board meeting at 6:00 p.m. at the NGC
before the general meeting on June 3rd.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:15
Respectfully submitted, Phil Lawton, Acting
Secretary
SPRINGTIME TRIP TO CALIFORNIA
By Liz Askew

As we drove along the freeway toward

Bakersfield we noticed the presence of
Dodder on many plants, what is Dodder many
will wonder, Dodder is a parasitic plant. It
belongs to the same family as the
Convolvulus, a small group of plants. All
members of this genus are parasites, with
branched, climbing cord-like and thread-like
stems, no leaves and globular heads of small
wax-like flowers. The seeds germinate in the
ground in the normal manner and throw up
thready stems. These stems climb up
adjoining plants and send out from their inner
surface a number of small vesicles which
attach themselves to the bark of the plant on
which they are twining. As soon as the young
stems have firmly fixed themselves the root
from which they have at first drawn part of
their nourishment withers away and the
Dodder entirely looses its connection with the
ground. Dodder lives completely on the sap
of its “host” and participates of its nature.
We saw many Joshua trees in flower as well
as some yuccas.
When we reached California on Hwy. 99 we
were delighted by the sight of wildflowers
along the road. Of course the California
poppies with their bright orange color stood
out amongst all the others.
Upon reaching the foothills of the Sierras we
saw that many ranchers have an Opontia
hedge along the road. These were in bloom
with many shades of orange and yellow.
When we reached our destination there were
my son’s cactus all covered with snow. How
diverse our plants are, these plants are under
3-4 feet of snow in the winter.
He also has many Sedums and Sempervivums
growing under the snow. As you can see these
plants are very old and thrive under adverse
conditions of heat and cold. In Nevada we baby
our plants too much. We should treat them as
nature meant them to be treated.
Sedum Autumn Joy
I was given a pot full of this charming plant by
my son. I assume it will do well as it has been
living in very diverse conditions, freezing
weather in the winter and 100 degrees in the
summer. In the information I found about this
plant they mention that it endures and thrives
in formidable garden conditions. It tolerates
clay and poor dry soils. It blooms throughout
the summer heat. Few pest or diseases are
known to threaten it.
The plant brings a succession of floral color
to the garden. The star-shaped tightly
clustered flowers start summer as light
green. They change to pink before becoming
a cherry rose and garnet in the fall. In winter,
copper and mahogany seed heads glisten in
the frost.
A very interesting new plant to grow.

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 Dragon’s Blood Sedum
Sedum spurium
Another plant I acquired on our trip was
Dragon’s Blood Sedum. It is a trailing
succulent ground cover from north-central
Asia (which was everywhere at my son’s
yard). It forms a tangle of stems with leafy
branches 2” tall during the summer. The
stem is ropy and roots very freely. The leaves
are bright green during the spring, gradually
taking on shades of maroon as winter
approaches.
The pink, red or carmine flowers of this little
sedum are surprisingly showy, they occur in
flattened 4” tall clusters in summer.
Individual flowers are small and star shaped
with five pointed petals.
The plant will not grow in deep shade but
tolerates semi-shade and grows in almost any
soil.
Tricolor is a beautiful variegated form with
white, suffused with pink variegation around
the margins of the leaves. It is not as
vigorous as the green-leaved forms and tends
to be somewhat unstable. You should keep
removing the un-variegated branches if you
want to maintain the variegation.
Of the sedums tied in the groundcover trials
at the Arnold Arboretum in Arkansa, S.
spurium performed the best. While it is not
completely evergreen, it retains enough
vegetation to give the appearance of being
so. It should be planted on 12-inch centers
when using it as a ground cover. It is well
suited for use in rock gardens, between
stepping stones and in outdoor containers.
Propagation is easy by division or cuttings
taken at any season.
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Opuntioideae
The Cactus family is divided into a number of
subfamilies. The Opuntioideae is one of the
subfamilies, covering the largest geographical
range of any of the subfamilies. They range from
Southern Argentina to Canada and cover all of the
Caribbean
islands and Pacific islands from the Galapagos to
the Catalinas. It is naturalized on every continent
except Antarctica. It is a pest and a noxious weed
in many places, and is displacing native
vegetation in parts of Africa, Asia, Madagascar
and Australia.
Propagation of all Opuntias is most easily
accomplished by cuttings, which root very
quickly. Handling them is somewhat of a
problem. They are notorious for their well placed
sharp spines and nearly invisible glochids.
Handling with steel tools is the best idea. Gloves
get covered with glochids which end up in your
hands when removing the gloves.
Plants worth knowing:
O. basilaris, a local native, can hold its own with
any of the more exotic plants listed below
O. burrageana, native to Baja forms low mounds
of sharply spined cylindrical stems.
O. compressa, grows as a native plant as far
north as the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.
O. erinacea, a California native, gets long white
spines resembling hair.
O. microdasys, the common small white form is
really a spectacular plant.
O. pachypus, a native of Peru, is the only
columnar Opuntia. It is rarely seen and very hard
to grow.
O. ramosissima has long slender shoots, each
about the width of a pencil, covered with wicked
spines
O. violacea v. santa rita, gets a beautiful purple,
offset with black spines.
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