Hello from Northern California
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2021 3:12 am
Hi all! It is exciting to be a part of this great organization and forum, finally. I am a long time (though sporadic) grower of mesembs and cacti, and a myriad of random interesting plants. I have been growing the plants that interest me since the ‘80’s after graduating college with a degree in botany (my thesis advisor had a preserved Welwitschia in a case in his office!) and I remember the days in the 80’s when the Mesa Garden catalogue would come out (in paper form!) and poring through the pages looking for unusual plants to trial (at the time I worked in several research greenhouses and my co-workers and I would always save a bench or two for our own indulgences). My career avenues eventually took me to viticulture and winemaking and I have been a winemaker in Northern California for almost 25 years. All along I have attempted to maintain my interest in “unusual plants” and have always had the odd Copiapoa/Matucana/Stapelia, etc. knocking around. The pandemic gave me the impetus to expand my collection and get back to the genera that inspired my interest 40 years ago. I currently have a “decent” collection of mesembs, stapeliads, and cacti…mostly grown from seed. I am also a member of the Mesemb Study Group and the San Francisco Cactus and Succulent Society. I am a big proponent of the use of native plants in horticulture and have a couple of acres of property which are devoted to our interesting natives. I am fortunate to live in a region of the world that climatically mirrors much of South Africa which makes my life a bit easier than you folks in the UK! Happy growing to you all and I hope you will tolerate my requests for advice. Cheers!