Don't forget the On-Line talk on tuesday

[Chris L]

Had to double check that this was tonight - seems very late in the month.


Topic: Anne Swithinbank - A Desert Plant Dilettante

Time: Tuesday 20 December 2022 at 7.30pm (GMT)
Meeting ID: 873 8017 3785
Passcode: bcss
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87380173785?p ... A5cVBpdz09

Anne Swithinbank has been a freelance gardening writer and broadcaster since 1986 and is one of the patrons of the BCSS. For as long as she can remember, she has enjoyed a fascination for plants and the natural world and began to collect succulents and other windowsill plants at an early age. This early plant obsession survived her teenage years and, aged 19, she left home to study at Kew Gardens. After Kew, she was foreman propagator for Epsom and Ewell Parks and then Glasshouse Supervisor at RHS Wisley. To help her produce answers in her role as panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, Anne grows a wide range of plants. Cacti and succulents must compete for her time but will always have a place close to her heart.

Although now viewed in a potentially negative light, the word dilettante once meant ‘devoted amateur’ and compared to many BCSS members Anne would prefer to describe herself thus. In the talk, she will ponder the meaning of the word succulent, reveal which ones have made it into her plant collection, how they manage to survive despite attention often being diverted elsewhere, and how they help with answering questions on one of the world’s longest-running radio programmes.

[Aiko]

Had to double check that this was tonight - seems very late in the month.

It is. I was waiting a week ago for it to start for a while, until I had found out it was today!

[Tina]

And only one talk JANUARY,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS everyone

[Tina]

And only one talk JANUARY,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS everyone

[Fredkarno]

And only one talk JANUARY,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS everyone

Cheers T. All the best to everyone.

[Chris L]

I am printing this out for a reminder tomorrow so thought I'd post it here as well

Topic: Stephen White - Aeonium in habitat and cultivation - The Plant Heritage National Collection of Aeonium species and interspecific hybrids.

Time: Tuesday 17 January 2023 at 7:30pm (GMT)

Meeting ID: 835 8791 4303
Passcode: bcss
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83587914303?p ... lpSUVJUT09

[edds]

Looking forward to this!

[Chris L]

Quite a few of us have recently had trouble with the camera image breaking up on Zoom. It seems to have affected at least four people that I know in the last month or so. If it is doing it during a zoom call it can be very distracting to the participants.

The problem appears to be fixed if an update is done to the Zoom application. This can be found by clicking on your avatar icon near the top right of the zoom app page and then looking down the column for the "check for updates" tab.

The version that is causing the problem is 5.13.3 - updating to 5.13.5 or 5.13.7 seems to solve the problem.

Hopefully this will help anyone who has also been affected and will help them solve the problem.

[Tina]

Dont forget 'ASK THE EXPERTS TODAY' – Elizabeth Maddock, Dave Ilett & Ian Thwaites
Time: Tuesday 7 February 2023 at 7:30pm (GMT/UTC)

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It is a while since we had an ‘Ask the Experts’ evening so this is your chance to ask any questions you may have about cacti and succulents at any level. You will be able to put your questions to our panel of experts on the night. Alternatively, you can send a question in advance, and we will invite you to ask it on the night or we can read the question out if you prefer. We look forward to answering your questions from 7:30 p.m. on 7th February.

If you wish to put a question forward in advance, please email it to bcss.talk@gmail.com.


Elizabeth Maddock has beengrowing these plants for well over 20 years and is primarily a grower of succulents, mainly Crassulaceae, concentrating on aeoniums and sedums. However, she is also keen on aloes, agaves and gasterias. Elizabeth also has about 50 cacti, many of which she has owned for a long time. Elizabeth feels passionate about how our plants are grown. She emphasises that they need the right conditions to do well and she tries to promote this in the advice she gives. She advises on what conditions they are used to growing under, which is not always easy to emulate in the UK as these are mainly desert-type plants.

David Ilett has been growing cacti and succulents since he was a teenager, and although levels of time and interest have varied over the years, he has always continued to grow a selection of plants. Some have survived through thick and thin, and (many) others have fallen by the wayside. He joined the NCSS the year before it merged and became the BCSS. His interest took off strongly again when his youngest son became interested (for a while) and it currently shows no signs of letting up. He currently runs the BCSS YouTube channel (all contributions are welcome! Emails to YouTube@bcss.org.uk).



Ian Thwaites is a past chair of the BCSS and an International Garden Photographer of the Year award-winning botanical photographer. Many of his images capture the natural beauty of the subjects whether in a formal garden, their natural environment or as a simple portrait. He is an active member of the Professional Garden Photographers’ Association and a committee member of the Garden Media Guild. His images have appeared in many European garden and specialist magazines, newspapers and online. He also writes for the popular horticultural press and has been interviewed on BBC Gardeners’ World. Ian enjoys growing a vast array of plants and can usually be found pottering in the garden or greenhouse with either a camera, a watering can, or a knife ready to take a cutting.

[Jim_Mercer]

Keith Green – North-West South Africa
Time: Tuesday 21 February 2023 at 7:30pm (GMT/UTC)

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Keith-Green-car-photo-Debra-Green.jpg (35.05 KiB) Viewed 1897 times

Keith Green has been a student of the genus Lithops for several decades, maintaining a small but concise collection at his south-west London home. He has travelled extensively to photograph Lithops in habitat and promote their conservation. His earlier trips were in the company of Professor Desmond Cole and his wife Naureen, who introduced him to further local contacts and paved the way for further exploration. In 2012 he was part of the team that rediscovered Lithops werneri in habitat. He gave the BCSS Zoom presentation ‘Whistle-Stop Lithops Land’ on 16 June 2020. Aside from the various articles that Keith has published in a number of journals, he was appointed International Cultivar Registration Authority for the genus Lithops N.E.Br. by the International Society of Horticultural Science in 2013. The register, write-ups of his travels and a plethora of other lithops–related information can be found on his website www.scrapbooklithops.com His day job is within the mortuary of a respected London undertaker.