Late year Massonia bloooms and pots

It's the end of December and I've started dating all my in-process pots 2017.  I won't finish them until next year.  Time to look back at the end of the year pots and the few interesting blooms from late December.

Massonia pustulata with great leaves and a fairly loose flower. 

Massonia species from Plettenberg Bay grown from Pacific Bulb Society Seed. 

Massonia species from Vleesbai, also from Pacific Bulb Society Seed. This is a second generation plant from the original seed grown specimen.

I missed a species from Addo and a jasminiflora with an interesting flower, but there are more to come.  Below is a pink flowered Massonia echinata growing at the Huntington Botanic Garden.

On to the pots

 Stoneware, 6 inches by 7 inches with a red glaze.  You can never tell how this glaze will come out.  I made this pot inn green and browns as well.  I need to make a few more this January.

Two pots 4 1/2 inches by 5 inches in iron oxide stained stoneware.  These always look good.  The one on the right is impressed with my favorite piece of billion year old limestone.

Three more red pots, each 2 1/4 by 4 1/2 inches.

The same in a turquoise glaze.

And again in stoneware with iron oxide.  The pot on the right pot was produced with a fossilized tree fern.

A seven by 4 1/2 inch square pot.  I've made a few of these, still trying to find the right combination of clay and glaze.  I'm pretty happy with this one.

I'm even happier with this one.  There was a little less warping It is just stoneware with iron oxide, but it gets away from the shiny effect of the glaze.

Finally two pots with layered glaze.  Each pot totally unpredictable, and half end up on sales tables and half in the trash.

San Gabriel Valley Winter Show Entries

The final show of the year is the San Gabriel Valley Cactus and Succulent Society Winter Show.  This show is planned to show the winter growing succulents as they come into their fall growing period when many of them look their best.  The show has moved later in the year as increasingly hot autumns make it difficult to teg plants ready.  This year was no exception, it was 90 degrees the week before the show, and many show entries were cacti whcich had yet to show signs of entering their winter dormancy.

These are some of my entries.  Several appear in earlier blogs so you can follow their development.

Arioecarpus kotschoubeyanus cv 'Pear Pimples' dressed for fall.  In summer it is much pinker.  Another couple of years should make this a spectacular specimen.

I've entered this as Mammillaria pondi, and also is Cochimea pondi, depending on the show rules.  It's a great old plant in any case.

Copiapoa hypogaea ssp hypogaea crest, being shown for the first time in an Erika van AUker pot.  It really needs a couple more years, but already loking pretty much as I would like ti to.

There is a geophyte class, and with some trepidation I entered this cyclamen graecum.  It is not a genus often displayed at succulent shows, but it is everybit as geophytic as some of the other plants we show.  It took a third in a very competitive class.

Echinopsis longispina needs a bigger pot next growing season.  A great plant.  It should be fun to repot.  The spinds are stiff, fragile and sharp.

Geohintonia mexicana slowly growing into a good show plant. 

Haworthia truncata cv. 'Lime Green'.  Another prize winner, again a third.  I sold this two weeks after the show, before it either grew or I realized how special it was.

Mammillaria dixanthocentron Tres Picos Form.  I enter this every few years.  It's always ignored, but I still like it.

Mammillaria herrerae, entered in the miniature class.

Mammillaria knebeliana (now a form of M. bocansa) entered as a seedling

Mammillaria nourreddieana  with a complete set of vowels, and now a form of Mammillaria albilanata ssp. oaxacana

Mammillaria tezontle ( now in M. crinata) completing the set of seedling Mammillarias.

Completing the alphabet is Zygosicyos tripartitus

2016 Inter-City Show Entries

It's two days before the show, and my entries (for the most part) are selected, potted, cleaned and staged.  As always there is a mix of new and old, and some of the older plants can be seen in previous blogs.  Some get better, some don't. 

The selection process for me is simple, get 30 plants ready, and see how many fit in the truck.

On to the plants

Agave Kissho Kan growing better than it ever has.  It has a bit of hail damage still visible on the lower leaves.  All of my Agave's are not screen covered during the weather season.

Agave potatorum 'Cubic' is a Kelly Griffen selection.  This has been a relatively slow grower for me, but finally beginning to look presentable.

Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus in one of my pots.  It needs transplanting, but I have to break the pot to get it out.

Astrophytum asterias v type crest on a very long graft.

Buiningia brevicylindrica var. longispina, and old plant finally beginning to offset.  This will be spectacular in another 10 years.  It get repotted after the show to encourage new growth.

Cleistocactus winterii variegated and crested with partially reverting normals.  The long 'normals' get removed every fall and normally just tossed.  Since they are now showing signs of cresting, these will gt better attention.

Coryphanta radians in an Evelynn Stevens pot.  The white pumice gets removed for the show.

Coryphantha nickelsiae in an Erika van Auker pot.  It needs a bigger pot, but then I may not be able to move it.

A first time show plant is this Echinopsis ferox.

Eriosyce species with a flower that does not match any I've seen elsewhere.

Geohintonia mexicana in one of my pots.  First show for this as well.

Haageocereus lanugispinus crest.  I don't know any way to photograph this that will show how great this looks in person.

Same plant potted in one of my tall cylinders to hide the graft.

Jatropha species, one which I got from Larry Grammer many years ago.  Never strongly rooted, it keeps on growing.

Mammillaria coahuilensis which I used to show when it was small, now in a larger and much deeper pot and happy for it.  It will look even better next year.

Mammillaria tescopacensis (sonorensis) v rubraflora shown for the past several years in this pot.  I'll need to learn how to make wider round pots.

Pelecyphora strobiliformis shown last year as well.  This is my last pot (for the next few months) of this type, but more will soon appear.

Peniocereus striatus, although it was a Wilcoxia when I bought it and passed through Echinocereus over the ears.  Raised for show, the roots will need to be reburied.

Zygosicyos tripartitus in a Debbie Ball pot.  There are several others, and I'll probably change my mind on a few before the day is over.

Cactus and Succulent Society of America Show 2016

It's time for the National Show, held July 2 and 3 this year at the Huntington Botanical Garden.  I will be showing and selling both plants and pots.  Here is a selection of the plants ready for the show.  Which ones make it will be determined at the last minute.  There are a few that might get added, and few that might not go.

Astrophytum asterias, entered in generally just one show a year, and often into the CSSA show.  It's beginning to show its age, but still worth showing again. It's in one of my earlier pots when I was beginning to explore runny glazes.

Astrophytum 'Lotusland' again in one of my pots.  A closer look at the plant shows it is beginning to push against the pot.  I'll have to cut the bottom off and restart it.  This is a re-start from an original plant that became so heavy it broke off of the graft.

Astrophytum Onzuka Crest

Again in my pot.  I've made quite a few of these deep round pots with different glazes.  They are filled mostly with large pumice pieces.  Again a view of the plant

Next is Bowiea volubilis, boxed for transportation.  When it gets to the show table, the metal stake will be removed and the leaves will be arranged to drape off the side of the table.

I wrote an article on Frailea for the CSSA journal last month, commenting on their lack of appearance on the show tables.  This is Frailea pygmaea var. aurea.  It is a pot made by Tom Vermillion.

Next is Mammillaria crucigera.  If you look at older blogs, this makes a frequent appearance, with a few more heads each time.  It is in a wonderful Joe Wujcik pot, but appearing in this pot for the last time.  It will go into a larger pot after this show, and probably rest until sometime next year.

Pterocactus tuberosus a great plant from the Argentine Altiplano.  Easy to grow, but it takes a few years to get this large.  It is in one of my pots.

Finishing up with a few Haworthias,  This is Haworthia emelyae var picta. These pots are made just to show Haworthias.

Haworthia 'White Wolf'' a classic form that is nearly impossible to properly photograph and one that loses some of its best qualities when ween under artificial lighting..  Many of these have flower stalks and are being entered with the stalks left on.  The plants will be used for hybrids.

Haworthia 'Karasujyou' ends this year's selection.  There are 20 plants overall ready for the show, with last minute changes nearly certain.