Cactus Club

The lady at the succulent store on Saturday told me about the annual succulent sale of the Long Beach Cactus Club. It was yesterday! What a coincidence! And it was just about two miles up, on the exact same street as my school! What another coincidence! I HAD to go.

It was at a small community center. The first room had several cactus vendors:

The next room had some chairs set up for their auction. Here are some of the items:

The auction was my favorite part. It was fun, and so interesting. The people all loved succulents, and were excited to see large specimens, and plants that were offered by locally famous plantsmen, and they were even excited about pots that were made by locally famous artists. It made me want to bid for the things!

I didn’t. But I did buy two plants. I got a copiapoa hypogaea, which I have been looking for for ages. I had one back in Maui, and have desired to have one here. I was so happy to see one!

I also got a haworthia fasciata, which is a pretty common succulent, but this is a variegata, which means it’s a really light color. I have been looking for one for ages. I had one back in Baltimore, and have desired to have one ever since. I was so happy to see one!

The guy I bought the plants from was so knowledgeable. It was fun talking with him. He was telling me that the copiapoa lives in a place where it rains once a year, but it has daily fog. It’s wetter here (which is a funny thing to say about LA), but he said it could actually grow in the ground here. He also said that it has a long tap root, like a turnip, and that in nature, it often pulls itself under the sand until it rains, when it pops up and blooms. Fascinating! If he wasn’t so busy, I would have asked him about more of the plants.