Greetings all: In hindsight, regarding my post about our local cactus and succulent meeting where the presentation topic will include growing winter bulbs, I thought it might be helpful to encourage bulb enthusiasts to consider your nearest local cactus and succulent club as a resource for both information and plant material regarding bulbs. There is a wide crossover of plants that grow sympatrically in nature and in more cases than not, bulbs and traditional succulents often grow in the same locales under the same conditions. While purists- those whose interest is focused primarily on specific general or families of bulbs- may not find interest in expanding their collections to include additional plant families, others, like myself, who may admit to OCAD (Obsessive Compulsive Acquisitive Disorder) are not bound by such restrictive thinking. I have a 4000 sq ft (1200 sq meter) greenhouse filled with what several of my friends call "one of everything." Actually, I try to have two of whatever I find interesting so as to produce seedlings, as I am also a CSP (Compulsive Serial Propagator). Bulbs are but one fascination for me, along with a variety of succulents, orchids, bromeliads, xeric trees, and also reptiles (but let's not go there...). My life-long fascination with plants has earned me the title of current president of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America, and I invite anyone interested to check out the CSSA website to help you find a local club and/or plant sources in your area or online. Please look at http://cssainc.com/ /. Among the many choices for information, under the "Affiliates" tab you can search for a group in your area; under Calendar you may find convenient local and regional events, including plant shows and sales listed nation-wide, and under the "shop/seeds" tab you can find listings for an ever-changing variety of seeds donated by CSSA members, including bulb seeds, available for purchase at reasonable prices and shipped internationally. So I welcome any and all fellow OCAD and CSPs to expand your horizons (and your collections) to include succulents among your interests. As I often tell myself (justification for a voluminous collection) when it comes to plants, can one really have too many??? I don't think so... Happy New Year! Gregg Gregg DeChirico Santa Barbara, California On , Gregg <cj5sfo@yahoo.com> wrote: Greetings, Gastil. (and Jim, whom I know well) I am a nearby and long time PBS "bulbbler" as well, although I don't consider myself knowledgeable enough to post with any substantive contribution. But, I would like to invite you (and anyone else in the area) to the Santa Barbara Cactus and Succulent Society meeting tonight where Tom Glavich, another 'Bulbbler" and PBS member from Los Angeles (San Gabriel, I believe) will offer a presentation on growing winter bulbs. Tom is an advisor and former Director and Vice President of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America (CSSA) and is an avid bulb and succulent grower, providing many informative articles for CSSA publications sharing his cultural expertise on a variety of topics. He will also likely have a variety of interesting and uncommon plants for sale. I hope to see you there. Here's more info: January 3rd - 7:30pm Trinity Lutheran Church* 909 N. La Cumbre Rd Santa Barbara Ca. 93110 Near Foothill and La Cumbre. Tom Glavich “The Winter Growers,” Most Long Time Collectors grow Winter-growing as well as summer-growing plants. Beginner's often don't know the difference or ignore some of the special needs of winter growing plants. This talk is a survey of some of the exceptional succulents and bulbs that do most of their growing in the winter. Succulents and bulbs from South Africa, the Mediterranean and Southern California, all of which share similar growing conditions will be shown and discussed. Tom Glavich is a long time collector of succulent plants and bulbs. He is a member of most of the Los Angeles Clubs, and is one of the co-chairs of the Inter- City Show held at the LA Arboretum every August. He is a frequent contributor to the CSSA Publication To The Point and chair of the CSSA Research Fund. Sincerely, Gregg Gregg DeChirico Santa Barbara, California On Thursday, January 2, 2014 10:58 PM, M. Gastil-Buhl <gastil.buhl@gmail.com> wrote: Jim Foster wrote: "I thought there might be a meeting someplace in my area to meet others with similar interests." Welcome Jim. Im happy to call myself a bulbbler as well and I too live in Santa Barbara. Although there are no other PBS members nearby, there are a few who write to this mail list within a modest distance. There are several active gardening societies in town but none exclusively focusing on bulbs. I will send a pm with more info on that. Great to have you in PBS and not be the lone member from SB anymore. Cheers, Gastil _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/