Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society

Category: SCSS

  • Next meeting, March 23, 2026: Getting ready for the May Show

    Next meeting, March 23, 2026: Getting ready for the May Show

    The Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society Show and Sale will be on May 3-5, 2026. This is the time for club members to show your plants in either novice or advanced categories!

    The March meeting will focus on how to show your plants to best advantage. Club members who volunteered will bring in plants and get expert feedback on those plants grom Keith Taylor, Penny Newell and Cassidy Roberts-Yee, club members who have had winning entrants. Ok you club members who volunteered, please remember to bring those plants in!! Details on the judging, entering of plants for the judged show, and general ins and outs of the annual sale will be covered.

    Even if you do not plan to enter plants this year (but we hope you will), the growing and showing tips to be offered will help get those “up and comers” growing beautifully and ready for next year or for display in your garden. Please feel free to bring photos of any plants you would like to get feedback on, as time permitting, there may be opportunity in a small group format to talk about those plants with other club members.

    March meeting:

    March 23rd, 2026
    6:15pm -9:15pm

    Doors open at 6:15 for plant sales and fellowship.

    Program begins at 7 PM.

  • Field trip to Poot’s Cactus Nursery – April 22, 206

    Field trip to Poot’s Cactus Nursery – April 22, 206

    SAVE THE DATE! Saturday, April 11, 2025

    WHAT’S HAPPENING? A Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society educational field trip to Poot’s Cactus Nursery in Ripon, about 1 hour south of Sacramento.

    There are some of you out there who have never been to Poot’s Cactus Nursery?! The perfect opportunity to right that wrong is coming up on Saturday, April 11. It’s also the perfect time of
    year to shop at Poot’s. The crew at Poot’s will have filled all of their tables with the new stock of plants for 2026. In addition to that, Poot’s is planning on having other Cactus Succulent Vendors at their place on April 11 th. Despite it being a busy day for the nursery, we should be able to take a behind the scenes tour of the propagation greenhouse.

    Any Club members that wish to come should meet at Poot’s about 10 minutes before 9AM on Sat, April 11 (we want to avoid the rush). There is a small paved parking area directly in front of the nursery, as well as a larger dirt parking area. We can gather there and enter as a group.

    DATE: Saturday, April 11, 2026

    TIME: 8:45am at Poot’s

    WHERE: Poot’s Cactus Nursery, 17229 E. Hwy 120, Ripon, CA 95366

    COST: Free

    HOW TO SIGN UP: No need to sign up. Simply show up at Poot’s before 9 am.

    HAVE QUESTIONS? If you have concerns or questions about the trip, please contact Dave Roberts. Email: roblands94@gmail.com. Cell phone: 916/416-9368.

  • Next meeting, February 23, 2026: Plant Show & Tell with Cassidy Roberts-Yee

    Next meeting, February 23, 2026: Plant Show & Tell with Cassidy Roberts-Yee

    Cassidy wiil show you plants and tell you about them!

    Rare and exotic plants that you may not have seen in person will be featured. Cassidy is a club member and owns Radiant Cactus. He will be a vendor at the club May show.

    Come to the meeting to see and hear about some special plants!

    February meeting:

    February 23rd, 2026
    6:15pm -9:15pm

    Doors open at 6:15 for plant sales and fellowship.

    Program begins at 7 PM.

  • Next meeting, January 26: Big-Box Store Succulents

    Next meeting, January 26: Big-Box Store Succulents

    presented by Kyle Johnson and Gerhard Bock

    Want a climate-resilient, modern, water-wise succulent garden but don’t know where to start? Think you need to visit specialty nurseries to find plant material for your design? Think again!

    Join us for an inspiring presentation and learn how to create a stunning landscape using affordable and accessible succulents from your local big-box store. We’ll demystify the process from start to finish, showing you how to:

    • Choose the winners: Learn the secrets to spotting the best plants and which common varieties to look for.
    • Design like a pro: Discover simple design principles for combining colors, textures, and shapes to create eye-catching arrangements in pots or garden beds. Think rocks!
    • Be inspired: See inspiring examples of using big-box store succulents in the landscape.

    Whether you’re a beginner or a budget-savvy gardener, you’ll leave with the confidence and knowledge to turn a simple shopping cart of plants into a showstopping, low-maintenance garden display.

    SCSS members Kyle Johnson and Gerhard Bock have created spectacular succulent landscapes in their own gardens. Many plants are from low-cost sources like Lowe’s and The Home Depot. To see photos of both their gardens, visit Gerhard’s
    blog, Succulents and More    .

    Disclaimer: Although this talk is on big-box plant acquisition, we highly recommend starting at your local nurseries, where your dollars will stay local, supporting your community and neighbors. Additionally, local nursery folks can help guide you in your plant selection.

  • SCSS at Northern California Home & Landscape Expo, January 30-February 1, 2026

    SCSS at Northern California Home & Landscape Expo, January 30-February 1, 2026

    EVENT REMINDER:

    The club will have a booth at the Northern California Home & Landscape Expo at Cal Expo on Jan 30, 31, and Feb 1: https://www.homeandlandscapeexpo.com/.


    Members are welcome to come visit our booth, and we can always use a few volunteers to talk with interested people about cacti & succulents. If you volunteer for at least 3 hours, we can provide parking passes for you. There is a special place for volunteer parking that also allows you to get into the Expo for free. If interested, please contact Bill.

    WHAT: Northern California Home & Landscape Expo

    WHERE: Cal Expo (Google Maps)

    WHEN:
    Friday, Jan 30, 11AM-5PM
    Saturday, Jan 31, 10AM-5PM
    Sunday, Feb 1, 11AM-5PM

  • Holiday dinner and gift exchange (December 15th)

    Holiday dinner and gift exchange (December 15th)

    Join us on Monday December 15th for our annual Holiday Dinner & Gift Exchange. Please note that this is on the THIRD MONDAY of December, NOT our typical 4th Monday.

    UPDATE: As of 12/8/25 the dinner is full. To get on the waitlist, email amie@vividroot.net. Amie will let you know if a spot opens up.

    Dinner

    This year the Club will provide dinner free to members, but guests will need to pay $20 each that night. Set-up and socializing will begin at 6:15 PM with dinner starting at 7 PM. The caterers will supply meat and vegetarian entrees, as well as simple treats for dessert. Having said that, if any of you want to share your special Christmas Holiday treats/desserts with us, we would love it! Show us your holiday baking skills!

    Gift Exchange

    For those who wish to participate in our fun, but optional, Gift Exchange, bring a loosely wrapped gift valued at about $10-$25. The less tape we have to cut off with knives, scissors and machetes, the better. Bags are great for wrapping. The gift (or gift card) can be cacti, succulent or garden themed. Hand crafted or home grown items work great. Gag gifts can sometimes work, but nothing inappropriate! It’s a family Holiday dinner, not a Las Vegas night out. Remember, children may be there! If you are going to participate in the gift giving exchange, you must bring a gift. If you choose not to bring a gift, you can still watch and laugh at the rest of us.

    Contest

    There will also be gifts given for most festive holiday attire and most over the top Christmas sweater. 1st and 2nd place. Show off your wildest outfits!

    Happy Holidays!

  • Next meeting, November 24: South African Bulbs: Propagation and Cultivation

    Next meeting, November 24: South African Bulbs: Propagation and Cultivation

    presented by Ernesto Sandoval

    Ernesto Sandoval has grown South African bulbs and geophytes for many years, both professionally and privately. He wants to share some of his experiences with this beautiful and diverse set of plants, particularly concerning propagation and cultivation. Mostly, through the use of gorgeous photos, he wants to convince us to grow more of these fascinating plants in our gardens with little effort (free winter rainfall) to bring a little more color into our gardens during the winter months!

    Ernesto Sandoval has been pondering and seeking answers to the question of why plants grow and look the way they do for nearly 40 years. He regularly lectures to various Western Garden Clubs throughout the year. Desert plants are his particular passion. He describes himself as a “Jose of All Plants, Master of None” and loves learning from the experiences and passions of others and his own.

    When he was about 13, he asked his dad why one tree was pruned a particular way and another tree another way. His dad answered bluntly, “Because that’s how you do it.” Since then he’s been learning and teaching himself the answers to those and many other questions by getting a degree at UC Davis in Botany and working from student weeder/waterer to Director over the last 30 years at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory. He is now a Graduate Student getting his Masters in Horticulture and Agronomy at UC Davis with a focus on the propagation and cultivation of drought-adapted plants.

    Ernesto will have bulbs from Barry Rice for sale, including Oxalis palmifrons, Nerine sarniensis, Ixia, Trachandra tortilis, Albuca spiralis, Lachenalia aloides var. quadricolor, Haemanthus coccineus and others, to name a few.

  • 2025 Elections for Board of Directors

    2025 Elections for Board of Directors

    We will conduct elections for next year’s SCSS Board of directors at our November meeting on November 24th. We will take nominations for President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and four Directors. All of the current officers and Directors have agreed to be candidates again, but if any SCSS member would like to be considered, they can self-nominate or have a member nominate them. Please do not nominate someone without their approval. The elected Board will be installed at the December meeting so they can begin planning for 2026.

  • Next meeting, October 27: Big-Box Store Succulents

    Next meeting, October 27: Big-Box Store Succulents

    presented by Kyle Johnson and Gerhard Bock

    Want a climate-resilient, modern, water-wise succulent garden but don’t know where to start? Think you need to visit specialty nurseries to find plant material for your design? Think again!

    Join us for an inspiring presentation and learn how to create a stunning landscape using affordable and accessible succulents from your local big-box store. We’ll demystify the process from start to finish, showing you how to:

    • Choose the winners: Learn the secrets to spotting the best plants and which common varieties to look for.
    • Design like a pro: Discover simple design principles for combining colors, textures, and shapes to create eye-catching arrangements in pots or garden beds. Think rocks!
    • Be inspired: See inspiring examples of using big-box store succulents in the landscape.

    Whether you’re a beginner or a budget-savvy gardener, you’ll leave with the confidence and knowledge to turn a simple shopping cart of plants into a showstopping, low-maintenance garden display.

    SCSS members Kyle Johnson and Gerhard Bock have created spectacular succulent landscapes in their own gardens. Many plants are from low-cost sources like Lowe’s and The Home Depot. To see photos of both their gardens, visit Gerhard’s
    blog, Succulents and More    .

    Disclaimer: Although this talk is on big-box plant acquisition, we highly recommend starting at your local nurseries, where your dollars will stay local, supporting your community and neighbors. Additionally, local nursery folks can help guide you in your plant selection.

  • Mariel Dennis open garden, Oct 25, 2-6pm

    Mariel Dennis open garden, Oct 25, 2-6pm

    Mariel Dennis will open her garden to all club members on Saturday, October 25 (2 —6 PM),

    Address: 11842 Sandy Knoll Ct., Rancho Cordova, CA 95742

    The cooler weather and recent rains are bringing lots of things into bloom. The Halloween decorations will be in full swing, and for those that are here between 5 and 6 PM, you should see the solar lights come on and turn the garden into a fairyland! Halloween
    candy will also be available to get a head start on the spooky celebrations.

    Please pass along to friends and family if you wish to begin Halloween a little early. Halloween attire and/or costumes are also welcome.

    To give you an idea of what Mariel’s garden looks like, read this post on Succulents and More.