When and Where
We'd love for you to join us. Visitors welcomed!
Why Attend Our Meetings?
They are fun, educational, and you will leave with more plants!
CSSM Recorded Programs
Check out our latest recorded programs on YouTube.
CSSM Monthly Programs
January 20, 2018: UTAH!
Can 6 intrepid CSSM members survive 11 grueling days in the Utah desert? Will they find shelter? Will they find cacti? Will they find beer? Come see for yourself as we explore the high desert and stunning vistas of the Beehive State.
Time: 1p-4p
Location: Norfolk Public Library - 139 Main St, Norfolk, MA 02056
February 17, 2018: HYPERTUFA WORKSHOP
Hypertufa Workshop at Tower Hill Botanic Garden.
Come make your own hypertufa planter.
This will be a messy, dirty, wet and dusty – but fun! – adventure.
If you have arthritis, be aware that this can be tough on your hands. Students will make as many troughs as they feel comfortable making.
Hypertufa troughs do need to be cured, but you will take your trough home that day and our own Deb Pope will give you instructions on curing.
Cost: The club will subsidize $5 and each participant must pay $10, all of which goes toward materials.
Register for this workshop at "Contacts, President". Limited to 25 students, but observers are always welcome. Deadline to register is January 27th.
Each student must bring:
1. Dust filter mask.
2. Heavy latex/rubber gloves.
3. Molds. A mold can be almost anything -- a large bowl, dishpan, plastic flowerpots, baskets (without metal “ribs”), or cardboard boxes. If cardboard boxes are used, the box should not be larger than approximately 10” x 18”. Also, a lightweight board or a tray will be needed to put under the box so that it can be transported home.
If the mold is straight-sided, it should not be rigid and the sides should somehow release (like a spring form pan), as cured hypertufa is impossible to remove from a straight-sided, rigid mold.
4. Lightweight plastic sheets or plastic garbage bags to line the molds.
Time: 1 PM - 4 PM
Location: Tower Hill Botanic Garden
11 French Dr, Boylston, MA
March 17, 2018 - DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY: BOTANIC IMAGES
Learn to improve the pictures you take in your garden with your phone, point and shoot, or digital camera. We will explore all the easy-to-use features available on these devices that will make all your photos works of beauty! These devices no longer come with “user’s manuals” – let Melissa show you just how simple it is to take and edit your pictures right on your camera! She will also cover greenhouse and indoor photography; single specimen shots, and a few simple “tools” to make or buy to improve those shots.
Melissa guarantees that you will be amazed at the photography you produce once you’re “in the know” about these devices!
Melissa Pace is an award-winning horticulturalist who competes in numerous garden and flower shows, from the prestigious Philadelphia Flower Show to the popular Bolton [MA] Fair. She has been a University of Rhode Island Master Gardener since 2003.
Melissa has been a presenter for numerous garden clubs and civic organizations throughout New England since 1995, and is a Garden Educator for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. She is a member of the Cactus and Succulent Society of Massachusetts.
Time: 1 PM
Location: Norfolk Public Library
April 21, 2018 - LIVING STONES!
Explore the World of the Conophyta with Dr. Matt Opel.
Conophytum is a genus of about 100 species of dwarf succulent plants from dry, mainly winter-rainfall areas of South Africa and Namibia. The genus includes living stones, which are camouflaged like rocks, and window plants, which grow mostly buried in the soil, but with transparent patches at the tips of their leaves exposed to gather sunlight.
Matt Opel grew up in Westchester County, NY, where he developed an early love of plants, gardening and the natural world; one of his first words was “pachysandra.” He became interested in Lithops—the “living stones”—and other desert plants after visits to the New York Botanical Garden, and eventually went on to study biology and botany at Cornell University. Matt received a doctorate from the University of Connecticut after completing studies of the anatomy, morphology and evolution of the genus Conophytum. In the course of his research he spent three winters in western South Africa. Tylecodon opelii, a dwarf succulent plant that he found on the quartz fields of the northern Knersvlakte was named in his honor in 2011.
Time: 1 PM
Location: Norfolk Public Library
May 19, 2018: ECHEVERIAS by CARRIE WATERMAN!
CSSM member Carrie Waterman will give us an overview of echeveria care and propagation, and introduce us to numerous types of echeverias, bringing many of her own plants and splendid photos, with a special emphasis on exhibiting echeverias in shows.
Carrie is well-known in the horticultural show world and gardening society circles as a judge, exhibitor, grower, and photographer. The daughter of enthusiastic growers who took her to the New England Flower Show every year, she has been involved with that show for 25 years and is a Horticulture Judge in the Garden Club of America, judging many events around the country including the prestigious Philadelphia show. Carrie is also a board member of the New England Wildflower Society. She is an award-winning grower of succulent plants, including echeverias.
Time: 1 PM
Location: Norfolk Public Library
June 9, 2018 - JUNE OUTING AT THE "OUCH HOUSE"
This year our traditional June Outing will be a picnic at the home of Marc Raibert in Carlisle, MA. All members are invited to bring their own lawn chairs and lunch and to join in the fun as we end another wonderful CSSM year.
Featured at the picnic will be a casual tour of Marc's newly constructed "Ouch House 2", home to many large and beautiful cacti. Don't miss it.
Time: 1 PM - 4 PM: Directions to follow.