“Cliff hangers and Flatlanders: Dudleya on the Edge”
Guest Speaker: Stephen McCabe
7:30 p.m. – Online Zoom Presentation preregisterHERE
Succulents, a hot topic in gardening circles, have brought new attention to California’s dramatic native succulents, the dudleyas. These succulent beauties grow on the West coast from Oregon to the tip of Baja California in a wide range of habitats and microclimates. They face challenges hanging on to cliffs, being trampled on mesas, and lasting through the summer dry season. Development, fires, poaching, and climate change present additional threats. Like many succulents, they grow in somewhat extreme places. Lya cymosalopment or by having rabbits released into their island habitats.
Stephen McCabe has been studying and growing Dudleya for over 30 years and has been growing other succulents since he was a child. He is the Emeritus Director of Research for the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and a private consultant, and the first Fellow for the Cactus and Succulent Society of San Jose. His interests are in the classification, evolution, ecology, and conservation of Dudleya and other plants. His hobbies include rock climbing and hybridizing similar species to each other within the following genera: Dudleya, Gasteria, and California monkey flowers.