Somerville Garden Club

Cacti and Succulents

Art Scarpa, founder and current Vice President of the Cactus and Succulent Society of Massachusetts, will present ‘Art’s Traveling Cactus and Succulent Plant Show.’ Art will showcase dozens of cacti and succulents, from the rare and bizarre to the familiar and easy to grow, and will discuss growing succulents indoors and out, including hardy succulents, dish gardens,and container gardens that can be left outside.

Art Scarpa is known for his expertise in growing succulents and for his love for unusual plants. In 1991, Art founded the Massachusetts affiliate club of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America and is currently their vice president. He is certified as a judge by the Cactus and Succulent Society of America and has competed and judged at numerous major shows, including Boston, Newport and Philadelphia and many regional cactus and succulent shows. He is a longtime volunteer for Mass Hort. and in 2013 received a Gold Medal from Mass Hort for excellence in growing cacti and succulents.

All Somerville Garden Club meetings are free and open to the public. Meetings are usually held the second Wednesday of each month at the Tufts Administration Building, (TAB), 167 Holland Street, second floor, wheelchair accessible. Parking is available, and the building is a ten-minute walk from the Davis Square MBTA stop.

Three Member Demos – ‘Fells Art Project, Garden Haiku, Planting and Growing Wild Flowers’

At this month’s meeting, three members of the Somerville Garden Club will give demonstrations with a horticultural/gardening theme. They will present their demos three times at 20 minutes each during the one hour program, so participants will be able to circulate and enjoy all the demos.

• Fran McCormick and Ann Steinberg will run a mini-workshop about writing haiku to capture moments of beauty and interest in our spring and summer gardens.
• Rita Edmunds, a talented botanical illustrator, was awarded an education scholarship from the Somerville Garden Club to produce an art project pertaining to the flora of the Middlesex Fells Reservation. She will present a talk and slideshow on this project.
• Elizabeth Wylde, Coordinator for the Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation, will be giving a hands-on-demo on how to plant and take care of wildflowers. Participants will have the choice to plant wildflower seeds or seedlings in small containers they can take home.

All Somerville Garden Club meetings are free and open to the public. Meetings are usually held the second Wednesday of each month at the Tufts Administration Building, (TAB), 167 Holland Street, second floor, wheelchair accessible. Parking is available, and the building is a ten-minute walk from the Davis Square MBTA stop.