[Sacred Succulents] Spring, seed shares, new books!

[Sacred Succulents]

3/25/10

Hello to all,

Spring is unfurling her vibrant blooms all around us. Such seasonal 
gifts refresh my wonder in the delicate fortitude of life in all 
its myriad forms. Last weekend found us walking the verdant hills 
of San Luis Obispo. What a joy to behold the kaleidoscope of 
ecstatic colors- rich blue Delphinium, lupines, and chia, purple 
Dichelostemma and Streptanthus, maroon-black Fritillaria bells, 
powder-puff-pink Allium, Linanthus, and checkermallow, carpets of 
yellow violets, tidy-tips and asters, golden poppies, dainty red 
Calandrinia, lavender shooting stars. We were delighted to discover 
a robust population of Epipactus growing in an exposed watershed of 
a south-west facing hillside. This is the first time we’ve found 
this lovely native orchid in one of our old childhood haunts. 

We our in the process of finishing up the new Rare Plant List and a 
Spring supplement. We’ll have an additional email next week listing 
some exciting new platns and seeds.

We will soon be travelling to the Andes again to continue our 
ethnobotanical studies and collect seed. Orders received from April 
17 to May 14 will be shipped on a first come first serve basis the 
second half of May.

Seed Share Subscriptions for our trip are once again available, see 
the PDF attachment. We will be covering some familiar ground, with 
time again in the Cusco region including a revisit to the remote 
Lares Valley, then we’re exploring some new turf in Bolivia, making 
the long drive from La Paz to Cochabamba, journeying through many 
different ecotypes, from high elevation Puna to mid elevation cloud 
forests. This should give us the opportunity to collect a variety 
of interesting seed including several Trichocereus such as the 
poorly studied T. riomizquensis. Our colleague N. Logan will make 
additional collections in the mountains of Arequipa, Peru in late 
May.
The seed share subscription is your chance to help support the 
expedition and have first chance at sowing seed from our 
collections. We are offering shares of seed for those interested in 
growing some of the wondrously unique members of the Andean flora. 
You can help contribute to the preservation of the amazing 
diversity of Andean plant life through taking part in ex situ 
propagation in your own back yard. 
We will only be making responsible and conservation minded 
collections of seed. Population assessment and health of of rare 
species will be made. Our call to collecting is in the spirit of 
preservation through making species available for propagation 
worldwide.
Your support will encourage continual plant exploration and an 
ongoing interdisciplenary study on the DNA, taxonomy, distribution 
(including the extent of anthropogenic dispersal over millennia) 
and ethnobotany of Trichocereus cactus species. 

The United Plant Savers conference will be in Santa Rosa, CA, May 
15. We’ll just be returning from Andes, but we hope to have a 
presence there. 
For registration see- 
http://www.unitedplantsavers.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,
0&cntnt01articleid=219&cntnt01returnid=15 

RARE PLANT & SEED LIST - Issue 29 will be out in about 1 week. If 
you are not subscribed or have let your subscription lapse, we 
encourage you to sign up now. 4 issues for $5 or 8 issues for $8. 
This is where we list our offerings of rarities and specimens. 

GIFT CERTIFICATES - are always available!

NEW BOOKS
We’ve added over a dozen new titles, a few are listed below. For 
the complete list see- 
http://www.sacredsucculents.com/books.html

GREEN INHERITANCE: Saving the Plants of the World 
by Anthony Huxley foreword by Sir David Attenborough    
A beautiful book celebrating the diversity and importance of the 
botanical world. An introduction and overview of the plant kingdom 
and ethnobotany detailing our remarkable dependence on our green 
brethren for food, medicine, fuel, and even clean air. Discusses a 
broad spectrum of conservation issues. Lavishly illustrated with 
gorgeous paintings and photos throughout, this is an excellent book 
to deepen your appreciation and understanding of our green 
inheritance.    Softcover, color illustrations, 192 pages $15.95 
(normally $30!) (2 lbs)

IMPERFECT BALANCE: Landscape Transformations in the Precolumbian 
Americas   
edited by David L. Lentz
An amazing collaborative effort detailing the extensive 
interactions and modifications of the vegetation and land by the 
precolumbian peoples of the Americas. An interdisciplenary work 
from experts in botany, paleoclimatology, ecology, and conservation 
management, that reveals the secret of how indigenous people 
heavily modified North and Central America, the Andes and Amazonia. 
Thoughfully arranged with an overview of each regions botanical 
richness, coupled with case studies of human alterations to the 
vegetation, fauna, soil, hydrology, microclimate and land surface 
itself. Vital information on how we may be able to avoid the 
ecological mistakes of past cultures and begin to learn from their 
remarkably innovative relations to the land! Highly recommended.   
Softcover, black & white photographs, 547 pages $17.95 (normally 
$42.50)  (3 lbs)

PERENNIAL VEGETABLES: A Gardener's Guide to Over 100 Easy to Grow 
Edibles
by Eric Toensmeier                   
A useful illustrated guide to growing some of the fantastic but 
relatively unknown perennial food crops. From the common 
(asparagus, artichoke) to exotics such as air potatoes, chufa, 
camass, the "lost crops of the Incas" (oca, ulluco, yacon, mashua, 
achira, golden berry, etc.), ramps, Opuntia spp., Lycium, pepino, 
Toona, nettles, and much more! Details organic cultivation and 
permaculture integration, harvesting techniques and culinary 
recipes. In a time when self reliance is ever more vital, this book 
offers assistance in diversifying your garden for year round 
harvests while aiding the conservation of heirloom crops. Discusses 
many plants that we offer. Essential.  Softcover, color 
illustrations 241 pages $35 (2  lbs)

SHIPPING & HANDLING:
BOOKS- To determine shipping costs, add up the number of lbs in 
parentheses (  ) that is listed after the price.
Priority Mail- add $6 for the first lb, $2.25 for each additional 
lb. When ordered with plants just add $2.25 for each lb
Books only sent Media Mail - add $4 for the first lb, $0.75 for 
each additional lb
Please email us for international shipping costs; 
sacredsucculents at hushmail.com

CA RESIDENTS ADD 8.25% SALES TAX
We still only take Cash (USD$ or Euros), Money Orders, or Checks.
You can print out an order form- 
http://www.sacredsucculents.com/orderform.pdf
and mail it with payment to our Po Box

SACRED SUCCULENTS
PO Box 781, Sebastopol, CA 95473 USA

Email: sacredsucculents at hushmail.com
http://www.sacredsucculents.com
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: SS shares flyer 2010.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 83069 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.sonic.net/mailman/private/sacredsucculents/attachments/20100325/ca9b230e/attachment.pdf>