March Update

Oh what joy….another face-to-face DBHS meeting on 4th March 2022. I missed the February one, so this was my first as host. It was really quite emotional. Robin Arnott gave a talk on Cacti and Succulents. Did you know that all cacti are succulents but not all succulents are cacti? It all to do with the formation of the spines. The presence of areole is a characteristic of a cactus, while it is rare on a succulent. The areole is a structure at the base of groups of spines on a cactus. Also, all cacti have a stem whereas succulents support a root system, stem and leaves.

Robin showed us loads of different species and where in the world they generally came from. There is an island off the coast of Yemen where a certain species of cactus exists, and this particular species does not exist anywhere else in the world.

I personally like Lithops, which are stone like plants. They look just like stones and hide away in their environment. Cacti and Succulents put on a good show of flowers at certain times of the year, if they are looked after properly. Robin was very interesting and the presentation was excellent.

The next DBHS meeting in Dalgety Bay Community Centre, on 1st April 2022, will be a presentation called “Brighter Bervie” which is about the award winning floral decoration of the town of Inverbervie, north of Montrose. This will be given by Tom Campbell, who has been waiting two years to do this. Teas and coffees will be served as well as the usual raffle.

The “Jobs for” March part of the DBHS report is on the tips page to see what jobs you should be doing at this time of year.