Succulenticon '98 was a national cactus and succulent convention with international and intranational speakers. The Cactus & Succulent Society of Queensland (based in Brisbane) were the hosts for this event, which was held over the Easter Weekend in April 1998. Our overseas guests were Len Newton, a taxonomist and lecturer at the Kenyatta University, and Myron Kimnach formerly of Huntington Botanical Gardens and current editor of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America Journal.

The following is a CSSQ editor's view of the convention and a few photos with which to remember the event! Photo gallery appears at the end of the article...

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Capriccio:

My first taste of what the conference would be like occurred on the Thursday evening before the whole thing even started. This was the night for setting up the venue at Robertson Gardens with plant displays, signage, and even paintings. I shuffled down there somewhat half-heartedly, thinking with a sigh that this was the first of four days ‘work’ on the Easter weekend when everyone else was talking about going camping, lying on the beach, or just plain veging out with a book and endless infusions of junk TV.

The room was already buzzing when we walked in: boxes of plants lining the floor, wood chunks strewn about, and that unmistakeable essence of excitement which accompanies an event-in-the-making. Casting my boorish thoughts aside, I worked alongside Mireille Waanders on ‘South Africa’ (the display was divided into geographic zones). I didn’t even notice the rest of the display clicking together as the wood-wool flew and the rope was aligned—until I stood back after placing the last of the Lithops and realised that everyone else was doing likewise. After some affirming self-congratulations all around, a hale and hearty John Higgins re-appeared (just like Lee Marvin in Paint Your Wagon) bearing beer and Coke for everyone.

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Prelude:
Friday afternoon arrived and we swished into the conference room to help with the setting up of registration paraphernalia—only to find that it had all been accomplished meticulously without us. Ah well, we turned our minds to other things, browsing the canvases that had been put up on the walls. These were vivid portraits of Adansonias from Madagascar painted by Huw Crompton, a North Welshman who was visiting Brisbane via Madagascar and the Northern Territory…among other places. They provided a great backdrop for the speakers throughout the conference. The plant displays were also a striking and it was easy to spend time browsing over the specimens. Particularly notable were the Waanders’ flowering Pachypodiums at the back with the characteristic large caudex and long, spiked arms full of blooms.

As delegates arrived and met up with long-lost or newly-made friends, the level of conversational buzz rose ever higher. After a lovely supper where George Lawson and I made in-roads through the seafood paella, we were treated to our first lecture: Len Newton on the practical uses of succulents in Africa. As the lights dimmed and Len made his opening comments, I settled back with the other eager listeners and thought happily to myself, ‘Three more days of socialising, learning, eating, travelling…I think I can manage this.’

First Movement:
The first full day of the conference signalled the flavour of the entire event: fascinating, well-fed days packed with information and personalities. For a full rendition of the speakers’ presentations, look ye to the forthcoming conference proceedings! This report just gives you a grass-roots (and very subjective) view of what Succulenticon ‘98 was like.

All the speakers were enlightening, and their manner engaging. My main impressions of this first day stemmed from Merv’s ‘multimedia’ presentation discussing air-filled porosity of soil mixes (his demonstrations accompanied by advertising-grade Blue Water). This is probably because I had to chair the session and had the opportunity to sweat up some anxiety. Paul Forster amused us with his finale on the ‘mother of all Hoyas,’ a plant whose deep red flowers were each the size of an adult hand. Bob Chinnock’s two-part Mesembryanthemum slide-show proved popular with the post-lunch crowds and Len’s talks on succulents to be found in Arabia and West Tropical Africa kept us entranced. Len’s slides of some of the ‘Arabian’ buildings recalled storybook castles and filigreed balconies and spires. Many of these are very old and now eroded by wind and sand.
 Myron’s offerings for today crossed from Sulcorebutias to the plants of Madagascar. The latter set of slides came after a three-course dinner which was served in the best possible fashion on snowy linen and with the branching lights above. The majesty, and indeed tragedy, of Madagascar was eloquently conveyed by Myron during his presentation. The obstacles of economic demands and population growth proving almost insurmountable in the race to conserve what is left on this small unique island. Huw Crompton then presented a selection of his Adansonia and other Madagascan slides which complemented the preceding ones very well.

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The raffle prizes were given out to many cheers and groans of disappointment. The four beautiful prints of succulents for which everyone had a hankering went to Doug Snell. There were two donated prizes during the evening, a copy of Copiapoa from Rudolf Schulz and Attila Kapitany, and List of Southern African Succulent Plants, a wonderful reference book donated by the Victorian Society. I would like to say this evening had a happy ending, and that I walked away with arms full of prizes but, alas, this was not to be so. Still, I feel amply compensated by a large meal eaten within the humming good nature of the conference ambience…just.

Segue:
On this intrepid day, we forewent a day soaking in knowledge and projected wonders in a relatively static state. Instead, we travelled up to Walter and Sheila Blässe’s property at Nanango—all 80 or so of us! Negotiating the dusty roads in the awkward buses proved to be more than some souls could cope with so it was to their relief that we pulled up at the gates of “Yurrah” and wandered down ‘Agave Avenue’ towards our smiling hosts. Whose eyes could help being drawn to the wonderful plot of cacti and succulents on our left, with towering plants and impressive neatness? Since CSSQ visited the Blässes last time, the garden seems to have grown in and up even more! There were clear oohs and aaahs of appreciation from most of the C&S folks who were wandering amongst the cerei with glazed looks of wonder. The Noble BBQ’ers (recognised dignitaries in colonial Australian times…) valiantly skilleted and turned up lunch for the hordes. The ones that I saw in action included Rob Davies, Rudy Waanders, Austin Prigg, and we may have also spotted the elusive, long-time Champion of the Steak, John Higgins.

It was lovely and relaxed during and after lunch. I met up with Ray de Veld and Herman Kortink from the Wellington (NZ) Society, managed to take some plant and people shots, met most of the South Australian members present either on the day or just yesterday, realised once again how much work goes into organising something so that it runs as smoothly as that day seemed to do. I then did  The Wander around the sloping gardens. There were people gathered about a Cyphostemma juttae which had red, pendant chandeliers of fruit. The squat and perfect Agave victoria-regina had sent forth an incredible flower stalk that was about 3m+ high and I even managed to capture it in one photograph. Laurie Duell regaled us with tales of moving gigantic ceroid cactus about with Walter, while our US guest, Myron Kimnach, was shown the ubiquitous cane-toad; this one was sitting on one of the lower leaves of an Agave, in the shade and moisture. Myron had seen the Cane Toads documentary so you can see that some cultural treasures travel fast…!

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We didn’t get back to the conference venue till spot on 8pm, after a quick ‘supper’ in an Esk park. It was a packed day; enjoyable, educational, and highly social.

Second Movement:
The Day After the bus trip, there were a few laggers for the first presentations but the day passed as smoothly as the previous ones. We still had a full-on day of top flight lectures. Myron’s Echeveria slides and accompanying narrative were enlightening and left me with quite a few thoughts. A common thread that runs through the talks from both Myron and Len is the ongoing discovery, cataloguing, naming, and publishing of new species or even genera. This ‘coalface’ information was fascinating and spoke to the dedication of many collectors who often encounter difficult circumstances (political and physical) to further their research. A slightly lighter side is the arbritrariness with which some plants are named. The utility of some of the names leads one to have a tad less romanticised view of taxonomy. To lend it verve, I have often had visions of collectors clutching a new species of Huernia or Aloe to their chest, upon a sublime hill-top of some sort, and declaiming a new species in the name of some long-lost mentor, their mothers, or the last place they had a really good steak. More often than not, the plants are called things like ‘(cactus) with red flowers and yellow spines’ or ‘(agave) with stripey bits on the edges of its leaves.’ Ach, so much for spicing up the taxonomic process!

Stuart Collins’ photography presentation moved us into aesthetic realms most of us (namely me) hadn’t travelled before. His ‘Macgyver’ approach to photography demonstrated just what you can do with a bit of foil, some rocks, and tracing paper. Before you could say, ‘but what about buying a Pentax SLR ##…?’ the next slide would expose how insignificant a thought that was. From his presentation, I took one of Stuart’s main points to be: you don’t need expensive equipment – you just need an eye for what the finished frame will look like, patience to experiment, and humbleness to learn.

One of our Australian speakers, Rudolf Schulz, took us on a laidback travelogue about exploring the Diamantina region of Brazil with Attila Kapitany and Nola Carr. Admitting that they often didn’t get far off the beaten trail, they nonetheless covered some rather unusual and extreme sites. Rudolf ended off encouraging more work to be done in the field in these regions, where so many plants remained unnamed and a green stick-like shrub must go about anonymously until someone officially gives it the Latin equivalent of ‘green stick-like shrub’…

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Stuart gave some commentary about the prize-winning photographs in what was the first time the competition had been held. The range of photos might even need further categorisation to make judging specific (eg. shots of flowers, in-habitat plants, single/multiple specimens). Then, the convention drew to an end with a solid date for the next gathering still to come, and some words from a few folks including Russell Johnstone who thanked Ruth and John Higgins as the conference convenors.

Throughout the weekend, the atmosphere was companionable, spirited, and now, it became tinged with melancholy that it was all finally over. Some visitors went to look in on a few CSSQ members’ gardens in the following days, while most dispersed and winged or trained their way home. Myron flew up to north Queensland and, apparently, had a wonderful time playing in the Daintree before finding his way back to the US. Len disappeared into the wilds of Tasmania before jetting back to face a mountain of university marking in Kenya.

Succulenticon ‘98 is my first ever C&S conference and I had a wonderful time; not just meeting and chatting with people from around Australia and our guests from overseas but discovering the capacity for our Queensland Society to pull together and put on a great show! Endless thanks to Ruth and John for their organisational prowess and to the stalwarts who shouldered roles over the four days.