Need some cactus for your landscaping?

[CouesWhitetail]

Lee Brownson

lsbrownson@cox.net

September 5

 

Subject: Cactus Rescue at Verrado - September 9 - Saturday - 6 -10:30

 

YES...we are going to have a cactus rescue this weekend. The rescue will be this Saturday, September 9, and will begin at 6 am. The location is at the Verrado construction yard on the Northwest corner of Indian School Road and

195th Avenue. The easiest way to get there is to go West on I-10 to the

Jackrabbit Road exit (Jackrabbit is 195th Ave.). Go North two miles to Indian School. You can't miss the Verrado office site. Enter the property, go over the small embankment, go behind the buildings to the nursery area. You will see the sign-in area. This rescue location will be unlike most areas where rescues are held. Rather than walking around the desert seeking to find that special plant or getting your truck stuck in soft dirt trying to get close to them, this will be more like shooting fish in a barrel. There are literally thousands of plants lined up in rows, waiting to find a good home. I estimate there are well over 6,000 Ferocactus cylindraceus (Compass Barrels) available. They run from six inches to six feet tall. There are fat ones and thin ones. Even some multi-headed ones. The cost per plant is $1 if it is less than 8 inch tall or $5 for anything larger. We will have lots of pincushion tags available, this time. There are two kinds of native cholla

available: Cylindropuntia bigelovii and C. acanthocarpa in many sizes. All of

these are priced the same as the barrels. There are Saguaros available but

you must arrange for them to be moved off the property, on the day of the rescue. Cliff, CACSS member who helped us move some Saguaros last year, will not be available for this rescue. However, he is willing to move the plants at future rescues. He charges $20 per linear foot, adding main trunk and all arms together. A plant with many arms may cost more, depending on the time and effort to secure every arm. My suggestion is that, if you are interested in a Saguaro, come to this rescue and pick one out. We can tag it and have it moved during the next rescue. All plants must be paid for before they leave the property.

Rules of the rescue:

 

• Everyone who works at the rescue in any capacity MUST be a member of

the Central Arizona Cactus and Succulent Society. If someone is not currently a member, he or she can join when signing in.

• Everyone must sign two forms before going out on the property; a

release form for the CACSS and one for the landowner, Verrado.

• Everyone must wait for instructions from the Rescue Coordinator before

beginning to dig plants.

• Everyone must wear a name tag.

 

What to bring:

• Plenty of water, sunscreen, hat, gloves, checkbook or cash

• Tools - shovel, wheelbarrow, boxes to put your plants in, bottle of

white-out to mark the South side of the plant

 

The rescue will conclude by 10:30 am. That means all plants have to be dug and tagged by then. This will give us three full hours to pick out the plants we want and get them ready to be moved. There will be other rescues at this location so, if you can't make it this time, there will be other opportunities and plenty of plants left To speed things up at registration and at check-out, I need volunteers who are willing to help out. There will be plenty of time to harvest plants between check-in and check-out so volunteering won't stop you from getting great plants. Please give me a call if you are willing to help out. There will be a TV producer and camera person on site taking pictures and talking to some of the volunteers. If you don't want them to film you or talk with you, no problem, just tell them that. If you are photographed or interviewed, you are likely to have to sign a release form for them. After the rescue at the Salvage yard, they may want a few people to stay around and do some filming doing a "rescue" in the desert, i.e.

we will look like we are rescuing plants but really just going through the motions. If you are bring new people to the rescue, please give them a copy of this email.