Los Angeles
Cactus and Succulent Society
Come and Visit!
Welcome to the website of the Los Angeles Cactus and Succulent Society. Our nearly 200 members come from throughout the southland and share a passion for cacti and succulents. Throughout the history of LACSS, many of the most prominent researchers, authors, and collectors of the succulent world have been leaders and members of our society.
LACSS meets monthly in the San Fernando Valley to enjoy stimulating presentations, hands-on workshops, plant sales, mini-shows, raffles, trading, and other activities. In addition, LACSS offers field trips to member gardens, nurseries, and private collections. We serve the greater community by offering free educational activities, and presenting an exciting annual festival in April or June, and a Fall Sale.
In order to share the joys and benefits of collecting and cultivating cacti and succulents, we invite you to check out our general meetings on the 1st Thursday of each month at ONEgeneration Senior Enrichment Center at 18255 Victory Blvd.
Doors open at 6:15 for the Social Hour, Ask an Expert, and much more. The business meeting starts promptly at 7pm. Attendance is FREE and open to the public. Each new visitor receives a free plant! We hope to see you at a meeting soon.
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REFRESHMENT REMINDER
Our next meeting is March 5, 2026. Last Name beginning I,J,K and L. please bring treats! If you missed your month this is a great time to bring a treat to share.
It is a collective effort that we provide refreshments for our members at the meeting! As you know, bringing refreshments to the meeting is a way to make our meetings more enjoyable and welcoming for everyone.
Now we are beginning with the first letter of your Last name so if your last name begins with the letter please bring in something to share.
March I,J,K and L.
We kindly ask that each member brings a small contribution of snacks or drinks to share with the group. A lot of us are coming straight from work and appreciate that we are mindful of empty stomachs.
Examples of refreshments that you could bring include:
Appetizers / Sides Cookies or pastries Fruit or vegetables Chips and dip Finger food Pizza
Please bring your contribution in a “disposable” dish!
If bringing refreshments is a difficulty, we ask that you leave a donation in the “Donation Jar” at the Refreshment Table. The club relies on your contribution to continue supplying our membership with sustenance.
We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to seeing you at the meeting.
Thank you,
LACSS
Meeting
March 5, 2026
Doors open 6:15PM
One Generation
18255 Victory Blvd
Reseda CA
What’s happening in Japan will blow your mind. The cactus and succulent trade has often been represented by the United States, England, Germany, and most of Europe. In recent years we have started seeing amazing numbers of beautifully grown and fantastically developed special C & S cultivars imported from Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. Most of these plants are perfectly grown in environments that are not normally considered typical for our arid region succulents. It has been only a short number of years from when many of our US nurseries were visited by serious Japanese, and Chinese growers. Since that time, we have begun to see what they have done with their cactus and succulent acquisitions. I remember when one such serious collector from China came to my nursery and wanted to purchase special and rare C & S. The price was no object! These various Asian collectors came back numerous times and continually bought all of our most desirable species and cultivars. A few of these serious buyers told me, “They would soon produce many thousands of each of these species and would then be selling them back to us at prices much lower than we originally sold them for.” This has all come to fruition in just the last few years. I have for some time wanted to see how they are doing this fantastic production? Thus, I guess I had to go to Japan and see for myself.
What’s happening in Japan will blow your mind. The cactus and succulent trade has often been represented by the United States, England, Germany, and most of Europe. In recent years we have started seeing amazing numbers of beautifully grown and fantastically developed special C & S cultivars imported from Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. Most of these plants are perfectly grown in environments that are not normally considered typical for our arid region succulents. It has been only a short number of years from when many of our US nurseries were visited by serious Japanese, and Chinese growers. Since that time, we have begun to see what they have done with their cactus and succulent acquisitions. I remember when one such serious collector from China came to my nursery and wanted to purchase special and rare C & S. The price was no object! These various Asian collectors came back numerous times and continually bought all of our most desirable species and cultivars. A few of these serious buyers told me, “They would soon produce many thousands of each of these species and would then be selling them back to us at prices much lower than we originally sold them for.” This has all come to fruition in just the last few years. I have for some time wanted to see how they are doing this fantastic production? Thus, I guess I had to go to Japan and see for myself.In the fall of 2025 I made such a trip with two of my serious cactus and succulent friends, Jack Tian and Moses Nuno. On this adventure I felt like an excited first-time collector, what special plants was I going to get my hands on? When we arrived, we were greeted by one of their most serious cactus collectors, Tadayoshi Kono. With his help we would visit many of their best C & S growers. Little did we know, the Japanese C & S enthusiasts wanted to know all about our American side of this cactus passion. We woke up the next day to having me do a television interview discussing our American side of the hobby, featuring shows, sales and our cactus clubs and organizations. After sharing our side of the hobby, we quickly hit the road to start seeing many of the C & S nurseries from Tokyo outward. Five days later we had seen many of the best nurseries, from the rural agricultural regions to their roof-top greenhouses.I was pleasantly surprised to see that lots of their growers were growing many of my favorite genera and species. The Astrophytums, Ariocarpus, Azrekium, Copiapoa, Echinocatus, Mammillarias, Turbinicarpus, Agave, Aloe, Conophytum, Lithops, Pachypodium, and so much more. It was our pleasure to see numerous species propagated by the thousands. We also felt great excitement in seeing so many special cultivars, most of which were created in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. Like Bonsai, many of these growers would only grow one species and perfect it to amazing levels of form, color and texture. We saw the wonderful Ariocarpus “Godzilla”, Ariocarpus retusus “Cauliflower”, Astrophytum asterias “Super Kabuto”, and so many other fancy named hybrids and cultivars. I was not surprised to see that their use of beautifully hand-made pots often equaled the creative, artistic ceramics of many of our fabulous American potters. Also, as no surprise, they were also staging for habitat not unlike their hundreds of years of traditional Bonsai. All in all, what a terrific experience it was to see what the Japanese have done with our plants of the C & S hobby. In this presentation you’ll be with me, as I’ll share much of the marvelous things we experienced. Let’s go to Japan!March Plants of the Month:
Escobaria, Acharagma, &
Agave
Program
Thursday March 5, 2026
Wendell S. (Woody) Minnich
Japan, Amazing Cactus & Succulent Nurseries
Events
MAR. 6-7 ORANGE COUNTY CACTUS AND SUCCULENT SOCIETY SPRING SALE Fri. noon-6pm, Sat. 9am-5pm Info. call 657-549-0702 1000 S. State College Bl.,(Anaheim United Methodist Church) Anaheim, CA
Los Angeles
Cactus and Succulent Society
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