Meetings: Experience the excitement of exploring Broms with
March 19: Brian Kemble, Curator at the Ruth Bancroft Gardens in Walnut Creek, CA.
ICONIC PLANTS OF THE RUTH BANCROFT GARDEN
By Brian Kemble
Ruth began planting her dry garden in 1972, although she began collecting succulents long before that. For many years, the Bancroft family had run a farm growing walnuts and pears, and it was the removal of the last 3½ acres of walnuts that provided an opening for Ruth to begin planting her extensive collection of succulents and other plants with low water needs. There were certain plant groups that she gravitated toward, including the Agavaceae (agaves, yuccas and their relatives), aloes, echeverias and terrestrial bromeliads (such as dyckias and hechtias), so these are of course well represented in the garden’s plantings. Over the course of time, a long succession of plants caught her eye and were incorporated into the mix, including many kinds of cacti, members of the protea family, and various bulbs, resulting in the rich botanical tapestry that we see today. This presentation features a whirlwind tour of the garden’s most prominent denizens.
Brian Kemble is the Curator at the Ruth Bancroft Garden, and he has worked there since 1980. He is also the VP of the San Francisco Succulent & Cactus Society and the VP of the Institute for Aloe Studies (based in Oakland). He has been on many trips near and far to see succulent plants in habitat, including to Mexico, South Africa, Madagascar, Namibia and Ethiopia. He has written many articles on succulents (including some in the Cactus & Succulent Journal), and his photos appear in numerous books on succulents.
Photos below by Brian Kemble & Ruthbancroftgarden.org
June 19, 20,21: Annual Sale
The Popular SF Succulent and Cactus Society Sale is at the SF County Fair Building. The BSSF has been participating in the exciting event with over 20 vendors from all over California. The BSSF membership will be offering plants from their varied collections.
SF County Fair Building
1199 9th Ave, Golden Gate Park
San Francisco.
Bromeliad Society of San Francisco
on A Garden tour
Founded in 1969, the Bromeliad Society of San Francisco was created to provide a club for the sharing of knowledge, cultivation and the beauty Bromeliads.
Meetings
All Bromeliad Society Meetings are held 3rd Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.
at S. F. County Fair Building, Recreation Room
1199 9th Avenue at Lincoln Way, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco., CA 94122
Check this site for last minute changes.
events
Our Annual Sale Event along with garden tours and potluck the BSSF provides the San Francisco Bay Bromeliad Community opportunities to enjoy bromeliads and life together.
Past meetings & events
Below are some of our memorable gatherings.
August 21: Dylan Zoller
central and western andes of colombia
The club is excited to have Dylan Zoller here with us in San Francisco on Thursday 21 August to share a fantastic presentation about the Bromeliads of the Central and Western Colombian Andes.
Dylan will present a programme revealing detailed information about the plants and the habitats from sea level to the barren, 14,000 foot peaks in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Cordillera Central, and the incredibly biodiverse pluvial forests of the Cordillera Occidental.
This is a presentation you do not want to miss!
If you’re in the SF Bay Area, please join us in San Francisco on Thursday, 21 August at 7.30p to see his presentation and have a chance to purchase one of the amazing plants he’ll bring to share with us.
Dylan Zoller is a horticulturist at Sherman Library &Gardens, where he manages the Succulent and Bromeliad Gardens and their off-display collections. Raised in coastal Southern California, he developed an early fascination with exotic plants after discovering Exotica, a pictorial encyclopedia of tropical species. His passion led him to join both local and international bromeliad societies and begin a career in public horticulture at age 18. His current work focuses on cultivating xeric and cloud-forest species, with a growing emphasis on field exploration. He has conducted plant-hunting expeditions across Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Guatemala, and Brazil in search of rare and localized bromeliads and cacti. He is currently pursuing a degree in biology.
Dylan Zoller in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
July 17: Ecuador with Jerry Raack
Fantastic Bromeliad Environments of Ecuador
This talk will present several special Bromeliad Environments that I have had the pleasure to encounter over my many trips into Ecuador. The relationship of the bromeliad species present in those environments will be presented and discussed, along with why those environments are so rich in Bromeliad species.
Jerry became interested in Bromeliads 57 years ago when his brother gave him one for Christmas. His interest has increased over the years and he is currently a director of the East Region, and a past president of The Bromeliad Society International. He has made numerous collecting trips into Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru and has discovered a number of new species of Bromeliads. Tillandsia raackii and Gregbrownia raackii are named after him. Jerry and his wife, Joanne, have an extensive collection of hard to find and uncommon Bromeliads at their home in Pataskala, Ohio.
He still goes collecting; although goverment regulations have made it impossible to bring plants into the US. So now he is collecting using pictures while studying plants in habitat. He is currently working with José Manzanares of Quito, Ecuador in translating and editing the 3rd volume of José's books scientifically describing and picturing all of the bromeliads found in Ecuador. The 3rd Volume documents about half of the genera of Tillandsioideae, and it will be published this year.
Jerry Raack in Ecuador with a Guzmania squarrosa
June 19, '25: Peru Travelogue with Scott Sandel
The Land of the Chachapoyas, Kuelap, the Cordillera Negra & the Cordillera Blanca
The travelogue presentation for June covers northern Peru, the land of the Chachapoyas. The Chachapoyas culture flourished in the Andean cloud forests from around AD 800, predating the Incas. Like many of Scott’s trips with his husband Jim, botany and archaeology seem to go hand-in-hand in the land of the Chachapoyas. Other highlights included seeing the 2nd most significant archaeological site (significantly higher than Machu Pichu) at Keulap, where Tillandsia tovarensis grows. A highlight of the trip was seeing the Queen of the bromeliads in full flower.
Bio
Scott Sandel
Scott started growing bromeliads in the early 1970’s as a kid growing up on the coast of Texas not too far from Houston. After successfully propagating a seemingly endless number of offsets from gifted Billbergia pyramidalis, Scott cajoled his father and a neighbor to take him to get more plants at the meetings of the Bromeliad Society Houston. Scott, along with his dad Joe and neighbor Bob Caswell started attending meetings in the mid-70’s when Scott was around 11 or 12 when John Anderson and Don Beadle would come from Corpus Christi to give fantastic slideshow presentations, often timed to classical music. (This is more than 10 years before Beadle would register his famous Billbergia ‘Hallelujah’.) Scott earned his landscape architecture degree from A & M and moved to San Diego in 1985. Scott has worked as a landscape architect – planning, designing and overseeing construction of schools, parks, streetscapes and retail centers. A particular focus for many years was the design of workplaces for technology, biotech and the life sciences. Scott had a 20-employee landscape architecture practice in San Diego before selling it and taking a position at the City Planning Department in San Diego as a Parks Planner. Scott and Jim have traveled through many states of Mexico, all of the Central American countries, and most of the countries in South America. Cloud forest ecosystems are a choice destination. Scott grows most of the popular bromeliad genera, with interests in Alcantarea, mesic Tillandsias, and especially the foliage Vrieseas.
Scott Sandal in Peru