with Ken Blackford
Monday, October 18, 2021

A long-time hobbyist gardener with a special interest in cacti, succulents and other xeric plants, Ken was an active member of both the San Francisco and Oakland Cacti & Succulent Societies, volunteering as a docent at the Ruth Bancroft Garden under Richard Turner’s directorship. He was already growing Amaryllis belladonna (Naked Ladies) when Ruth herself, and another docent, Wayne Roderick, helped expand his interests in other South African geophytes in the Amaryllidaceae.

When Ken moved to San Diego he incorporated this group of bulbs into his garden there. He has done experimental hybridizing, including some intergeneric hybrids between some of the closely related Amaryllids. He plans to talk about Amaryllis, Boophone, Brunsvigia, Cyrtanthus, and perhaps a few others, and will discuss their potential for landscape and/or pot use in California. 

You can find videos of our speaker presentations plus the Plant Forum on our YouTube channel.

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