Gasteria talk

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Those of you interested in succulents... the Cactus and Succulent Society of America (CSSA) sponsored a talk this morning on Gasteria. The speaker was Ernst van Jaarsveld, author of A Revision of the Genus Gasteria (1994).

The talk will be available to all until Monday morning May 31 at the CSSA Facebook page.

CSSA Webinar: Saturday, May 29th at 10:00 a.m. PDT

Ernst van Jaarsveld:
The Genus Gasteria

Program:
The program will provide a background of how Gasterias fit into the aloe group. There will be many habitat photos of all the current 30 species, with the emphasis on the recently named species. The program includes the topic of Gasteria propagation, pollination, growing from seed, and cuttings.

Short Bio: Ernst van Jaarsveld
Born in Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA in 1953, Ernst van Jaarsveld matriculated from Linden High School, Technikon, with a National Diploma in Horticulture in (1975). He received a MSC, the Natal University (1990, plant systematics). He received a PhD from the University of Pretoria (Gauteng, 2012).

Ernst was employed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute from 1974 to 2015. As a horticulturist, he curated the succulent section at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. After retirement, he has taken full-time work on the Babylonstoren Farm, near Paarl, and is involved in building a succulent collection.

He is author of more than 200 articles (popular, semi-scientific and scientific) and several books: A Revision of the Genus Gasteria (1994), Wonderful Waterwise Gardening (2000), Succulents of South Africa, A Guide to Their Regional Diversity (co-authors Ben-Eric van Wyk and Gideon Smith, (2000), Vygies, Gems of the Veld (2000), Cotyledon and Tylecodon Handbook (2004, co-author Dr Daryl Koutnik), and The Southern African Plectranthus and the Art of Turning Shade to Glade (2006).

He and Uschi Pond produced a coffee-table book on Welwitschia mirablis in 2013 to commemorate the 100th birthday of Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. He has also authored Tree Aloes of the World (2015). Ernst is a fellow of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America.

He regularly contributes to PlantzAfrica website and has written articles on all species of Gasteria for that publication. At his new workplace, he contributes to the Candide Gardening app, and does many workshops on succulents, water-wise gardening, and related topics.