Cactus: Miniatures
Succulent: Miniatures
**Remember: You must be up-to-date on your membership dues to be eligible to compete in the monthly mini-show. See Phuc prior to submitting your plants to ensure you are current on membership.
“Staging Miniatures” by Kyle Williams
This month we aren’t focusing on a specific genus or family of plants. Instead, we will look at a growth form that everyone has space to grow, miniatures! It is important to note that because we are dealing with a descriptive term, not a botanical one, there is no hard and fast rule for what a miniature plant is. The closest we have is a pot size rule, which limits the maximum pot size to 3 inches diameter and requires the plants to be naturally small, not just a juvenile. For our meeting we’ll be a little more relaxed and allow juvenile forms, within reason of course (no overgrown plant in a tiny pot!).
A miniature is not necessarily the same thing as a dwarf plant. For example, a number of Agave species are considered dwarf sized because they only get a couple feet in diameter. That is very small compared to a huge A. americana that can be 10 feet or more across, but isn’t really what we mean by miniature. Another example would be a Bursera microphylla, the Elephant Tree, which can form a huge shrub or small tree. It is often grown as a caudiciform bonsai just a couple feet tall. That plant has been dwarfed but it still is not a miniature! (Check out the November Newsletter for more)
