ICSC June Meeting

[Arthroverts]

The June meeting for the Invertebrate Club of Southern California will be through Skype, on the 20th (Saturday), from 10:00-11:30 AM. Meeting link pending.

No guest speaker this time. Looking forward to discussing invertebrates with all y'all!

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[Arthroverts]

Discussed all sorts of things at the meeting...and that's about as good as I can give for my post-meeting roundup this time .
Catch ya at the July meeting!

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[The Snark]

Where was the meeting?

 

[Arthroverts]

Where was the meeting?

Skype this time around due to covid-19. California is having its second wave of infections so I’m still unsure when we will meet in person again, though when we do we switch back and forth between Arlington Gardens in Pasadena and Hulda Crooks Park in Redlands.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[The Snark]

Skype this time around due to covid-19. California is having its second wave of infections so I’m still unsure when we will meet in person again, though when we do we switch back and forth between Arlington Gardens in Pasadena and Hulda Crooks Park in Redlands.

That was a totally bizarre trip down memory lane. I thought I knew Pasadena like the back of my hand but Arlington Gardens drew a blank. Must be some new place so I looked it up. Nope. Been there half a forever. WT<edit>? I finally grabbed the map. I had been to the Japanese gardens across the street a good dozen times and had never noticed Arlington.
A suggestion that might be up your club's alley. Hit up Huntington Gardens for permission to catalogue their inverts. The place is so old and large it has to have it's own ecosystem by now. I was told by a friend who worked there they were very anti pesticide. Not sure if that is still the case.

 

[Arthroverts]

That was a totally bizarre trip down memory lane. I thought I knew Pasadena like the back of my hand but Arlington Gardens drew a blank. Must be some new place so I looked it up. Nope. Been there half a forever. WT<edit>? I finally grabbed the map. I had been to the Japanese gardens across the street a good dozen times and had never noticed Arlington.
A suggestion that might be up your club's alley. Hit up Huntington Gardens for permission to catalogue their inverts. The place is so old and large it has to have it's own ecosystem by now. I was told by a friend who worked there they were very anti pesticide. Not sure if that is still the case.

That's hilarious. Just goes to show how...
"Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way..."

And if you ever come this way again, you are welcome to our meetings.

That is a wonderful idea. Let me broach the idea to the rest of the club, and we shall see...

Many thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[The Snark]

And if you ever come this way again, you are welcome to our meetings.

Would be delighted to! Last time we went there we packed a month long itinerary into 10 days. If/when we go over again I can hear my wife already, "Right. Only 20 things to do today and you want to go talk creepy crawlies."

That is a wonderful idea. Let me broach the idea to the rest of the club, and we shall see...

Huntington. You could just go there as casual visitors. You would be restricted to the established paths though. Or you could go the whole hog route:
The people at Huntington, the curation squad as I call them, are a combination of rigidly strict and absolutely unyielding in their rules while being quite benevolent and civic minded. The gardens, library, and art gallery are there for the public to enjoy. But it has to be kept in mind they are the caretakers of hundreds of first edition irreplaceable books, a zillion dollars of fine arts, and a groomed and cosseted series of gardens ever so carefully tended to for decades. (16 differently themed gardens covering almost 100 acres. An island out of time surrounded by suburbia.).
So a very proper letter of introduction preferably with a letterhead, purpose, and intended itinerary would be the best move. References from lettered biologists/botanists/entymologists would be a definite plus.
The best hoped for would be impressing the powers that be enough to turn your group over to the supervision of the gardeners to have at it for a day or even more. Normal allowed visitation is usually 10:00 to 17:00 hours.

 

[radjess331]

Would be delighted to! Last time we went there we packed a month long itinerary into 10 days. If/when we go over again I can hear my wife already, "Right. Only 20 things to do today and you want to go talk creepy crawlies."


Huntington. You could just go there as casual visitors. You would be restricted to the established paths though. Or you could go the whole hog route:
The people at Huntington, the curation squad as I call them, are a combination of rigidly strict and absolutely unyielding in their rules while being quite benevolent and civic minded. The gardens, library, and art gallery are there for the public to enjoy. But it has to be kept in mind they are the caretakers of hundreds of first edition irreplaceable books, a zillion dollars of fine arts, and a groomed and cosseted series of gardens ever so carefully tended to for decades. (16 differently themed gardens covering almost 100 acres. An island out of time surrounded by suburbia.).
So a very proper letter of introduction preferably with a letterhead, purpose, and intended itinerary would be the best move. References from lettered biologists/botanists/entymologists would be a definite plus.
The best hoped for would be impressing the powers that be enough to turn your group over to the supervision of the gardeners to have at it for a day or even more. Normal allowed visitation is usually 10:00 to 17:00 hours.

Honestly. Without a friend working there, it is very difficult to get to use the restricted areas. I’m granted access once a year to just view the carnivorous plants collections that are hidden in the private greenhouses. They have a massive collection that puts everyone to shame essentially haha. But the friend is required to escort us/give us the tour to ensure we don’t touch anything.
They are very very serious about you not touching anything in the private collection, even plants since people have a huge tendency to play with the plant ID labels and then the labels get lost from super rare plants.

 

[The Snark]

Honestly. Without a friend working there, it is very difficult to get to use the restricted areas.

But well worth the effort if you can do it. I was given the run of the place once thanks to a letter of intro from the botanist at the LA Co. arboretum then again when I was working erosion control for CDF and the USFS, doing a study of fire suppression and erosion control plants.
The greatest problem is how much there is to see. When my friend went to work there he was discovering new things about the gardens for a couple of years.

 

[Arthroverts]

Honestly. Without a friend working there, it is very difficult to get to use the restricted areas. I’m granted access once a year to just view the carnivorous plants collections that are hidden in the private greenhouses. They have a massive collection that puts everyone to shame essentially haha. But the friend is required to escort us/give us the tour to ensure we don’t touch anything.
They are very very serious about you not touching anything in the private collection, even plants since people have a huge tendency to play with the plant ID labels and then the labels get lost from super rare plants.

Well, we don't necessarily need to get into the restricted areas, though granted I am quite limited in my knowledge of how the gardens are laid out (haven't been there in years).

That is so awesome to hear about the carnivorous plants, one of my favorite plant groups (hoping to expand my collection once I get the specimens I already have going strong).
That is really sad to hear...that it is joy to us to ruin the good (in this case labels) points to how deeply perverse we can be.

But well worth the effort if you can do it. I was given the run of the place once thanks to a letter of intro from the botanist at the LA Co. arboretum then again when I was working erosion control for CDF and the USFS, doing a study of fire suppression and erosion control plants.
The greatest problem is how much there is to see. When my friend went to work there he was discovering new things about the gardens for a couple of years.

That's awesome. Sadly I don't believe we have the connections yet that you apparently had/have.

Thanks,

Arthroverts