Meeting Location: Desert Botanical Garden – Dorrance Hall
Meeting Time: 2:00 p.m
Presenter: Scott McMahon
Scott McMahon holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Plant Protection from the College of Agriculture, University of Arizona, 1977. He worked for 5 years in the agrochemical business and held Pest Control Advisor licenses in both Arizona and California. He has more than 40 years’ experience in landscaping and maintenance in the Phoenix area. He has been twice past president of the Central AZ Cactus and Succulent Society, and is an honorary lifetime member. He has been collecting cacti and succulents for over 40 years. Because of his knowledge of Spanish, he has participated in three workshops on desert plants in Mexico. He is a second generation native Arizonan. He was a certified arborist for 15 years and managed the cactus collection at the Desert Botanical Garden from 2006 to 2020. He has taught classes on various subjects for the Desert Landscaper School, as well as other classes at the DBG and off-site on cacti, succulents, and other subjects pertaining to desert plants. Retired in 2020, he has been enjoying working on his own collection of cacti, succulents, and desert landscape plants.
Presentation: Namibia
Namibia is a country located to the northwest of South Africa, west of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, and south of Angola. At 2.5 million inhabitants, it is one of the least densely populated countries in the world. It has the lowest rainfall of any Sub-Saharan African country, and the Namib Desert that borders the Atlantic Ocean is the oldest in the world. The cold Benguela Current travels up the coast, producing fog that extends inland until it reaches the Great Escarpment, a geologic feature that extends south and around the country of South Africa to the east. Namibia is home to some of the most iconic succulents in the world, some of the oldest exposed rock formations, and many familiar animals adapted to survive in the desert environment.