Meeting:

Thursday, June 12, 2008, at 7:30pm

Guest Presenter:

Maurice Levin

Owner of the Jurassic Garden at A&A Cycads in North Hollywood, California

Program:

Preservation Through Propagation: Cycad Horticultural Practices for Southern California

Learn how to preserve this endangered species, once exclusive to the affluent. Cycads, living fossils over 200 million years old, are gaining in popularity as landscape plants. Where else can you find ancient, exotic beauties that can act as living sculptures, yet require little water or other resources to thrive? Existing since before the Jurassic period as a significant food source for herbivorous dinosaurs, these tropical-looking plants are both cold-tolerant and environmentally friendly.

Mr. Levin will focus on how to grow cycads successfully. He’ll also address propagation via seed and offset, transplanting, and ways to use these primitive plants in landscapes.

A graduate of Harvard and the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, Maurice Levin worked in investment banking and commercial real estate before his affinity for horticulture caused him to switch careers to growing rare plants for a living. His goal is to increase the worldwide population of endangered cycads by propagating, growing and selling plants and seeds at reasonable prices. He grew up in Southern California and serves on the Board of Directors of the Cycad Society.