Oxford Branch

British Cactus and Succulent Society

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John Watmough

John joined the Oxford Branch of the NCSS in 1981. He has served the Branch as Chairman and Secretary, and he has been Branch Treasurer since 2008.

He claims not to grow cacti, though he maintains a residual collection of smaller-growing representatives from a range of genera. In winter he grows Othonna and Tylecodon. But most of his space is devoted to his beloved Mesembs, and he currently runs the MSG Plant Exchange Scheme, for which he is a shameless scrounger. He writes a regular column for the Mesemb Study Group Bulletin.

He is also notorious for trying to grow plants that nobody else wants to grow – generally for good reason. He is a devoted, though undistinguished, seed-raiser, and he sells surplus plants on the lecture circuit for himself, the Branch, and the MSG. By the end of 2019 he expects to have given 350 talks in the course of his career.

John was the local Zone Rep for some years. He is the proud possessor of a BCSS Silver Gong and a red Judge's Badge.

Since he is (he says) proud to be a fanatic, he loves to discuss and exchange plants with other enthusiasts, and will gladly try to find plants for other people in the course of his travels.