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CDRI Desert NewsFlash
May 2025
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CDRI's Cactus Museum Collection. It's always stunning.
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When was the last time you
visited the greenhouse?
If you haven't had a chance to visit the Cactus Museum Collection recently, here's a glimpse at what you missed.
After being dormant all winter, the cacti responded to the warmer temperatures in March and April and have "woken up." They've put on quite a show!
Visitors often ask which season is the best time to visit. In all honesty, there isn't a "best" season; each one offers something special. If you experience each of the seasons at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center & Botanical Gardens, we believe you'll agree.
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Echinocereus pentalophus (above left); An assortment of Echinocereus cacti (above right).
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Mammillaria lenta (above).
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Astrophytum capricorne (above left); Astrophytum myriostigma (above right).
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CDRI's Hortis Project
In early 2025, CDRI purchased a new plant database, Hortis, to track and manage the accessioned collection of plants in the Botanical Gardens, Cactus Greenhouse, and the gardens surrounding the Visitor Center. It's a huge step over the Excel Spreadsheet format that was implemented in 2007. Jim Fissel, a dear friend and wonderful volunteer from Marfa, TX, created a map of the garden and is plotting the locations, identifying, and photographing each plant in the Botanical Garden. CDRI's Head Gardener, Faith Hille-Dishron, is adding data for the cactus museum collection, and Mady Kitchens, CDRI's Information Desk Host and Summer Intern, is transferring the historical information, including the provenance of each plant, to the new database.
The following story is by Jim Fissel.
A new multi-year project has started at CDRI to track and manage the full collection of plants in the botanical garden, cactus museum, pollinator garden, visitor center, and specimen plants throughout the 507-acre facility.
Over fifty years of accession data have been collected in multiple formats to record the origin and placement of most plants in the collection. This new team project will centralize all this data using an online Hortis database.
This database will consolidate all the institutional data, make it accessible, and keep it secure well into the future. The data will be used by CDRI staff and volunteers to keep up to date with the full collection, with detailed mappings of the locations of individual plants or mass plantings. The history of each plant will be easy to access, and current plant conditions will be continuously recorded with checkup reminders to ensure continued care.
Access to full accession details of the collection will be available to individuals or institutions as view-only (free of charge) on request.
The curated collection will also be shared freely with the public through the CDRI website or by accessing the data from a smartphone or tablet. When on site, anyone will be able to see their position in the gardens and access information on any plant.
https://cdri.hortis.com/public/site/cdri/browse
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The data is linked to Hortis Shared Taxonomy and validates the taxonomic names. Each plant is also automatically linked to Wikipedia data and can be linked to other information sources in the future.
This is a multi-year team project and involves several steps to enter all the data.
Step 1 – Identify each plant and map the position and name in the garden. IN-PROCESS
Step 2 – Capture photos of the full plant, buds, leaves, or other identifying characteristics. (The software allows unlimited photos for each plant, so the photos will be updated over time throughout the seasons.) IN-PROCESS and ONGOING
Step 3 – Update staff and volunteer procedures for installing new plants and tracking existing plants. IN-PROCESS and ONGOING
Step 4 – Validate the identification of each plant in the collection and input all historical accession data. Review the collection with botanical experts and anyone involved with the garden throughout its history. Update classifications, enter historical data, and include anecdotal stories and information relevant to any plant or garden area. Continually capture a broad history of the collection. FUTURE
Step 5 – Generate new plant labels to place in the garden. FUTURE
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Public views of the Cactus Collection, Pollinator Garden, and Visitor Center will be available separately over the next few months.
Please note that the process began in March, and more complete and validated information will be entered over the next two years. For example, the "Year Introduced" data in the public view will be updated as the accession data is input.
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Make plans now for Agave Festival Marfa
June 5-8, 2025
Agave Festival Marfa is an annual festival celebrating the agave and its influence on culture through food, film, music, science and spirits. The Festival treats the agave as the indicator species for a region that is culturally dynamic, multilingual, and deeply informed by indigenous culture and history. It brings communities together through outstanding free and accessible programming including talks by preeminent historians, botanists, artists, anthropologists and archaeologists. Tastings hosted by agave spirit producers, one-of-a-kind dining experiences and performances by leading artists in contemporary and regional music make for an unforgettable multi-day event.
CDRI will host a cocktail reception and bat talk on Wednesday, June 4, from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
We'll also offer two guided hikes through the Botanical Gardens. The hike on Friday, June 6, will be led by CDRI's Head Gardener, Faith Hille-Dishron, and the hike on Saturday, June 7, will be led by CDRI's Board President and a Marfa favorite, Jim Martinez. Hikes will start at 9:15 a.m.
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Save the Date - August 9,
for CDRI's BBQ & Auction Fundraiser!
CDRI's most fun and exciting event of the year is coming up soon! The BBQ & Live Auction is scheduled for Saturday, August 9. You're invited to join CDRI's Host Committee for a donation of $250 or purchase individual tickets for $35.
The catered dinner, by Sanchez BBQ of Fort Davis, will include BBQ brisket and sausage, beans, green salad, homemade bread, and cobbler. Beer, wine, or N/A drinks will be served.
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April was a busy and fun month!
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Bugs, Bugs, Bugs Day for 2nd & 3rd Graders
Bug, Bugs, Bugs Day took place on April 2. Children throughout the region attended the popular program. We enjoyed the assistance from Sul Ross State University's Dr. Chris Ritzi and Dr. Thor Larson and the SRSU Biology Club. CDRI volunteers, mostly Master Naturalists, also helped with the learning stations. Learning to say the word "entomophagy," and eating chocolate-covered crickets and crispy spicy mealworms are still the favorite part of the program. We also welcomed a cute class of smart Pre-Kinder students from Presidio ISD who had just finished a Science unit on insects.
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The Conant Lecture
Bill Neiman, founder and owner of Native American Seed, located near Junction, Texas, was CDRI's Conant Distinguished Guest Lecturer on April 10.
Bill ignited the audience throughout the lecture and followed up with a lively Q&A session.
The lecture was presented at the Crowley Theater, which provides the theater at no charge for nonprofit organizations. Air B&B accommodations were generously provided by Marfa Gardens Casitas. We couldn't think of a more perfect place for this Native American Seed icon to stay than to have Marfa Gardens outside his front door.
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The Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX
Grasses Restoration Project - 2025 New Class
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Open Door Christian School
Graham, TX
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Adopt-a-Highway Cleanup
Volunteers and staff cleaned up the two-mile stretch on either side of the entrance gate, bagging 15 large bags of debris.
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In closing, we wish you happy trails.
And we look forward to seeing you soon!
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From left to right: Achragma reseanum, Astrophytum asterias, Mammillaria weisingeri. These photos were taken by Faith Hille-Dishron.
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Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, P.O. Box 905, Fort Davis, TX 79734
432.364.2499
www.cdri.org
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