About the Cactus and Succulent Review

The Cactus and Succulent Review was originally known as the Essex Succulent Review.

The Essex Succulent Review was founded in December 1963 by Len Newton as a hard copy newsletter issued by what was then the Essex Branch of the Cactus and Succulent Society of Great Britain. When this amalgamated with the National Cactus and Succulent Society in 1983 it became the Essex Branch of the British Cactus and Succulent Society.

Although the Essex Branch eventually closed the original Essex Succulent Review continued as a hard copy publication for 50 years with general articles on cacti and succulents. The final issue was in March 2014, which was a special edition including items from a number of those who had contributed over the years.

"You don't have to live in Essex to read it"

The Essex Succulent Review online

I took over as editor of the Essex Succulent Review and produced the first online issue in June 2014, continuing the quarterly schedule of the original publication. It consisted of 12 pages and was distributed initially by email to previous subscribers to the hard-copy magazine. As well as general articles it included information on BCSS activities in Zone 15 (Essex).

The magazine soon grew, as did the readership, and in 2017 the decision was taken to use Mailchimp, an email management and marketing platform, to issue email notifications to readers to download each issue from the website.

The Cactus and Succulent Review

The name was changed to the Cactus and Succulent Review at the beginning of 2020 to better reflect the growing international readership of the magazine.

"Born in Essex – growing in the world"

Today the Cactus and Succulent Review is an independent publication with readers on every continent (except Antarctica!) and has grown to 60 pages. Each issue offers a wide-ranging selection of articles on cacti and succulents and associated plants, many of them written by well-known British and international growers.

I produce this myself, with the help of a small team, and of course I could not do so without the help of those who write for me, to whom I am extremely grateful.

The Cactus and Succulent Review continues to be issued quarterly at the beginning of March, June, September and December and all back issues are available on this website. Please download the current issue and, if you enjoy this, why not subscribe? You will receive an email notification for each new issue, and a subscription is completely free. It only takes a few minutes from our subscription page.

I hope you will enjoy the Cactus and Succulent Review.

Sheila Cude