Field Trip: California Carnivores (again)

Before this post, a programming note: The Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society is having their monthly beer social at the Westbrae Biergarten in Berkeley on Wednesday, 10-14 (tomorrow). The address is 1280 Gilman St., and is about a 10 minute walk from the North Berkeley BART station. We'll be there from 6-9, so come on by, drink some beers, and hang out. I'll probably bring some ping pulls to share. Okay, back to your regularly-scheduled blogpost.

I've been hanging out with a lot of carnivore folks lately. On Sunday Josh and I took a drive up to California Carnivores to see some folks and stare at some plants. Y'know, as you do. There was lots of great stuff in there (as usual), but a couple things caught my eye.

First up is this Nepenthes Viking × ampullaria Red Stripe. I'm only permitting myself one Nepenthes in this post, but I think this is worth it.

It looks like a candy apple.

Fly away little plant.

Look at that bright red little fatty with the big ole wings. This is a real show-stopper of a plant. I had actually never been in this part of California Carnivores. I'm not sure why. It's a big hothouse area. Guess I hadn't realized that door was there!

I spent a bit of time admiring their collection of weird VFT clones and cultivars. One of my favorite mutants is Dionaea 'Angel Wings'.

These are definitely non-functional traps.

Now that is a yonic plant.

I also quite liked the much more understated Dionaea 'Harmony'.

Such neat tidy little traps. Cute!

There's so much fun stuff back there. Just wait until this all gets in production, it's gonna be awesome for VFT collectors.

This Pinguicula sp. Tonala ANPA A had the best flower in the ping collection when I was there.

I love how different this flower is.

I wonder if this is the plant I lost the auction to Mike Wilder for. Hmm...might have to beg a pulling off of them.

The tuberous dews are starting to wake up over there. This is Drosera rosulata.

Tuberous dews are so much work. I should get more.

I should probably start to coax my two tuberous species out of dormancy. That'll be a major finger-crossing moment.

Near the tuberous are a couple of Drosera regia, including this insanely dewy tangle.

This is what doom looks like to order Diptera.

This species produces insane amounts of mucilage when happy. Just look at that!

Finally, the loveliest plant there was this Drosera intermedia × capillaris.

Even my non-plant friends think this plant looks awesome.

I really ought to have bought one, but I've definitely capped out my plant budget for this paycheck. Oh well, there's always next time.

P.S. If you're in the Bay, come to the social. It'll be a Hoot.

Ch'ien Lee at California Carnivores

Yesterday was a big day – the much-acclaimed wildlife photographer and Nepenthes authority Ch'ien Lee gave a presentation at California Carnivores.

Ch'ien Lee at the beginning of his talk.

Ch'ien is an amazing photographer (seriously, go check out his website) and has traveled throughout the remotest parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea, and the Philippines. I hope it's not another 6 years before he comes back to the States! His presentation wasn't just pretty pictures either – there were lessons on geography, plate tectonics, and the history of science, along with great little vignettes about everything from orangutans to Cordyceps fungi, all with photo illustrations (of course).

Before and after the presentation, I wandered around California Carnivores, saying hi to the Carnivore Girl and others, and checking out all the sweet plants.

Sweet bromeliad display.

Huge Sarracenia 'Deep Throat' – the pitcher mouth was as wide as my fist.

I was very tempted by this Sarracenia flava with the exaggerated point on its lid.

Damon and Daniela also gave Maria and I a peek at all the new weird flytraps Damon got from Europe last year and which they're starting to put into production.

This is Dionaea 'Sunrise'.

Dionaea 'Werewolf', a tissue culture mutant.

This Dionaea "Mega Traps" was more beautiful than weird.

I wasn't able to buy as many plants as I had planned (I've spent a lot of money getting some camping gear lately), but I did come away with two very cool acquisitions. First, they finally managed to find me a Drosera slackii.

Finally! Can't wait to grow/propagate this guy.

I'd been trying to buy a D. slackii from California Carnivores for the better part of a year, but somehow they never got around to repotting their leaf cuttings. Then they found this beautiful plant somewhere in the back. It's great!

I also picked up this Sarracenia hybrid, because, well, it looked sort of dumb.

I'll need to find a succinct way to refer to this plant.

This is Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa var. burkii × (×wrigleyana × leucophylla). When I showed it to my roommate, he laughed out loud. I can't wait to grow this out more to see if the pitchers stay this silly. I really hope so.

Tuberous sundews: A Beginning

I took a trip to California Carnivores today! Or rather, I took a trip to Bodega Bay today, and went by California Carnivores on my way home. I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket and I knew what I wanted.

Tuberous sundews.

New plants from California Carnivores – always a happy sight.

A grower over on Terra Forums recently posted an amazing growing guide to tuberous sundews, including picture after picture of his collection. It made me eager to get started, even though I'm squeezing for every last square inch under my grow lights at the moment.

Both of the tuberous sundews I got are in section Stolonifera, which are among the more erect species. All tuberous 'dews are cool, but the upright species always stood out to me compared to the scrambling or rosetted species. This is Drosera rupicola.

And so it begins.

I liked the color, and the leaf shape is pretty nice. It's looking a little bit messy since I trimmed down the sporangia in the pot.

I'm really excited to have picked up this Drosera ramellosa. It has a really wonderful, whimsical shape.

The green makes it harder to see, but this is a very cool looking plant.

I'm hoping it'll get a bit more compact under my lights so that it can stand upright without getting floppy.

I also grabbed this little pot of Pinguicula esseriana because look how cute.

These pings are so tiny they're getting lost in the Utricularia bisquamata.

Pings are really too cute.

It was a fun day!

Some recent additions

I recently visited California Carnivores and took a lot of pictures. I also used $50 in gift cards that my Drosera burmannii won for me at the 2014 BACPS Show. After an amusing misstep trying to buy some display plants, I came away very happy with 5 new acquisitions. I then took them on an hour ride home in a baking hot car with broken AC. They looked a bit wilted right when they got home, but in the intervening couple weeks they've perked up nicely.

The funniest plant I got is Utricularia longifolia.

An organic-looking mound of U. longifolia and Sphagnum.

Damon was nice enough to hunt this plant up from somewhere in the back to sell to me, along with the living Sphagnum it's growing in.  U. longifolia is considered one of the weediest of the large, showy utric species. It also has truly fantastic flowers. My little plug is probably a ways away from blooming, but I've noticed some new growth peeking out from among the Sphagnum. Exciting!

I was also on the hunt for some pings. My girlfriend really likes them, and they add some nice diversity to my growspaces. They're also sort of hard to find for sale compared to sundews. But I found a cute little Pinguicula moranensis.

This plant looks so friendly. A friendly Ping.

Look at those cute little pink leaves! Ping are so adorable. I wonder what it is that makes them so cute? I should get some more and do some research :-P

Of course, I'm always looking for new sundews. I was able to get 3, including another addition to my Drosera capensis collection.

The red form of D. capensis is quite different from other forms, not just in color.

It's the red form! This form has long petioles and fairly narrow laminae, and of course that fantastic red color. Right now it's sort of off to the side in one of my annex trays. One of the many chores I need to complete is a re-organization and consolidation of my trays to be more efficient and to show off plants better.

The plant that least enjoyed the car ride, and which has taken the long time to get back in shape, is Drosera collinsae.

Hopefully this D. collinsae perks up even more in the next few weeks.

It's finally gotten a bit of dew production going and has recovered from looking totally wilted. Hopefully if I feed it and it puts on some new growth it will start looking even better.

The last sundew I got has been my favorite for the last few weeks. It's showy, dewy, and growing like crazy.

I've really been admiring this plant lately.

Drosera venusta! And look, it came with lots of free Utricularia in the pot, hahahah. I feel like pictures I've seen of D. venusta online haven't done it justice. I'd thought it was just a rosetted species like Drosera aliciae or something, but these upright leaves are super nice. Nice colors as well.

I'll have to take another trip soon, since they're supposed to have Drosera slackii in stock. Gotta get more sundews!

Field Trip: California Carnivores

A couple weeks ago I decided to take the hour trip to California Carnivores to use the gift cards I won at the BACPS Show back at the end of June. It's not too far, but it was a hot day, and the AC on my car is out. I was definitely happy to finally arrive.

The quirky sign and wonderful drought-friendly landscaping at California Carnivores.

Lots of Sarracenia basking in the blazing sun.

California Carnivores is located in Sebastopol, CA, a bit north of San Francisco. It's a really nice little town, comprised primarily of nurseries, antique stores, and apple orchards. California Carnivores is mostly a large greenhouse, along with some outdoor bogs/growing areas.

It's also got the nicest display of carnivorous plants probably on the West Coast. I made the mistake of trying to buy a couple display plants – embarrassing! (Sorry Damon). This post is mostly focused on their displays, which were really something special. Got quite a few pictures!

I don't know enough about Heliamphora to identify these, but they were in bloom and beautiful.

Utricularia longifolia putting on quite a show with some Sarracenia hybrids.

These (and several of the other more delicate plants) were growing near the wall of the nursery that was basically a huge swamp cooler. The cool, damp air was really nice, especially considering the temperature outside was in the low 90s F (~33 C). I wore a long sleeve shirt, which was a mistake.

This Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora was almost 4 ft (120 cm) tall. Wonderful!

I think this hanging basket of Drosera binata is probably the extrema form. Lots of branching and red color.

Amazing color on these Cephalotus follicularis.

Brocchinia reducta, a rare carnivorous bromeliad.

These Darlingtonia california had wonderful coloration, and were BIG. The head was about the size of my fist.

Drosera erythrorhiza ssp. squamosa should really be asleep for the summer by now.

In addition to the display plants and the regular stock (i.e. lots of Sarracenia, South African sundews, VFTs, various Nepenthes, and others) there was a section with some Rare and Exciting plants. The first that caught my eye was Sarracenia 'Adrian Slack'. These not-so-large specimens of the prized cultivar were going for $125. I wish I had a better Sarracenia setup (although I probably wouldn't invest in a rare cultivar like this for a while). My girlfriend asked why these were so special compared to other S. leucophylla and I had to do a lot of explaining.

The rare plant table is also the helpless yearning table.

These VFTs, however, required no explanation. Look at those silly little cartoon traps! Alas, I can't remember the name of the cultivar, or the price.

If I had a better VFT growing environment I would have totally snatched these up.

We also had a peek at one of their indoor propagation areas, with loads of plants getting prepared to be sold someday. Looks like a lot of work, but probably pretty satisfying work.

Carnivores for days!

It was a really fun trip, and I'll definitely be back later in the season, when Damon said they'll probably have some Drosera slackii available. I don't know if I'll be able to make it to the potluck BBQ this upcoming Saturday. I hope so! Gotta get my AC fixed first though. The plants that I brought back with me (which I'll post about later) did not enjoy the hour-long ride in a baking hot car.

One thing I noticed going through these pictures – the quality of light in a greenhouse like that is really ideal for picture taking. No harsh shadows or weird colors. Just pretty plants!

This bromeliad/Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) area is quite evocative.