I've been doing a bit of trading lately, after having been out of the game for a while. Got some fun new plants in!
First off, it's my first
Cephalotus follicularis!
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| So little! |
I've been overdue for a Ceph. This is a small one, but it holds great promise! This (and the next two plants) are from a trade with David Flocken, who I
recently profiled in a
Grower Interview.
This is
Drosera spatulata 'Tamlin', a well-known cultivar of the infamously messy
D. spatulata complex.
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| A D. spatulata with an actual identity. Nice! |
D. 'Tamlin' is named after Tamlin Dawnstar, a very well-respected member of the community who has been in prison for (if I recall) growing small amounts of marijuana. Tamlin unfortunately got arrested before the recent relaxing of the law around marijuana, but he was known as a very giving member of the community in days past (and hopefully will be again soon). I've seen mature specimens of this cultivar that look quite a bit like
Drosera ultramafica ×
spatulata, so I'm interested to see how it grows in.
Finally, I couldn't do a trade with David without getting my hands on a
Drosera capensis "Big Pink".
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| Drosera capensis "Big Pink". |
I'm very excited to see how this plant matures. Given how David talked it up I've got high hopes indeed. Getting a good new form of
D. capensis is always cause for rejoicing.
A little bit ago I also did a trade around some South American
Drosera. Unfortunately, it looks like the
Drosera latifolia leaves I was trying to start from cuttings didn't take off.
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| Poor dead leaf cuttings. |
I'm pretty sure that I'm to blame with this. I've been absolutely terrible at keeping water levels high lately, and I think it just got too dry for these cuttings. I've got a scheme for improving success with leaf cuttings though, I'll have to trial it soon.
My
Drosera graomogolensis root cutting, on the other hand, has 2 strikes and I'd be amazed if I don't get more soon.
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| First strike on D. graomogolensis. |
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| Second strike on D. graomogolensis. |
Root cuttings are the obviously best way to go for propagating a lot of sundew species, but I'm glad these guys have been so good about it. I can't wait to have some
D. graomogolensis – it's a beautiful sundew.
Finally, I've very nearly hardened off my
Drosera felix a.k.a.
Drosera kaieteurensis.
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| I think it looks very happy! |
Apparently the specific epithet "felix" is currently considered synonymous with "kaieteurensis", which I think is a bummer, because the word "felix" means "happy", which is a great specific epithet. In any case, it seems to be doing well. I almost wish it was a bit less blushed, since it actually seems a little over-lit currently. I'm not too worried though, it's got some decent dew there.
Trading is fun, but it's a lot of work! I've got some space in my collection recently (I've cleared out a few old pots), so I've still got room too expand. There are always more
Drosera out there!
