New camera!

Yesterday I got a new phone, which is to say I got a new camera. I actually got this phone specifically for the camera, because my old phone really struggled to focus on close-up objects. This one does it beautifully! To celebrate, I've created a post of flowers – just the sort of thing I would really struggle to photograph with my old device. Here's to more closeups in the future!

Drosera callistos with the lovely orange and black.

I love the adorable dots on Drosera helodes.

The focus ended up being on the upcoming bud on this Drosera sessilifolia.

So much for cutting the flower stalk off my Drosera spiralis.

I had to bend this Drosera natalensis stalk away from the lights to get a picture. Lovely!

Utricularia heterosepala is a very nice, creamy pink color.

Utricularia lateriflora is a wonderful species. So glad I got it!

What more can I say about Utricularia longifolia?

Byblis liniflora always looks so unearthly.

I think Pinguicula laueana × emarginata has one of the prettiest flowers in the genus.

Pinguicula gigantea is so cheeky.

Pinguicula 'Aphrodite' and Pinguicula emarginata are just hanging out together.

Whew! That's a lot of flowers!

Some great-looking sundews

The BACPS Annual Show and Sale was yesterday, and it was lots of fun. I'm gonna make a big post about the juried show, but that's going to take a lot of work editing pictures and whatnot. In the meantime here's a few plants that you might appreciate.

This Drosera binata was discovered while I was helping repot some plants over at Predatory Plants in advance of the show.

Sproing!

That spring-looking thing at the bottom is the root ball. The plant had actually pushed itself out of its 1-inch plug, which is how Josh noticed it. Apparently this is descended from a D. binata he received for free at the first BACPS meeting he attended after coming back to the Bay after college. That plant apparently grew a huge root ball over the next couple years and then when he went into business selling plants he unpotted it and made a whole bunch of cuttings. That one little freebie has spawned thousands of D. binata plants for him to sell. What a great clone!

Speaking of spawning new plants, my Drosera capillaris "Albino" is flowering for the first time in a long time.

I've been waiting for another flower on this guy.

You'll noticed I used the descriptor "Albino" instead of the location "Alabama." There's a story there, but I'm not quite ready to tell it yet. Still doing more research. Definitely looking forward to getting some more seed from this guy though.

My Drosera prolifera is doing as well as I've ever seen it doing lately.

Lots of plants!

It's going through another bout of flowering, so there are lots of new plantlets. I'll have to either pot this up into a larger size or divide the pot pretty soon – I'm running out of spots to stick the plantlets into the moss.

On the pygmy front, this new pot of Drosera helodes is looking fantastic.

Perfect little sundews.

The thing I really like about this species is the contrast between the white tentacles and the red laminae, which turn into neat little circles. Great distribution in the pot too.

Finally, just to whet the appetite for the upcoming show post.

It was lots of fun, but I was tired by the end.

It was a good day!

Flowers!

There's a lot in bloom right now. It's spring!

Drosera helodes.

Sarracenia flava.

Drosera omissa with lots of flowers.

Utricularia calycifida.

Drosera sessilifolia (probably).

Utricularia subulata.

Drosera natalensis.

And it's not just carnivores that are in bloom. Peep this Cleistocactus tupizensis.

C. tupizensis.

Nice!

Sundews Etc. one year in

One year ago today I made my first post here on the blog, about my blooming Drosera capillaris.

D. capillaris, 3-7-2014, from Flowers and D. capillaris "Alabama".

Things were so much simpler back then.

Here are some Fun Facts about the Sundews Etc. blog:

• Around 17% of my traffic comes from Ukraine. Thanks for tuning in, Ukrainian growers!
• Both of my Grower Interviews are among my top 10 most popular posts. I guess I should do some more.
• Based on the labels (to the right) I talk about Drosera burmannii more than any other species (big surprise), but pygmy sundews as a group are a close second.
• There are just shy of 1100 photos of carnivorous plants on this blog for 153 posts, around 7 per post on average.

Now, let's look back at some old posts and see how far we've come.

March

Dionaea muscipula, 3-12-2014, from Things are growing!

April 

Drosera scorpioides, 4-3-2014, from Pygmies and D. adelae.

May

Drosera 'Marston Dragon', 5-26-2014, from The Housefly and the Dragon.

June

Drosera allantostigma, 6-20-2014, from I really love Drosera allantostigma.

July

Drosera capensis 'Albino', 7-4-2014, from Repotting a few sundews.

August

Drosera helodes and Drosera allantostigma, 8-26-2014, from Checking in on various plants.

September

Drosera adelae. 9-11-2014, from Drosera adelae is offset crazy.

October

Praying mantis and Sarracenia leucophylla, 10-25-2014, from A thief among the Sarracenia.

November

Pinguicula laueana × emarginata. 11-21-2014, from Pinguicula roundup, November 2014.

December

Utricularia calycifida flower, 12-6-2014, from A few new blooms.

January

Drosera ultramafica × spatulata, 1-27-2015, from Some progress shots.

February

Drosera venusta, 2-9-2015, from Random pictures of pretty sundews.

Finally, here are a few more posts I noticed looking through the archives that might be of interest to newer reader.

• BACPS Annual Show and Sale Part One: The Juried Show
• Field Trip: California Carnivores
• 100th Post! I photographed the whole collection!
• Field Trip: Nepenthes at the Conservatory of Flowers

And of course, there are Plant Profiles, Cultivation Guides, and Grower Interviews on my Blog Series page.

Thank you all for reading – sharing pictures and talking about my plants with fellow growers makes everything a lot more fun. Here's to another good year!

Gemmae explosion

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! It's wintertime and my pygmies going nuts on their gemmae. Pretty much every mature species in my collection is producing gemmae, and some are really going overboard with it. It's like they've caught the Christmas spirit.

My original Drosera allantostigma is crammed full.

This is definitely too many gemmae to count.

The pot I got from Brie is looking a bit messy since I've been using it to demonstrate what gemmae are to people.

Getting gemmae everywhere.

The Drosera scorpioides I started from gemmae myself are just getting started.

These D. scorpioides are so lovely and dewy.

While the ones I got at the spring BACPS meeting are going bananas.

Packed in like grapeshot.

I believe I see gemmae even on my long-suffering Drosera pygmaea. I need to bring it forward in the tray so I can look at it more easily.

Maybe after this my D. pygmaea will finally settle in.

The Drosera helodes look almost ready to harvest.

These D. helodes look like they're about to explode.

There are a couple forming on the stem-forming Drosera dichrosepala.

That one in the back is just getting started.

While the closely-related Drosera enodes appears to just barely be getting started. Beautiful plants though!

The colors on these plants have been fantastic lately.

And finally, the most festive of them all, Drosera callistos.

Little Christmas wreaths!

Happy growing everyone. I hope your pygmies are doing just as well. And if you don't have any pygmies yet, keep an eye out on the blog – I'm going to have lots of gemmae to get rid of soon.

Random updates

Once again, there are a few things I wanna talk about that don't all form a cohesive theme.

First up, I've got some strikes on my Dionaea 'B-52' leaf pulling.

Seeing a leaf pulling strike hasn't gotten any less exciting.

I received my D. 'B-52' from Brie back at the end of September, and in the course of shipping and repotting a couple of leaves fell off. I decided to give them a shot as pullings, and while one shriveled right away the other stayed strong and has finally struck, about 2.5 months later. Really looking forward to getting some plantlets from this little guy.

We've been having a lot of gemmae chat around here lately, and I noticed today that my Drosera helodes seem to be taking the plunge.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I think I also noticed gemmae on my Drosera callistos, Drosera enodes, and possibly on my (still struggling) Drosera pygmaea. I'll either need to buy more lights and pot these new ones up, or sell and trade my gemmae away.

In other propagation news, my Drosera aliciae seedlings have put on a bit of size.

A nice number of seedlings in this pot.

This is good cause my main D. aliciae plant is looking really weird. I'll have to make a post on it. It looks like it's got aphids, but I can't find any on the plant. Anyway, I guess you should always try to have at least a couple backup plants in propagation.

Finally, my Drosera intermedia 'Cuba' are forming hibernacula (dormant buds), probably in response to the reduced photoperiod.

Look at that cute little dormant bud.

It's good to see, since they've definitely died back a bit. I think the combination of less light, somewhat lower temperatures, and no food (I haven't really fed them at all lately) is was sent them into dormancy. Unlike with my Drosera filiformis, I'm positive these aren't dead.

It's cool how there are still seasons, even under my lights.