Plants I've looked at in the last six weeks: an incomplete catalogue

Hahahah okay let's just admit that I'm probably not going to make 17 posts in a month again (like I did back in April '14) any time soon. Okay well, that established let's see what photos have been languishing on my phone not being posted anywhere.

Drosera binata 'Marston Dragon' looked pretty nuts back on July 31st.

I wonder what the total volume of that dew is. Probably an ounce or two.

I still have no idea what I'm supposed to do with this plant. At least it looks rad as heck.

Fair warning, since I'm gonna be using pictures I've taken at work a fair amount, there are gonna be more neps than there have been on the blog in the past. Considering this Nepenthes eymae × jacquelineae though, can you blame me?

I really like the glaucous character of the pitcher body.

This is a freshly-opened pitcher on what is probably my 4th favorite nep in the greenhouse (please don't ask me what the top 3 are, I have no idea). Wowzer!

Don't worry though, there are also utrics at the greenhouse, such at this Utricularia blanchetii.

So small and fancy.

This is probably the most floriferous of the new little terrestrials I've been messing with lately. It's also completely adorable!

And at home, I still have sundews, even if I'm barely able to rouse myself to water them properly. Here's my Drosera kaieteurensis starting a new flower stalk.

Note that I didn't refer to it as Drosera felix. That because when I showed photos of it to Fernando Rivadavia he was unequivocal that the fuzzy flower stalk indicated D. kaieteurensis. He had no strong opinions about the purported synonymy of the two taxa, but insisted that if the flower stalk was fuzzy it couldn't be D. felix. So there.

Another South American sundew with a difficult-to-spell toponym for its specific epithet is Drosera graomogolensis. It's also a total beast in spite of all my neglect.

This is an extravagant plant.

Root cuttings are an awesome way to get big plants fast, especially if it's one of the species with big fat roots. Great stuff!

Another utric that I'm super stoked about is Utricularia biloba, which opened its first flowers for me a week or so ago.

These also have a neat chubby spur that's bright green.

As others have said of this species, photos don't do justice to the color, which is a deep violet with a hazy blue depth to it. Weirdly, the blue comes out more for me if I blink rapidly while looking at the flowers. Super interesting plant! Thanks Howard!

Finally, I've been selling select plants on Facebook – one-off neps, as well as new items like utrics and sundews that aren't in huge production yet. This Nepenthes fusca sold almost immediately this morning. I can't imagine why.

I wish we had way more of this species than we currently do. It's wonderful!

Anyway, those are some plants. They're pretty cool.

Some recent trading

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!

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.

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".

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.

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.

First strike on D. graomogolensis.

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.

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!