Plants in full regalia

Look at this Utricularia longifolia.

Three flowers and more on the way!

Just look at it.

I'm very proud.

I promised U. longifolia in my last post, and here it is. I love this plant!

Seeing this bloom show (which is far from over, by the way!) had me poking around the collection looking for plants are are in a similar state of full display. Most plants don't look their best 100% of the time, but these ones at least are currently looking spectacular.

Pinguicula 'Aphrodite' has a couple of cute blooms on it.

Hey there little guys!

Insanely, I have several friends who claim to not particularly care for this ping cultivar. How can you resist that little plant! It's much too adorable.

This large Drosera prolifera is doing very well, especially considering that I've had to separate out a couple of plants from this pot recently.

I think any pot of D. prolifera will inevitably end up a clump if it's happy.

The plants don't quite have the color they did in the middle of winter when things were quite chilly in the garage, but they're still looking pretty fabulous.

The plant that really caught my eye today, and which inspired this post (besides the U. longifolia) was definitely my beloved Drosera ×Dork's Pink.

Be still my heart.

This is just incredible. Based on a rough estimate, I'd guess there are upwards of 50 active traps on this plant, perfectly arranged in this beautiful pink spiral.

Nearby, my Byblis liniflora seems frozen in time as this unspeakably delicate assembly of dew.

This is still the plant that most people notice when they visit my collection.

I keep trying to find a good similie for it. Sort of like a stand of tiny, sticky trees. Or a city skyline. Such a good plant.

One plant I don't mention much, but of which I am very proud, is this Dionaea muscipula 'Justina Davis'.

Penny for scale. Those are big traps!

This is a nice, mature rhizome, as you can see by the trap size. So far it seems to be doing pretty well under my lights. I hope it gets enough of a dormancy in the garage.

Finally, this pot contains my original Drosera capensis, which is to say, my first ever carnivorous plant. I planted it into a large pot, which was a huge mistake, but really, who can resist a mass of D. capensis?

It's a jungle in there.

Someday soon I'll probably take this out and divide it all up, but for now it's sorta fun seeing it losing its mind. Looking good there, D. capensis!

What happens after 3 months of neglect?

So we all know that I haven't been giving my plants quite the attention they deserve lately. But what really drove it home for me was seeing Drosera prolifera take things into its own hands.

Thus the name I guess.

Look at these little plantlets just dangling in midair. Tell me that's not hilarious.

Hahahah whoops! Let's see what else is going on around the collection.

Drosera 'Emerald's Envy' doesn't seem to have enjoyed the handful of heat waves we've had recently.

Sorry about the heat little dude.

I don't think this guy is toast though – there's a new flush of leaves there, and the weather should be cooler over all pretty soon.

As I was preparing this post, I was planning on saying "The smaller Pinguicula reticulata died while I wasn't looking," but then I went in for a picture and realized it was just dormant.

So tiny I almost lost it.

So tiny! The larger plant didn't go dormant, and is looking great.

What an unbelievable red.

Check out that color! I'm swooning here.

The Drosera occidentalis that I had given up on as a lost cause sprouted up out of nowhere on me.

I'm continually surprised by how hard it is to actually kill a plant.

Look at those cute little nubbins! I don't know why everyone isn't an obsessive pygmy collector.

The Drosera madagascariensis, which I've been needing to trim back for a year, have given up on the stakes and are just splayed out everywhere.

Stems everywhere!

There's a lot of flowers stalks I need to trim in there too...

I've missed photographing 2 Byblis liniflora flowers during the last couple months, but it looks like a couple more might be on the way.

The colors in this plant are so subtle and fine. I love it.

I really like this plant. It's so fragile-looking.

Finally, the best thing to come out of this period of neglect is my Pinguicula 'Aphrodite', which is looking absolutely stunning right now.

Again, thus the name.

The color plus the dew is nuts. And it's offsetting!

All told the collection is still looking pretty good inside (don't ask me about my Sarracenia – that's for another, more somber post). I'm really fortunate that the climate in the Bay Area is very sundew-friendly, and that my growing setup is so self-regulating. The timer keeps the lights on the right cycle, and the cool nights keep the plants from frying. I even got quite lax with water – letting my trays go dry for several days at a time – and the plants didn't noticeably suffer.

This is not to say that I could ignore my plants forever. I've got a lot of trimming and a bit of repotting to do to keep things tidy in my collection. Fortunately the Bayer 3-in-1 seems to have finally taken care of my aphid problem. Looking forward to a good autumn. It's almost gemmae season!

A study in dew

I'm off traveling right now! I took some pictures of some of my dewiest plants before I left so I could share them with you all.

Drosera hamiltonii looking about as good as they ever do. It's pretty good!

Drosera prolifera has really liked the cooler temperatures in the garage.

Drosera capensis red form leaf just showing off.

Drosera aliciae from the Community Pot. Great plant!

These are the best-looking Drosera adelae in the colony right now. Lovely!

Sundews are the coolest.

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!

Pygmy progress and random updates

My pygmy garden is really starting to come along.

The Pygmy Garden is still, uh, progressing.

Impressive right? Hah. I'm really just putting this picture on the blog as a growth rate reference for later. It's easier to see the development on the individual pots though.

Drosera silvicola plantlets developing from gemmae.

Drosera omissa plantlets from gemmae.

Drosera barbigera, still more gemmae than plantlet.

They're still blending in pretty well with the sand, but I see nice growth over all. It'll get easier once they're a little bigger. Then I can feed them and they'll put on good size. If I can manage to feed them regularly, at least.

The strikes on my Dionaea muscipula 'B-52' are developing nicely.

It's cool how the strikes are different colors.

It'd be great if I got 2 plantlets out of this.

Nearby I've got that Drosera anglica CA x HI that had been ignored when I'd thought the leaf cutting had failed. It was far from the lights, but now I've moved it in to color up some more.

Starting to show some red.

There are two plants right up next to each other in this pot too. Nice!

And finally, my Drosera prolifera just keeps looking great. It's about time this plant started doing well.

The dew is finally coming in for these guys.

Drosera prolifera seems to be doing better

I received a Drosera prolifera back in April from the NASC Auction. It struggled for a while in my care, and by August or so it was looking pretty shot.

This poor plant looks fried.

I suspect its original conditions had had somewhat lower light and decidedly higher humidity. This photo was actually taken shortly after I moved it from its original position directly under the lights to a new one at the edge of the tray, where the light is somewhat reduced. I guess my instinct with this plant was correct, because it's looking pretty good lately.

It's really neat seeing them reach up out of the moss.

Also looking good is that Sphagnum. It's growing like crazy, and it's all the D. prolifera can do to reach up above it with its extra long petioles. There are also several babies poking up around the pot.

D. prolifera plantlets have to work to not get swallowed by moss.

Living Sphagnum is a pretty cool potting medium, but it makes the plants work for it.

One thing I've noticed about plants I receive from other growers is that sometimes they'll severely shrink back in my conditions and then regrow nicely. One thing it's good to know when trading or buying plants is what their typical growing conditions are. It can help you acclimate them to their new homes more easily.

My Drosera adelae (another of the Three Sisters of Queensland, and a close relative of D. prolifera) is going bonkers.

Look at this ridiculous D. adelae bush. I wonder if this is how they look in habitat.

It's also sending roots out the bottom of the pot and tossing up plantlets in the tray water.

I should take care that the roots don't invade other pots.

I sorta feel silly deciding to do some leaf cuttings of D. adelae as part of the Summer Batch. The cutting that struck is looking cute though!

It's so pretty and gem-like when small like this.

Wish I could get that nice red color on my mature plants.

Finally, in non-carnivorous news, there's a flower bud forming on my Aloe x spinosissima.

Aloes bloom in winter, and there are lots planted around the Bay. It's a real treat.

This is the first year it will bloom, and I'm excited. Aloe flowers are really pretty.

Drosera spiralis in full bloom

I know I've been talking about flowers lately, but I'm so proud of my Drosera spiralis.

Recently caught a nice fly too!

Caught it fully open and in lovely bloom. I fiddled around a bit with a toothpick among the sex parts to help it possibly self-pollinate, but I need to get a small paintbrush to do it right. I hope another flower opens up tomorrow so I can take it to the BACPS meeting.

Some other plants are looking pretty nice lately. The Sphagnum in this Drosera prolifera pot is swallowing the plantlets.

The always-changing D. prolifera pot.

Maybe that's what the long petioles are for?

This presumed Drosera spatulata is also being eaten by Sphagnum.

Love this moss!

I think I'm going to take this pot to show off as well, since the moss is just such a nice color.

Right next door my Drosera natalensis seedlings are chugging along.

Feeding makes a huge difference with sundew seedlings.

The feeding has made a big difference.

Finally, my Pinguicula moranensis has gotten a good deal larger since I bought it a couple months ago.

Such a cutie.

I think I'm going to not force it to go dormant. If it starts forming succulent leaves then I'll move it to a different tray and scale back the water, but for now it looks really good.

Unfortunately it doesn't look like I'll have any plants available to bring to the raffle/auction for this BACPS meeting. I have a few selections from the Summer Batch that are coming along, but they're not potted up or anything. Next time!

A few post-feeding shots

A note: I am still working on changing up my photo hosting, but I didn't want to put off updating the blog too much. I'll just migrate the new images over.

I fed most of my collection a few day ago.

Drosera alicae eating heartily.

I've described how I feed my sundews in detail in an earlier post, but in brief I use beta fish food, grind it up in a little mortar and pestle, and apply it in a couple of different ways:

• For rosetted species (like Drosera aliciae and Drosera burmannii) I usually just pinch some up with my fingers and sprinkle it onto the plants.
• For plantlets, seedlings, and certain species (like Drosera spiralis and Drosera filiformis) I dip a toothpick in some water, wipe off the excess moisture, and then use the damp toothpick to pick up and apply the ground fish food.
• For larger species that have longer petioles (like Drosera anglica or Drosera capensis) I will mix the ground fish food with a tiny amount of water, just enough to form a dense paste. I then apply chunks to the laminae with a toothpick. Sometimes the damp toothpick method above will end up with a bit of this sort of paste on the tip, which I can then use.

Little Drosera prolifera plantlet emerging from the moss.

I try to feed my plants every 2 weeks at least, but lately it's been more like once a month. That's still not too shabby, but regular feeding really speeds up growth and keeps the sundews healthy.

Exceptionally hungry Drosera filiformis.

I love seeing the plants respond to feeding. Some are very dramatic, like the D. filiformis above. I didn't even know that the whole leaf could roll up like that! It's certainly not very common. Of course, sometimes the feeding process just makes the plants look straggly, like on this Drosera spiralis leaf.

Silly, string looking leaf on D. spiralis.

However, it's always nice knowing they will be stronger and healthier once new growth comes in. Plus, feeding helps out in flowering, and I want to see a show from this guy!

Feed your sundews! They love it.

Lots of Drosera allantostigma munching away.