Post-feeding shots.

Things get grisly around here after a feeding. Click the images for very high resolution.

Drosera burmannii, looking just as hungry as ever.

Drosera scorpioides, all curled up over one another.

My Drosera adelae baby seems to have taken well to feeding.

Check out the enormous quantity of dew on this Drosera capensis 'Albino'!

Even Drosera binata var. multifida f. extrema is getting in on the digesting action.

I'm really struck by how liquidy the plant food looks on a lot of these dews at they digest it right there on the leaf. What an extraordinary piece of evolution. It's part of why I love sundews. Hope to see lots of new growth in the upcoming weeks.

My Sarracenia, in the mean time, are quite adept at feeding themselves.

Those shadows are the piles of bugs. Looks like somebody chewed its way to freedom though. Sarracenia flava, like all Sarrs, is a ravenous eater.

Sarracenia flava just popped its top!

I've been waiting on my Sarracenia to open their first new pitchers of the season for a while now. I think part of what caused them to take so long was shipping stress, and part of it was probably that I buried the rhizome too deeply, since at the time I was potting these plants up I didn't know anything at all. I wish I had seen this post by the Pitcher Plantation, since it's an excellent description of how to go about potting/repotting Sarracenia. In fact, the whole three post series about building a bog garden has been great. If you're interested in Sarracenia at all, you should be reading that blog!

My plants first broke dormancy about 5 weeks ago, and I've been watching them in anticipation ever since. Today I spotted something from my back door.

Sarracenia growing outdoors, along with a VFT and a sad D. capensis.

That's Sarracenia flava, winning the race against S. leucophylla to be the first pitcher open this season. It's a striking chartreuse color, and is almost 2 feet tall.

A vivid, creamy new pitcher on S. flava, first of the season.

I'll be looking for S. leucophylla "Titan" to open next, then probably S. minor (Orange County, FL), and then S. alata "Heavy Veins" (Stone County, MS). My S. leucophylla (Hurricane Creek) that I won at the BACPS auction hasn't started pitchering yet – it's still got a flower hanging out and that's all. I hope it gets into gear soon.

It's time to catch some bugs.

Some plant progress photos

Decided to share some photos of my plants progressing and growing. It's fun! Although in the case of the VFT it's more "breaking dormancy" and less "getting more mature" but who cares. First, my mixed pot, featuring Drosera allantostigma and the mystery sundew.

Feb. 15, 2014

Apr. 7, 2014

  Sarracenia purpurea also has a few nice photos in my folder.

Jan. 28, 2014

Feb. 15, 2014

March 26, 2014

Finally, Dionaea muscipula.

Dec. 10, 2013

Apr. 3, 2014

Having a camera makes growing plants more fun. Do you have any good progress shots of your plants?

Sarracenia breaking dormancy

I mentioned last week that my Sarracenia were finally breaking their dormancy, but I was unable to get a decent picture. They've put on a little size since then, so today it's time to make that post.

S. alata (Stone County, MS) "Heavy Veins." Hope the veins are as nice as the name implies!

I got these plants back in mid February, in my first carnivorous plant trade. I actually didn't have much in the way of carnivorous trading material then, so I was lucky to find someone looking for cold hardy succulents. I was able to send him a couple Agave americana and Agave parryi var. huachucensis, as well as a bonus Sempervivum. In exchange I received S. minor (Orange County FL), S. flava typical, S. alata (Stone County, MS) "Heavy Veins," and S. leucophylla "Titan." None of them are registered cultivars, but it's nice to get species rather than hybrids to start off my collection, especially a few with location data.

S. minor (Orange County, FL).

I'll be the first to admit – I barely knew anything about growing Sarracenia when these showed up. This contributed to my anxiety as they sat around in the backyard, doing nothing. Meanwhile people all over the internet had pictures of big, handsome pitchers coming up.

S. flava, typical. Also a VFT photobomb.

The first growth I noticed was during a break in our 10 days or so of serious, constant rain, but I don't really think the rain is what woke them up. I think they were just adjusting to their new digs, sending out some new roots, and getting ready for the show. I was super relieved when I saw the growth starting up – it would have been embarrassing if I had made some catastrophic error and lost the plants.

S. leucophylla "Titan." This was the first of the four to wake up.

According to the grower, these are divisions from nice mature plants, 8 to 10 years old. I can't wait to see what the full flush of summertime pitchers looks like. In the mean time I'm enjoying seeing the funny little proto-pitchers push up noticeably every day.

My S. purpurea, which I bought from the Cactus Jungle, doesn't go dormant to quite the same degree as other species. It's been pitchering pretty regularly for the last month and a half or so, and continues growing nicely. There are also ants and gnats in the pitchers. Good job little guy!

S. purpurea. This plant is growing very vigorously, with loads of new pitchers in just a few weeks.