Storm vs. Sarracenia

My Sarracenia are very much at the mercy of the elements. My growing area is not really protected from anything – luckily for the plants, the San Francisco Bay Area has a very mild climate. It almost never freezes, and the hottest days are rarely much higher than 90 degrees F (32 C). However, the winds around here can be fairly strong, and when we get one of our rare storms they can get very strong. This can be bad news for Sarracenia, depending on the species/cultivar.

This Sarracenia flava var. cuprea probably suffered the most damage, having produced, as it did, a very tall, skinny pitcher.

S. flava var. cuprea got that lean.

It's not broken, but it doesn't want to stand up again. The flower is also alive, just all bent over.

The flower on my Sarracenia alata "red throat" was, alas, less fortunate.

Poor broken S. alata flower.

Of course, seeing as I'm not doing any sort of crosses this year I'm not all that concerned with the disposition of the flowers.

My Sarracenia 'Abandoned Hope' faces a peculiar problem. Because I haven't potted it into something larger (it's still in the 4-inch pot from California Carnivores) it doesn't have a very heavy base. Combine that with large, sail-like pitchers, and even if the pitcher tubes don't break it keeps falling over (see the first picture in this post). I had to reposition it in the corner.

The color continues to deepen on this plant.

Should be safe there.

I also had some leaning in my large Sarracenia oreophila and in the Sarracenia ×moorei, but I think that was mostly due to excess water buildup. I shook the water out and both of those plants seem fine.

My good old Sarracenia flava var. maxima proves that the pitcher lid is good for something. The intact pitcher had very little water buildup, while the pitchers with damaged or totally removed lids were filled almost to the top.

I love looking down the pitcher tubes.

Luckily this plant, while sufficiently tall to be elegant, is also sufficiently stocky to be strong. It really is an excellent clone.

I also got a few more gallons of rainwater out of this storm, so there's that at least.

Sarracenia out back

It's still early in the season for Sarracenia, but my plants have gotten a bit of a head start, considering that spring arrived in the Bay Area sometime in mid-January. I went out and took some photos in the early evening today, since the diffuse light shows them to much better effect that the glaring sun that they enjoy during the middle of the day.

The first thing I want to highlight is Sarracenia 'Red Bug'. I picked this plant up from California Carnivores just under 3 weeks ago, and it is looking great out in the full sun. Check out the tan it's got going.

S. 'Red Bug' and Drosera filiformis on March 17th.

S. 'Red Bug' on April 2nd.

Now I can see why it's got that name.

Nearby my Sarracenia 'Abandoned Hope' has popped a couple of big, beautiful pitchers.

I love the orange-yellow-red coloring.

These are still really fresh too – they should color up even more deeply over the summer.

I've finally got a few new pitchers on my poor Sarracenia purpurea that got all torn up by pigeons last year.

This was one of my first carnivores. It makes me nostalgic.

I love how the new pitchers have this sort of porcelain glow to them – they almost don't look real.

Speaking of glowing, since the sun was heading down I got a great backlit shot of the newest pitchers on my Sarracenia minor

It's lit up like a lamp. That would be a cool lamp!

This one gets nice and dark orange after a couple of months in the sun too.

The nearby Sarracenia ×formosa (which is S. psittacina × minor) only has two pitchers so far, but they're developing nicely.

"Formosa" means beautiful in Latin. Appropriate!

I like the color gradient running down the pitcher tube a lot.

There's a large clump of Sarracenia alata red throat that has 3 big flowers and is just sending up its first pitcher.

These flowers are so cute coming up from the rhizomes this way.

I'm looking forward to having a big clump of pitchers soon.

I received this Sarracenia ×moorei (which is S. flava × leucophylla) as a bonus plant in a trade a couple months ago. I had no idea how it was going to look.

Charming closeup here.

Looking pretty nice so far! I'm hoping the colors become more distinct as the season progresses.

My original Sarracenia flava has essentially no coloring to speak of (though it's not anthocyanin-free). What it does have is some of the most nicely-shaped and proportionate pitchers I've seen anywhere.

Some of these pitchers are bug-damaged. Darn!

Now that is a lovely plant. If my conditions were more controlled I bet I could grow it out into a show-worthy specimen.

I've got a young Sarracenia oreophila that has some really nice venation going on.

Enjoying the last rays of sun.

It'll be another year at least before the pitchers are big and mature, but I bet it will look fantastic.

Meanwhile my large clump of S. oreophila has the nicest composition of any of my pots outside.

A nice little S. oreophila vignette.

Wonderful plant!

I'm very excited for the next few months.

Things are going crazy out back

Spring is already in full swing here at Pinkhouse. My Sarracenia are throwing up blooms left and right. Last year I didn't get any flowers, so this is exciting!

Sarracenia flava var. maxima.

Sarracenia flava var. cuprea.

Sarracenia alata "Heavy Veins" (Stone County, MO).

Sarracenia alata "red throat".

Sarracenia ×moorei.

Sarracenia oreophila.

Little alien heads popping up everywhere. I wonder if I should do any crosses this year? Maybe I will!

This last Sunday was the first BACPS Social Plant Swap. We drank beer and traded plants and it was great. I got a Pinguicula laueana.

Pinguicula laueana with flower.

Look at that big red flower! I should take some pullings.

On a final note, I've started an Instagram. I'll try and it regularly with new pictures. I'm expanding my social media profile (follow me on Facebook too).

Several exciting new blooms

Big surprise in the collection recently – a flower stalk is coming up on my Utricularia longifolia!

There's another, smaller stalk off to the right. Yay!

Utricularia flowers are always fun, and U. longifolia has some of the best. I can't wait for these blooms to pop. I'll prolly take them to the April BACPS meeting if they've opened by then. Probably pot them up into something nicer too.

I've also got the first Sarracenia blooms coming up this season – Sarracenia flava (which also has a pitcher coming up) and Sarracenia alata "red black" (one of my recent acquisitions).

These buds look like little alien heads. It's funny.

These are my first Sarr blooms. Cool!

I just trimmed all the old dead pitchers and stuff off of my Sarrs, so we're ready for spring. I am so excited – things are going to look amazing in a couple of months.

Finally, the first of the pygmies from my big order back in December has bloomed. It's Drosera omissa!

They're just trying so hard!

It only took 9 weeks from gemmae to flower. That's ridiculous. The other pygmies are trucking along (I should do another pygmy roundup soon), but nothing is even close to these guys. I haven't even fed them at all! Pygmies are awesome. Everyone should grow pygmies.

A note for any readers of the blog living in the greater Bay Area – the BACPS is having it's first social seed swap this coming Sunday, the 22nd, at the Westbrae Biergarten in Berkeley from 3 to 7 pm. If you're free you should try and come down! The Carnivore Girl will be there, as will California Carnivores' own Peter d'Amato. Bring seeds, gemmae, leaf pulls, and cuttings to swap with other growers, have a couple beers, and geek out with fellow plant nerds for a couple hours. The location is dog and kid friendly, and within easy walking distance of the North Berkeley BART along the Ohlone Trail. Hope to see you there!

BACPS Fall 2014 meeting

This last Saturday was the Fall meeting of the BACPS, held at the UC Botanical Garden. It was held as usual in the Conference Center, near the Tropical House.

The UCBG Conference Center.

Unlike usual, the smaller room in the Conference Center was occupied by a pretty cool display about food crops in the Americas.

I think this was a fall harvest sort of display, and a very good one.

Also unusual, but less cool, was that due to various miscommunications the meeting was scheduled on a Cal home game day, which caused problems with traffic and road closures and definitely reduced the total meeting turnout. However, it was still a lot of fun. People were milling around and chatting before the meeting actually got started.

Chatting is half the fun.

The featured presenter of the meeting was Drew Martinez, a fantastic grower who had a number of winning plants at the 2014 BACPS Show (including a Drosera regia that I think was my favorite plant there). He also has an MS in optical engineering, and was there to talk to us about artificial lighting.

Drew holding forth.

The talk was jam-packed with information! In fact, a little too jam-packed – apparently this is supposed to be more like a 2 hour presentation, and he managed to squeeze it into about 45 minutes. He discussed which wavelengths of light are photosynthetically useful to plants, how much of that light is produced by various sources of artificial lighting, and efficiency per watt and also in terms of cost.

One of many extremely useful slides. I wish I could consult them regularly!

This was all extremely useful information, but as I said, it was definitely an abbreviated presentation. Apparently his data will be published by the Associazione Italiana Piante Carnivore (in English) in their next quarterly journal. Anyone who is interested in artificial lighting for carnivorous plants should check it out. To spoil the surprise a bit, cool white T8 bulbs seem to be overall the most efficient in terms of photosynthetically-useful light per watt. LEDs are currently best used for specific purposes, such as smaller spaces, or to encourage certain characteristics (deeper color, for example). This is a gross simplification, so just make sure to hunt down that article when it's published! I'll share it if I find it first.

The other main part of the meeting was an informal "late bloomers" show. This was a chance for members to show off plants that are looking better now, in early fall, than they were back in June at the annual show. Unfortunately there were only 4 plants entered, probably partly due to some people skipping the meeting because of the football game. There was an anthocyanin-free Sarracenia psittacina from Larry Logoteta, a Sarracenia hybrid from Doris Quick, my own Drosera spiralis, and a Drosophyllum lusitanicum by a fellow named Richard from San Jose.

AF S. psittacina, Larry Logoteta.

Sarracenia hybrid, Doris Quick.

Drosera spiralis, Devon Peterson (that's me!).

Drosophyllum lusitanicum, Richard (I'll add a last name later if I can). This was my favorite.

My D. spiralis was kind enough to bloom for the meeting, and it impressed enough people for me to win a $15 gift certificate to California Carnivores. Fernando Rivadavia commented that the flower had been open for a long time, and it really was. It was fully open at 11 am or so when I started getting ready to go to the meeting, and it only started closing around 3 pm. That's a long time for a sundew flower!

The meeting was pretty fun, even though it was a bit stressful with the football game and all. I mentioned to Stephen and Doris, two of the board members, that I'd be interested in getting a bit more involved with the BACPS, so we'll see what I end up doing. I'd really like to have more regular, casual meetups with local growers. That'd be a fun way to swap plants and information.

I'll leave you with two pictures of plants from the vendors. First are some enormous Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis and Sarracenia alata var. rubricorpora that were amazing (though a bit out of my budget) from California Carnivores, followed by an incredibly darling tray of Utricularia sandersonii from Predatory Plants.

These are mature divisions from their outdoor bogs. Really amazing plants!

A whole field of angry bunnies!

Good times.

Challenges growing Sarracenia outdoors

I don't post about my Sarracenia very often. In large part that's because they're really difficult to photograph with my phone camera, which loves to focus on the wood grain of the fence in the background rather than the pitcher in the foreground. Whatever.

In any case, here's how they looked today.

The outdoor growing area is still pretty haphazard.

First of all, they are definitely pitchering pretty nicely, especially that Sarracenia leucophylla in the background, and the Sarracenia flava  var. maxima on the left. I've seen some good rhizome expansion too, especially on the S. leucophylla.

The clones I have are pretty attractive. The S. flava maxima has wonderful lid shape, and the Sarracenia minor is really nicely colored. However, there are definitely problems. First of all, I think this area is much too windy. Check out these broken pitchers.

Broken S. flava pitcher.

Broken S. alata pitcher.

Broken S. minor pitcher.

It can get powerfully windy in my neighborhood and I think it's just too much for these pitchers. The breaks are too clean to be chewing, and the pitchers are often younger, so I don't think it's just too many bugs.

I also have a problem with pigeons. I've seen them perch on my plants and peck out the bugs. Pretty sure that's what happened to Sarracenia 'Abandoned Hope'.

I still haven't Abandoned Hope yet!

And my Sarracenia purpurea has been totally shredded.

Someday my S. purpurea will be back in shape.

However, there's new growth on both of these, so it's not like they can't bounce back. I guess I'll just have to be okay with somewhat ratty looking Sarracenia until I put together a nicer growing area. Oh well! Growing carnivores is always a learning process.

One big plus I've noticed lately is that the S. leucophylla "Hurricane Creek" that I won at the Spring BACPS meeting auction has finally started sending up a pitcher. I couldn't get a decent picture, but that's exciting! I had given up on it almost.

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.