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.

Venus flytrap repotting

I got my first Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) from the Cactus Jungle back in October of 2013. Strictly speaking, it was my roommate's plant, but he very quickly gave me full custodial rights. Here we are right out the beginning.

We've come a long way.

Now, I like D. muscipula as much as the next guy, but they don't excite me as much as they excite, say, the Carnivore Girl. So I've sort of ignored this guy for the last 18 months or so, but recently things have started to get ridiculous.

A brief note before we continue – it was much, much too sunny out today to take decent pictures, at least with my phone (which is, at best, a blunt instrument). I was also busy repotting and trying to not get my phone wet and covered in peat. It took some serious Photoshop to get these in even semi-workable condition. Anyway. On to the plants.

A bit crowded in here.

As you can see, things uh, went a little crazy. The Cactus Jungle gets its VFTs from tissue culture, just like almost everyone, because VFTs are really, really cheap from tissue culture. One thing that happens with TC plants is that they can clump like crazy in the first year or two. That appears to be the case with my little plant. Luckily, I had a plan.

I was excited to find this pot.

A big pot. When I first started growing carnivores I came across a photo (which I can't find at the moment) of a nice, wide pot filled entirely with beautiful Venus flytrap mouths, all red and hungry-looking. It was pretty cool, and has been a minor goal in the back of my mind ever since. I picked this pot up at California Carnivores a couple weeks ago specifically for this purpose.

First though, I had to get this thing divided.

Pretty good for a 2-inch pot.

Based on the flower stalks I guessed there were at least 10 big divisions in here. I got it out of the pot and then started spraying it gently with the "center" setting on my garden hose. This started to reveal some nice-looking rhizomes.

They were all pretty healthy.

I then sat there working them apart and hosing them off before depositing them in a bit of a bath to wait it out (I learned this bit from the Carnivore Girl – her pictures are better though).

All taking a bath.

All told there ended up being 11 big divisions and 4 or 5 very small offsets that may or may not survive the stress of repotting. In any case, things are looking much better now.

Now with some room to stretch out.

Can't wait to see what this will look like with a full growing season under its belt.

Now, in order that I not fill a post entirely with over-manipulated, ugly photos, I present for your consideration this Sarracenia oreophila, which is inviting its pollinators to play a very dangerous game.

You can never trust an oreo.

Treacherous.

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).