Outdoor things

I unexpectedly had the day off yesterday, so I decided to dedicate myself to tidying up my outdoor plants. That's mostly my cactus and succulent collection, but I also rearranged some carnivores (including moving my VFT and a small D. capensis outside, making a bit of room under my lights). It was great! I love spending a day out with my plants.

The best part of my day was putting together a display shelf for my cacti and succulents. Too many of them had been sitting the ground, too low to be appreciated and all cluttered. But now things are looking a lot nicer!

The cinderblocks and 2x4 shelf was pretty inexpensive for how much of a difference it made in my backyard.

Cacti and agaves really look nice with some backlighting. Here are a few highlights from my collection.

Agave tequilana 'Sunrise' (along with – from left – Cleistocactus tupizensis, Agave parryi var. huachucensis, Opuntia subulata monstrose), and a mixed African succulent planting..

Unidentified Mammillaria – the first blooms since I've had it.

Stenocactus crispatus, looking even more fabulous than usual.

Clockwise from back left: Euphorbia trigona, Kalanchoe eriophylla, Agave americana, Agave 'Joe Hoak', Crassula 'Moonglow', mixed Haworthia/Gasteria planter, Agave schidigera 'Shira Ito no Ohi'

I also tidied up the old display stand that my roommates made for me back in November. No more plants just abandoned on the ground!

Much like my lights, I remember when this plant stand seemed to have a lot of extra space.

In the background are my outdoor carnivores. Their digs aren't quite as fancy, but hopefully I'll be able to address that lack soon enough.

My outdoor carnivore collection is a bit slim!

These round trays are pretty inefficient in terms of water loss, but they'll have to do until I can purpose-build some more ideal trays. The green pots contain Sarracenia rhizomes I received as part of a trade a month or so ago. They haven't put out any new growth, but I'm willing to chalk that up to shipping stress. I've heard that Sarracenia can be a bit touchy after having been divided and shipped and then potted. Just gotta keep 'em wet. The other plants look pretty decent though.

S. purpurea, with new growth coloring up much more quickly in full sunlight. I took the occasion to give it a slightly bigger pot as well.

The pioneering D. capensis.

Hopefully my VFT will also color up nicely. I feel like it could also afford a repotting.

Pretty fun use of a day off, I think.

Drosera 'Marston Dragon' is uh, really big

Last night I was browsing my plant blogs, and I noticed that the Cactus Jungle had updated the "What's New" section of their website. I love this section, because once a month it makes me go out and spend a bunch of money on plants. This time, near the bottom, they had a picture of Drosera binata 'Marston Dragon'.

This photo belongs to the Cactus Jungle.

How exciting! I've been wanting a form of D. binata, and I'm always happy to take a trip to the Cactus Jungle. I was also eying some of their new agaves too.

The Cactus Jungle is a small nursery in Berkeley, CA specializing in cacti and succulents, bamboo, and California natives. They've also got a truly impressive selection of Tillandsia and a small but well-tended carnivorous plant section. This is the place that got me into collecting plants of all sorts, and is where I bought my first sundew, the Drosera capensis that's flowering up a storm right now. I have a soft spot for these guys.

I suppose I should have taken another photo in situ, but the 'Marston Dragon' ended up being huge. Like, really big. From the website photo, I was expecting something 5 or 6 inches high, ready for some serious growth this upcoming season.

Here it is at home, after I re-organized my entire collection to accommodate it.

The 2 or 3 longest leaves are 18 or so inches from base to tip, and there are at least 3 separate rosettes in the pot. It's currently drooping under its own weight, and given free reign would splay out about 2 and a half feet across. It's a serious plant.

There are a couple of hitchhiking D. capensis in there (big surprise), including an 'Albino'. Also pictured are my Utricularia sandersonii "blue" on the left and U. livida on the right.

Fitting a plant that's probably quadruple the size of my biggest D. capensis under my lights was an engineering challenge. I ended up using 2 milk crates and an old wine box we had laying around, and have now used pretty much 100% of the growing space available with these lights.

I'm happy I got it all situated. Aaron over at Grow Sundews says that while D. binata forms can get droopy with size, they'll be upright and bushy if given bright enough light conditions. We'll see in a couple weeks. In any case, one of the owners at the Cactus Jungle said they got a great deal on some high output T5 bulbs and fixtures from a wholesaler recently, so I'll be able to add some more bright growspaces. So much to look forward to!

Also at the Cactus Jungle today I picked up a lovely Agave desmettiana 'Joe Hoak'. It's got this beautiful opalescent variegated coloration and a uniquely cascading, urn-like shape. A real looker!

I really love the Cactus Jungle.

I can't wait to start getting leaf cuttings of the 'Marston Dragon', but I'll have to have some more lights set up first. Until then, I'll leave you with this terrifying picture, staring into the Dragon's maw.

Scary!