Flowers!

There's a lot in bloom right now. It's spring!

Drosera helodes.

Sarracenia flava.

Drosera omissa with lots of flowers.

Utricularia calycifida.

Drosera sessilifolia (probably).

Utricularia subulata.

Drosera natalensis.

And it's not just carnivores that are in bloom. Peep this Cleistocactus tupizensis.

C. tupizensis.

Nice!

Pinguicula roundup, March 2015

It's been a while since I did a Pinguicula roundup, and I've acquire quite a few new species/hybrids/cultivars since then. Let's have a look!

First up is this tray that houses several little starts I've acquired recently.

Pinguicula start tray. Little babies!

In here we have (clockwise from top right): Pinguicula 'Florian', Pinguicula jaumavensis, Pinguicula rotundiflora × hemiepiphytica, Pinguicula 'Sethos', Pinguicula esseriana, and Pinguicula cyclosecta.

P. florian, March 2015.

P. jaumavensis, March 2015.

P. rotundiflora × hemiepiphytica, March 2015.

P. 'Sethos', March 2015.

P. esseriana starts, March 2015.

P. cyclosecta, March 2015.

Some of these have really nice colors, especially the P. 'Florian' and P. cyclosecta. Also my friend Apache Rose said that the P. rotundiflora × hemiepiphytica is her favorite ping, and she has a very nice collection (four of these starts are from her). One more note – in a couple of months I'm going to have a lot of little P. esseriana floating around hahah.

Now for some old friends. Pinguicula gigantea is in the midst of another flowering burst.

Flowering P. gigantea, March 2015.

Hopefully that means it will start dividing again soon!

My other two tiny little P. esseriana are putting on a bit of size.

Somewhat older P. esseriana, March 2015.

Still pretty small though.

Pinguicula moranensis recently made some leaves that look sort of succulent, so I took a pulling.

P. moranensis, March 2015.

Here's hoping it strikes! I should take another.

Meanwhile there's another flower forming on Pinguicula laueana × emarginata.

P. laueana × emarginata, March 2015.

It's really filling out that tiny pot.

Still watching the carnivorous leaf unfurl on Pinguicula laueana.

P. laueana, March 2015.

I've also got some pullings working on this guy. Fingers crossed!

It's about time I separated these two Pinguicula "Yucca Doo 1717" plants.

P. "Yucca Doo 1717", March 2015.

They've put on some good size since I traded for them back in August.

Pinguicula 'Pirouette' is looking amazing lately.

P. 'Pirouette', March 2015.

Lots of success from those pullings too.

Finally, Pinguicula agnata, which hasn't gotten much attention on the blog lately, but which just has a delightful leaf shape and color.

P. agnata, March 2015.

I love my pings. I feel like I should consolidate them into a tray together so I can appreciate them better. So pretty!

Drosera roseana already making gemmae (plus some Utricularia Sect. Orchidioides)

As I've covered before, I started a bunch of new pygmy sundew species back on December 10th. My Drosera omissa caught me off guard by flowering after 9 weeks – quick turnaround. But now the Drosera roseana have I think topped that feat.

D. roseana is a very pretty sundew, besides being (apparently) really really vigorous.

Gemmae. That's just over 12 weeks to go from being a gemma to producing a healthy crop. That's nuts. There's another plant in this same pot doing the same thing. Pygmy sundews are so cool. If you're not growing pygmies you're just messing around.

Today I also noticed new growth on the two members of Utricularia Sect. Orchidioides that I have in my collection. Here's the Utricularia cornigera I bought at the last BACPS meeting.

This Utric can get very large. I'm excited.

This is the first new leaf it's put up since being in my collection. I'm glad to see that it seems to like my conditions fine.

My Utricularia humboldtii I received from BACPS Newsletter Editor and Utricularia fanatic Tony Gridley.

I'm going to need to trim off some of the old growth soon.

See those two new leaves in the foreground? I didn't treat this plant very well when I first received it. It sat around in a plastic baggie for around a week after the meeting, and then I just potted it up without any concern for humidity or anything. Luckily it seems to have taken it all in stride. Now I have to be careful that I not let it grow too well, since Tony said, and I quote, "If you win the BACPS show with it I'll never speak to you again."

In more springtime news, my recently-acquired Pinguicula laueana is unfurling its first carnivorous leaf of the season.

P. laueana has nice foliage in addition to the striking flowers.

And also it looks like Drosera 'Marston Dragon' is putting out its first serious new leaf post-dormancy.

The Dragon is stirring.

You know I never really appreciated the spring before I started growing plants. Spring is awesome.

Sundews Etc. one year in

One year ago today I made my first post here on the blog, about my blooming Drosera capillaris.

D. capillaris, 3-7-2014, from Flowers and D. capillaris "Alabama".

Things were so much simpler back then.

Here are some Fun Facts about the Sundews Etc. blog:

• Around 17% of my traffic comes from Ukraine. Thanks for tuning in, Ukrainian growers!
• Both of my Grower Interviews are among my top 10 most popular posts. I guess I should do some more.
• Based on the labels (to the right) I talk about Drosera burmannii more than any other species (big surprise), but pygmy sundews as a group are a close second.
• There are just shy of 1100 photos of carnivorous plants on this blog for 153 posts, around 7 per post on average.

Now, let's look back at some old posts and see how far we've come.

March

Dionaea muscipula, 3-12-2014, from Things are growing!

April 

Drosera scorpioides, 4-3-2014, from Pygmies and D. adelae.

May

Drosera 'Marston Dragon', 5-26-2014, from The Housefly and the Dragon.

June

Drosera allantostigma, 6-20-2014, from I really love Drosera allantostigma.

July

Drosera capensis 'Albino', 7-4-2014, from Repotting a few sundews.

August

Drosera helodes and Drosera allantostigma, 8-26-2014, from Checking in on various plants.

September

Drosera adelae. 9-11-2014, from Drosera adelae is offset crazy.

October

Praying mantis and Sarracenia leucophylla, 10-25-2014, from A thief among the Sarracenia.

November

Pinguicula laueana × emarginata. 11-21-2014, from Pinguicula roundup, November 2014.

December

Utricularia calycifida flower, 12-6-2014, from A few new blooms.

January

Drosera ultramafica × spatulata, 1-27-2015, from Some progress shots.

February

Drosera venusta, 2-9-2015, from Random pictures of pretty sundews.

Finally, here are a few more posts I noticed looking through the archives that might be of interest to newer reader.

• BACPS Annual Show and Sale Part One: The Juried Show
• Field Trip: California Carnivores
• 100th Post! I photographed the whole collection!
• Field Trip: Nepenthes at the Conservatory of Flowers

And of course, there are Plant Profiles, Cultivation Guides, and Grower Interviews on my Blog Series page.

Thank you all for reading – sharing pictures and talking about my plants with fellow growers makes everything a lot more fun. Here's to another good year!

Various goings-on

The other day I decided to try another of the aphid-busting treatments I've seen mentioned: immersion in water to drown the little bugs. I submerged Drosera burmannii and Drosera ultramafica × spatulata in distilled water for 2 days, and then brought them back out into the quarantine tray.

Looking messy post-soak.

They look a bit bedraggled, but hopefully that will have killed all the aphids themselves. There may still be eggs in the soil, so I really need to unpot these things and pot them up again fresh. I've heard that Neem oil can be effective against the pests in the soil, but that's another task. Let's give it some time to figure stuff out.

There's also something weird in my Drosera scorpioides pot.

These plants look hilarious like this.

Besides looking like hilarious aliens from the gemmae, those mounds of peat are very confusing. My friend Anne suggested it might be ants in the pot, and I really hope she's wrong. For the moment, however, I haven't seen any ants walking around, nor have I seen mealies or aphids that they sometimes start farming. I'll have to handle this pot to get at those last few gemmae, and then we'll see.

In more straight-up positive news, my Drosera helodes are flowering, having fully recovered from their gemmae-making.

D. helodes is bouncing back quickly.

I sowed some of those gemmae on a sand-topped pot but those plants are still quite young. Looking forward to seeing the flowers on these.

Out back the Sarracenia continue to go crazy. Here's Sarracenia ×formosa (which is S. psittacina × minor) with a flower bud and 2 new pitchers developing.

The specific epithet is no mistake, this is a beautiful plant.

I got this plant from Meadowview back at the end of August, and it was breathtaking when I unwrapped it and potted it up. It looked a bit dazed in my conditions for a month and then died back, so I'm really excited to see it now that it's all situated.

Finally, the first new growth is coming up on my old Sarracenia minor as well.

Little baby pitcher.

This is an exceedingly handsome plant when it's in full growth, and the pitchers from last fall are still around looking good. Can't wait to see the new flush!

A few annual species

When I first started growing carnivores I didn't really like the idea of growing annuals. Having to resow your pots every year seemed like it would be a real chore. However, I've reached a point now where I'm interested in all sorts of plants I didn't think I was interested in before. Plus, the whole thing about annuals is that they grow super quickly. Case in point, Byblis liniflora.

Little B. liniflora sprouts everywhere.

There are at least 10 total in the pot, maybe more.

These seeds were sown less than 2 weeks ago, on February 19th. I hadn't even begun regularly checking this pot for germination yet – they probably actually sprouted a couple days ago, perhaps 10 days after sowing. That's quick!

I started some Drosera indica at the same time, and while it's not quite as dramatic, there are definitely several sprouts in the pot.

Look for the tiny green dots.

Now, of course, I want to get all the different species in what was once the D. indica complex – Drosera hartmeyerorum, Drosera serpens, the lot. That's the fundamental addiction of collecting.

I also love how serious annual species get about flowering. Consider this Drosera brevifolia (which, while not strictly annual, has a lot of annual-like characteristics, especially in habitat).

I should really get a clean pot of D. brevifolia going.

It's almost totally engulfed in Sphagnum (which I should really trim back), but damnit it's going to bloom. That's a plant with moxie.

Finally, Bloom Watch: Utricularia longifolia has moved into its second week. Buds are forming and color is developing.

I am so excited about this.

Nice! It's gonna be a great show.

Drosera ×"Andromeda" leaf cutting (and Utricularia graminifolia flower)

Back in January I won an auction for a Drosera cistiflora that is really doing great. The grower from whom I won the D. cistiflora also included (very generously!) two leaves of Drosera ×"Andromeda", which is Drosera schizandra × prolifera. This plant is becoming more common, but it's still fairly rare and definitely a prize in any collection. I started one cutting in water, and the other I placed on some living Sphagnum moss (that I harvested from my Drosera prolifera pot). Just the other day I noticed a strike on the water-float plant!

Leaf strike!

The one on the moss hasn't done anything yet that I can tell. Moss looks great though.

Getting my Sphagnum game in order.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this guy grow in. Then I'll just need to get my hands on some Drosera schizandra and I'll have the full Three Sisters of Queensland collection!

Another exciting development today is this flower stalk on Utricularia graminifolia.

U. graminifolia has very pretty flowers.

Okay, I know it doesn't look like much right now, but right there in the middle of the photo is a flower stalk, I promise. I guess U. graminifolia has settled into its conditions pretty well. Now I want to transition it to a shallower container. I like the idea of a really shallow glass container with a layer of flowering U. graminifolia living on it. We'll see.

Speaking of Utricularia flowers, my Utricularia longifolia flower stalk is getting taller!

This is really a beast of a plant.

It's so hard to photograph that stalk with my phone camera. I'm going to need to get something proper just so I can manually control the point of focus. The tip of the flower stalk is taking on a purple tinge though. Exciting!

Finally, in other flower news there is a stalk developing on Drosera affinis.

It curls up so elegantly.

While I'm happy it's doing so well, I'm frankly not all that optimistic about seed production. I was disappointed with both Drosera madagascariensis and Drosera venusta on that front. The only South African species that have consistently set good seed for me are Drosera capensis (obviously) and Drosera aliciae. We'll see what happens though!