Category Archives: Anthocyanin Free

First Flower

Hello all you beautiful people out there! Hope you all have been well! I’ve finished moving out of The Asylum and took the month of February to just relax a little bit from the wonderful fiasco of hauling an entire large greenhouse full of plants from point A to point B. (A huge thanks to the BAPP crew for the help!)

The new place is coming along well. I’ll slowly be putting the pieces together again and will be working on the new location throughout this year. It’s not as large or grand as the marvelous Asylum, but you know what – it’s something. The Sarracenia are growing outdoors now and that’s been brilliant since they’re now getting much needed rain. It just feels good to know that the plants that were once in the greenhouse for 3 1/2 years are now getting a much needed flush from the the rain.

I also wanted to report that on 29 Feb I was able to do my first pollination of 2016! I self pollinated an anthocyanin free clone of S. catesbaei.  The parentage is S. luteola x S. flava ‘Suspicion’ – grown from seed, cross by Adrian Fawcett and you can see them when the first germinated back in  2013 here! (Thanks again, Adrian!)

Seeing the first flower is always refreshing sight. This neon thing broke the bleak ocean of trimmed and dead foliage like a beacon of hope for better things to come. This year will be a transition year getting to know all the nuances and idiosyncrasies of the growing spot, but so far it looks like the plants don’t have a problem with it. Looking forward to seeing how this year will turn out. Thank you all again for following along this crazy botanical journey of mine, y’all are just awesome.

Sarracenia catesbaei flower – anthocyanin free clone

Sarracenia mitchelliana AF

Sarracenia mitchelliana AFSarracenia mitchelliana AF, a seed grown plant of my own crossing.
New pitcher seems to glow against the older pitchers of the season.

Sarracenia “Green Monster” x alata f. viridescens

Last year there was this one cross I almost forgot about until I stumbled upon it during clean up. Yeah! I just love it when that happens! It was S. “Green Monster” x alata f. viridescens (the anthocyanin free form of S. alata). You can see last year’s pitchers in this post. This year a little bit more character can be seen in the plant. I really like how it has been developing. I enjoy how the windows from S. “Green Monster” are combined with the bulbous shape in the upper portion of the pitcher thanks to the S. alata f. viridescens influence. It is still not of blooming age yet; perhaps it will be next year or the year after. This particular plant is one of the larger ones from the litter. The other siblings look similar and are a little smaller. I’m grading those babies out and hoping for some nice surprises from the batch! 🙂

Sarracenia "Green Monster" x alata AFSarracenia “Green Monster” x alata AF

Sarracenia "Green Monster" x alata AFSarracenia “Green Monster” x alata AF

Sarracenia purpurea heterophylla x “Green Monster”

A couple young siblings from this cross I did 2 years ago. You can see one of the seedlings from this cross crack open start to root in the very last photo from this epic-super-neurotic-OCD-how-to-guide-on-starting-Sarracenia-seeds-post.  Interesting to note some of the differences in these babies! One has a high hood with lots of frills, the other is a little more squat and compact with a shorter hood.

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Sarracenia purpurea heterophylla x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia purpurea heterophylla x “Green Monster”
Upright open hood

Sarracenia purpurea heterophylla x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia purpurea heterophylla x “Green Monster”
Upright open hood

Sarracenia purpurea heterophylla x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia purpurea heterophylla x “Green Monster”
Shorter more compact hood

Sarracenia purpurea heterophylla x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia purpurea heterophylla x “Green Monster”
Shorter more compact hood

Sarracenia flava, Anthocyanin Free – Colquitt Co., GA

Sarracenia flava - Colquitt Co., GA
Sarracenia flava – Anthocyanin Free
Colquitt Co., GA

Sarracenia “Green Monster” x alata AF

Hey everyone! Hope you’ve been well. The past couple of months have been quite eventful, but rest assured that things in The Asylum are still pretty busy! I’m working on re-potting seedlings that have been in community pots and I’m finding some fascinating things within those pots.

One of the recent discoveries was a pot of S. “Green Monster” x alata AF that I had almost forgotten about. You know, outta sight, outta mind… Well, it was pretty nice finding that stash. One of the seedlings from this cross are photographed below. It’s still pretty young but showing some potential…

Sarracenia alata AF x Green Monster
Sarracenia “Green Monster” x alata AF

Sarracenia alata AF x Green Monster
Sarracenia “Green Monster” x alata AF

Sarracenia alata AF x Green Monster
Sarracenia “Green Monster” x alata AF

Sarracenia alata AF x Green Monster
Sarracenia “Green Monster” x alata AF

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I know it doesn’t look like much, but below is a new table I recently put together that I’m slowly filling up with seedlings. So far, it’s all  antho free but it will be a mix of cool stuff. The seedlings look all scattered and messed up, but they’ll look a little better once they establish themselves and put up some new pitchers. I’m really anticipating some cool plants. At the moment, I’m actually building a 2nd table. Never ending Sarracenia expansion!

AF Seedlings
New seedling table slowly filling up!

The Crossing: AF Collab Project Continues

Awww yeah. The AF (Anthocyanin Free) collaboration project continues! Back in 2009 I crossed S. minor var. okefenokeensis with S. “Green Monster” – this was a collaboration was the brainchild of Jerry Addington which I was able to execute thanks to the homie, Mike Wang. (You can read about how that all came about here.)

Since then I’ve been able to cross the siblings, as well as self pollinate them. The main idea from 2009 was to create AF S. minor looking plants. I’m glad to report there are some AF seedlings that are coming out of the various crosses I’ve done using these plants. I can’t wait to see those pitchers as they develop!

Sarracenia pollinationPollination in progress: S. minor var. okefenokeensis x “Green Monster” is being pollinated with S. minor -AF pollen.

This year I was fortunate enough to have one of my AF S. minors bloom simultaneously with one of the S. minor var. okefenokeensis x “Green Monster” clones. I used the AF minor pollen and crossed that onto S. minor var. okefenokeensis x “Green Monster” – clone 2. In theory, this should yield a percentage of AF plants with heavy S. minor influence, since 3/4ths of the progeny will be S. minor. I’m hoping for some slight undulation in the hooded lid as well – which is derived from the S. leucophylla parentage in S. “Green Monster.” But then again, who knows what will come out of this cross!

Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x "Green Monster" - Clone 2Pod Parent: S. minor var. okefenokeensis x “Green Monster”

Sarracenia minor - Anthocyanin FreePollen Parent: S. minor – Anthocyanin Free

Sarracenia minor - Anthocyanin Free
Pollen Parent – Another Angle:  S. minor – Anthocyanin Free