Tag Archives: 2013

Fabulous February

February, so far, is looking pretty fab. Thanks to the warm January, much of the crop has been moving at a very fast speed. There are plenty of buds to be found all over the place, a few open pitchers, and… seeds germinating! Enjoy a few snapshots from the past couple of weeks.

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Sarracenia SeedsThe seeds (from 2013!!) have been sown! Yes, you read that right. These have been sitting in cold stratification for a year. A couple of weeks ago, my wife and the kiddos helped pot up all 202+ crosses. It was an extremely busy year for me last year and by the time I was ready to put them down, the year was half way over. I didn’t want to use supplemental lighting as with this many seeds, as that electric bill would just be nuts. Now that I finally have a little more space, I was able to finally put these down.

Sarracenia purpurea heterophylla x leucophylla "Red"And guess what? Many pots have seeds that have are sprouting! Exciting! The one in the photo is S. purpurea heterophylla x leucophylla “Red” – these came from Jerry Addington and should produce a brilliant crop of anthocyanin free recessive plants to work with in the future.

The AsylumThe Asylum. Check out the Sarracenia alata flowers already opening up! And check out that other half of the greenhouse that needs trimming! Heh!

Sarracenia alataSarracenia alata flower

Sarracenia rosea - Baldwin Co., ALSarracenia rosea – Baldwin Co., AL in flower.

Sarracenia alataA few more Sarracenia alata buds about to pop!

Sarracenia 'Alucard' x 'Adrian Slack'One of my crosses from a maybe 3 or so years ago. This is S. ‘Alucard’ x ‘Adrian Slack’ glowing with the sun hitting it from behind. Notice one of last year’s autumn pitchers compared to this year’s larger spring pitcher. What a jump! You can see tell-tale signs of what the plant would be like from last year’s pitcher. However, with this year’s pitcher, you can see much more character shine through! The unknown of what comes out of the cross and how that plant matures is part of the excitement that comes with growing from seed. Anyway, I’ll post another photo later on so you can get a better view of this year’s most recent pitcher from this cross.

Sarracenia 'Reptilian Rose' x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) - Clone 14Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 14. New pitcher coloring up against last year’s wreckage. Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman.

Sarracenia 'Reptilian Rose' x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) - Clone 9Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 9
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman

Sarracenia (leucophylla "Purple Lips" x flava var. rubricorpora) x 'Adrian Slack'Another one of my crosses – Sarracenia leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava var. rubricorpora x ‘Adrian Slack’ – new pitcher opening up! 

Sarracenia oreophilaSarracenia oreophila, awake and ready to devour insects!

Sarracenia oreophilaSarracenia oreophila

Sarracenia alata - AFSarracenia alata – Anthocyanin Free!
A new pitcher stands out against last year’s crispy dead pitchers.

Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora x flava 'Suspicion'Young pitchers stretch towards the sky. Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora x flava ‘Suspicion’ – an anthocyanin free recessive cross. This cross was done by Aidan Selwyn. I hope to use these AF recessive S. flava plants in future (anthocyanin free) crosses.

Sarracenia flava - AF - Colquitt Co., GAOk, ok, ok… I’m totally geeking out here. This is a flower bud of an anthocyanin free form of S. flava – Colquitt Co., GA. YEAH. You know what this means… 🙂

Dormancy

This season’s growth and vivid colors have come to an end.  A few pitchers still hang on but even they are gradually fading into the congregation of crumbling foliage. Enjoy your rest, my pitchers. Until we meet again in the spring…

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1Back on 11 October 2013, I had the privilege of being able to check out some Darlingtonia growing in situ with fellow carnie-bro, Mike Wang. (By the way – if you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to stop by the Sarracenia forum and take a look Mike’s amazing photos in his Darlingtonia posts!) As I mentioned in my last post, this would be the first time I ever saw carnivorous plants growing in their natural habitat. Hey, better late than never right? It was a phenomenal experience. Now I have an even deeper appreciation for these magnificent plants. I can’t say enough about what I saw and experienced during this trip. The overstimulation of seeing these majestic plants growing at all the various sites was pure botanical overload. And yes, I savored every second of it. We only had a few short hours of sunlight to explore by on our first day up there. By the time we arrived it was already late afternoon. We tried to see as much as we could and make the most of the fading light. It turned out to be great timing – the lighting at this time of day hit the plants in such a way to give them an otherworldly glow. Here’s a video and a few photos capturing moments from day one of this fantastic Darlingtonia excursion. Stay tuned – video and photos from day 2 to follow!



Click here for the full screen slideshow.

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Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Road trip cuisine at it’s finest.
Making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the road.

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Oh joy, oh rapture! The first clump of Darlingtonia I saw growing in situ!
Darlingtonia californica – Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Darlingtonia californica – Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1Shooting Darlingtonia – Forest marsh site – Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Darlingtonia californica – Forest marsh site, Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Darlingtonia californica – Forest marsh site, Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Mike admires the scenery.
Forest marsh site – Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Darlingtonia californica – Forest marsh site, Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Mike and I at the forest marsh site, Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Alpine Farms site – Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Mike doin’ his thing.
Alpine Farms site – Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Alpine Farms site – Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Alpine Farms site – Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Alpine Farms site – Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1
Roadside site – Del Norte Co., CA

Darlingtonia Trip 2013: Day 1We were in the Alpine Farms area a little bit after sundown and stopped for a few mins. I took the opportunity to do some light painting using the flashlight on my iPhone.

September


Thank you September, I’ll see you next year.

September is a month that I’m quite partial to. Perhaps it’s because of the change in season, in weather, and also in pace as summer slowly fades into autumn. My affinity for September could also stem from the fact that this is my birthday month after all.

And of course, gotta love the plants during September! Many of the S. leucophylla and S. leucophylla-influenced plants are still putting on a nice display at this time of the year. This is the final show before the plants head off into winter sleep. I have also done a lot of Sarracenia seed harvesting this month – with only a few more pods left for harvest. I truly enjoy harvest time. This is when those breeding ideas which I’ve had at the start of the season finally come to fruition. Those ideas physically manifest themselves as tiny (yet so very monumental) seeds within the Sarracenia seed pod.

September now draws to a close. I look ahead and quietly devise a plan of attack for the impending onslaught of activity that will ensue once dormancy commences. That is when I do a lot of work with the plants: repotting, dividing, cleaning… I know, it sounds somewhat masochistic, but it’s what I love to do. For now, I will sit back and simply enjoy this calm before the storm.

For your viewing pleasure, I put this short September video together with a few clips from inside the greenhouse. (By the way, not all plants in the video are carnivorous. If you know anything about me, it’s that I enjoy all sorts of botanical radness. I wanted to include a little bit of that here.) Enjoy!

Harvest

A bit early, I know. There’s been a few plants that for some reason, ended up rotting for some unexplained reason after doing so well for years. (It happens.) In this case, the S. rosea “Big Mama” – once a huge multi point plant that I’ve had for years – just decided to go to the bog in the sky. UGH!! But why now?! Frustrating!! I’m thankful that at least a few others friends have this plant as a back up and had extras, and I’m thankful that I was able go replace it. Anyway, one of the pods on this was used in a cross with pollen from the monstrosity – Sarracenia “Smurf.”

It was a cross I did early in the year so I am hoping that these seeds are viable.  A similar situation happened in July of last year with S. alata AF. I’m sad to report those seeds did not sprout, and couple others who I’ve sent seeds to also reported that theirs did not sprout. I hope that this isn’t the case with this one.

A few other plants that I crossed early in the year also appear to have ripe seed pods too. Greenhouse growing is something else and I’m getting the hang of growing in such a big space. I speculate that hot days could of contributed to some of these seed pods to also brown up prematurely? Who knows. Time will tell if these seeds are good.

Sarracenia rosea "Big Mama" x purpurea "Smurf"
Sarracenia purpurea “Big Mama” x “Smurf”

Sarracenia rosea "Big Mama" x purpurea "Smurf"Sarracenia purpurea “Big Mama” x “Smurf”

BACPS Show and Sale – 15 Jun 2013

This last weekend I had a chance to attend the 2013 BACPS (Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society) Show and Sale. Saw lots of amazing plants as well as fellow enthusiasts who have become great friends throughout the years. It was also great to connect with a few new people that I’ve been in touch with online and now finally had a chance to meet in person. I got the impression that they thought I was stranger in the flesh. Yeah, I probably am.

Here’s a few photos from the day! (You can also view on Flickr.)

As an added bonus, here’s some video from the day too! I figured this was a great opportunity to *finally* start a Youtube channel and give this video blogging thing a shot. It’s kinda rough, but it’s a start. Dahlia came along and gave me some help and encouragement to shoot around a little bit. She started her channel as well! If you want to check out some mixed media art, visit her channel: Makita Studio! It’s something a bit out of my comfort zone as I’d rather be behind a camera. Not in front of one. Anyway, We’ll see how this Youtube thing goes. Mosey on over and check out my Pitcher Plant Project channel! Leave comments below on what you’d like to see and I just *may* upload a few more vids… 🙂

Since Jeremiah was in town and wanted to check out local collections, I was glad to have him, Fernando Rivadavia, and D’Aryt Jov Fränk over at my spot the following day. I was just one of his many stops here in the SF Bay Area. Jeremiah is a legendary grower and runs the Colorado Carnivorous Plant Society. He also partners with Leilani Nepenthes in an effort to make some beautiful and high quality plants available.

Jeremiah and DJ: An honor and a pleasure to have been able to meet you! Thank you for coming by and gracing the greenhouse with your presence.
Fernando: Keep weeding. 🙂

Visit
An amazing weekend full of impressive plants and great company. I’m glad to be part of such a great community of incredible and talented individuals. I certainly wouldn’t be able to make it this far without them. Happy growing everyone!

2013: Launch!

Greetings!

Wishing you all a wonderful Happy New Year! 2013 is now here and I am so excited and look forward to so many amazing things this year. One of the things I’ve been working on and recently launched today is THE SHOP! Yeah! You’ll find my extra plants from the collection here. (Plant sales in the USA only.) You will find crosses that I’ve done, seed grown plants that I’ve grown from other brilliant growers, or perhaps even plants that are harder to find in cultivation.

At this moment, I am still going through the plants and doing a few divisions. Inventory will be updated as I find the plants for you beautiful growers. I’ll also be working on a few other non-plant items such as fine art photo prints and clothing/accessories. Check back often and keep a watch on Twitter, or Facebook for updates.

This is an ongoing project for me. If you have any questions, concerns, or if you run into any technical hiccups (yeah, this is all new for me too), please feel free to contact me.

Thank you all for your continued support! Here’s to a beautiful and wonderful 2013 for us all. Let’s grow. Cheers!