This past weekend I had a chance to hang with one of the great growers that has been such an inspiration to me – the legend: Phil Faulisi. His plants never cease to amaze! Enjoy a few highlight photos and the slideshow below, or view the slideshow in fullscreen here! (Phil – thanks again for everything!)
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A visit to Phil’s Sarracenia Wonderland! 14 Sep 2014
(Also note, you can use your arrow keys to go back and forth… )
Posted in Blog, Out and About
Tagged Carnivorous Plant, Faulisi, Phil, Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia
Here’s an interesting Nepenthes hybrid that I received from Drew Martinez during the 2014 Annual Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society show and sale this past June. It’s been a nice addition to the Nepenthes sector of The Asylum. One thing I that I find really fascinating is the sweet sugary secretion under the pitcher lid. This is thanks to the Nepenthes lowii all up in the genes. (Yeah, I did taste it and it’s mildly sweet… maybe I harvest some to use in my coffee? Heh heh!) Thanks again, Drew!
Nepenthes lowii x campanulata
Nepenthes lowii x campanulata
Nepenthes lowii x campanulata
Check out all of that sweet secretion on the underside of the lid!
Yummy!
Tagged campanulata, Carnivorous Plant, lowii, nepenthes, Pitcher Plant
Back on 6 and 7 Jun 2014, a plan went into effect to surprise one of the wonderful botanical inspirations in my life: my friend, Jerry Addington the GREAT. Jerry was hosting an assemblage of carnivorous plant growers at his place in the Washington countryside and this was something that I did not want to miss. I figured it would be the perfect time to surprise Jerry.
In addition to this, another good friend of mine – the legendary Wes Buckner and his family were all going to be there as well! I saw Wes, Megan, and Caleb a couple of weeks prior to Jerry’s event. They stopped by my place on their road trip out from Tennessee and I got to show them a little bit of the SF Bay Area. Good times!
Anyway, I figured I might as well just surprise them ALL at Jerry’s. Helping me organize this surprise was my brother from another mother – Kinjie Coe. (Yeah, I knowwww – Coe and Co!) I flew out to Portland the day before Jerry’s gathering on Friday, 6 Jun 2014 where Kinjie picked me up and we started on our journey to Jerry’s. On the way up there, Kinjie took me on a little detour to visit another local grower, The Professor. What a way to start a wonderful weekend full of carnivorous plant goodness. (See previous post.)
It was amazing seeing plants, but it was definitely awe inspiring to to meet many other fellow growers and carnivorous-plant-o-philes in person! I am very thankful that I got to meet so many amazing people on this epic weekend.
Below you’ll find a short video (gotta love Jerry’s reaction!) as well as a slideshow and some highlight photos.
Kinjie – thanks so much for helping make this happen, bro. Chiemi, Malia, Bently, and Ipo – a huge thank you for allowing a couple of plant crazed guys into your home. 🙂 Jerry – as always I am filled with gratitude for your hospitality and generosity. I am beyond blessed to know you. Thank you.
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View the full screen slideshow here.
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Recently my fellow carnie-homie Kinjie Coe contacted me saying that he was sending some stuff my way. Shoot – I was surprised to come home to not one, but *two* boxes full of some very rad Nepenthes. (Dude!! Thanks so much, Kinjie!) One of the plants that he sent my was a Nepenthes tiveyi “Red Queen” – such an amazing beauty. Since I was at home and it had a nice pitcher attached to it, I decided to photograph her majesty – in regular light AND short wave UV light. Check out this post for some more photos Nepenthes under short wave 254nm UV light, as well as this Vine video. By the way, for those asking, *yes* I’ve tried Sarracenia under the light, but there really wasn’t much “glow” to those babies. I haven’t had time for a proper UV light shoot at the greenhouse (I actually shot the Nepenthes in my bathroom), but will still try to shoot the lack of glowing from Sarracenia sooner or later. Perhaps I need another lamp to make the Sarracenia glow blue, but I don’t feel compelled to drop a few hundred for a new UV lamp at the moment. Anyway, I captured the below photos using a long exposure – 30 seconds at f2.8, 50 mm. Mouse over the photo to see the photo under regular light.
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Nepenthes tiveyi “Red Queen”
Nepenthes tiveyi “Red Queen”
Nepenthes tiveyi “Red Queen”
Tagged 254, Carnivorous Plant, glow, nepenthes, nm, Pitcher Plant, Red Queen, tiveyi, UV Light
Drosophyllum lusitanicum
Awwww! Isn’t it cute?! Here’s a young plant only a month old or so. I’m feeding it some dried bloodworms for additional sustenance. Yummy! This little seedling sprung up from one of the seeds that came from this colossal beast. Three have sprouted, but only two have survived. One of the seedlings died after throwing up two leaves for whatever reason, and the remaining two look good. This is the larger of the two seedlings. One thing I’m going to do when I transplant this is put it in a larger pot than it’s parent was in. (Yes, you can transplant Drosophyllum but you have to be very careful not to disturb the roots!) As you can see in this post the roots were pretty cramped. I think it died because the roots got stressed/shocked during one of the hot days and I didn’t keep it as wet as it should of been that day. Anyway, the circle of life starts again and I’m glad that these genetics are still alive and well.
Sarracenia minor is one of those plants that have such simple and streamlined beauty. No frills, no overly loud-melt-your-face-off colors for the most part (although I enjoy that too…) It’s just a simple hood, and windows to draw prey by. Minimalistic elegance. I’m enamored by the anthocyanin free version of it as it really draws my attention to the gracious form and beauty of the plant. As with the other anthocyanin free plants, the bright neon green makes it seem as if the plant were glowing. Here are a couple different clones of anthocyanin free Sarracenia minor.
Sarracenia minor – anthocyanin free
Sarracenia minor – anthocyanin free
Posted in Anthocyanin Free, Blog
Tagged anthocyanin free, Carnivorous Plant, green, minor, Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia
Sarracenia ‘Adrian Slack’
