Tag Archives: growing from seed

Stickin' out…

Posted on November 4, 2010 | 2 comments

When breeding, I’ve found that one will encounter a lot of genetic variations. Variants in all Shapes. Size. Colors. Shape. Smell. Feel. Maybe taste.

While doing some sorting in the yard, one of the seedlings really stuck out apart from its siblings. S. catesbaei “Flying Nun” x “Red Blush” (cross by Brooks Garcia) is the cross pictured below, 2 years old from seed. You can see that in the sea of red, one plant is coming up yellowish. The one in the center and the yellowish one on the upper right hand third of the photo are pitchers of the same seedling. The rest of the group is red. Ah genetics… interesting stuff indeed.

S. Catesbaei "Flying Nun" x "Red Blush" [Sarracenia catesbaei “Flying Nun” x “Red Blush”]

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Tagged Addiction, Carnivorous Plant, Catesbaei, Flying Nun, growing from seed, hybridization, North American Pitcher Plant, Pitcher Plant, Red Blush, Sarracenia, Sarracenia Hybrid, The Pitcher Plant Project

Leucophylla Baby

Posted on October 26, 2010 | 2 comments

I was sick yesterday and today and this afternoon I finally managed to gather enough strength to go out and replenish my soul by spending time with the plants. One of the seedlings that caught my eye today was this S. leucophylla seedling. This was a seed grown plant that I recevied as seed on October 23, 2008. Nearly two years later, this is what it looks like. The cross was done by my friend Wes Buckner and is the result of crossing two very nice leucophylla parents from the same location (Franklin County, Florida, the parent plants were denoted by “A” and “B”.) Thanks Wes!

S. leucophylla, Franklin A x leucophylla, Franklin B [Sarracenia leucophylla, Franklin County “A”, x leucophylla, Franklin County “B”]

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Tagged Carnivorous Plant, Franklin County, growing from seed, leucophylla, North American Pitcher Plant, Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia, The Pitcher Plant Project, White Top Pitcher

Sarracenia mitchelliana x excellens

Posted on October 21, 2010 | Leave a comment

S. mitchelliana x excellens [Sarracenia mitchelliana x excellens]

A very rad hybrid here that was from my good friend, CP Mama Lois Ochs of Raccoon Ridge Nursery. In the spring it puts up somewhat regular colored greenish pitchers, but in the fall, that is when the leucophylla influence really shines imparting some stunning coloration as exhibited in the photo. The exact parentage is uncertain, other than it was a cross between a mitchelliana (in other words, a purpurea ssp? / leucophylla hybrid) and excellens (or minor/leucophylla hybrid). Thanks Mama Lo!

A couple of years…

Posted on October 4, 2010 | 3 comments

One of the hybrids I did a couple of years ago caught my eye as I was doing some clean up in the yard today. Check out what a couple of years did…

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S. (purp het x rubra jonesii) x (leuco x rubra gulf) AF [Winter, 2008 – Sarracenia (purpurea ssp. purpurea x rubra ssp. jonesii) x (leucophylla x rubra ssp. gulfensis) – Anthocyanin Free Clone]

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S. (purp het x rubra jonesii) x (leuco x rubra gulf) AF
[Fall, 2010 – Sarracenia (purpurea ssp. purpurea x rubra ssp. jonesii) x (leucophylla x rubra ssp. gulfensis) – Anthocyanin Free Clone]

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Tagged anthocyanin free, Carnivorous Plant, Garden, growing from seed, hybridization, North American Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia, Sarracenia Hybrid, seedlings, The Pitcher Plant Project

Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa var. burkii f. luteola

Posted on September 29, 2010 | 2 comments

Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa var. burkii f. luteola. Yeah. Type that 10 times fast without getting carpal tunnel syndrome! (S. purpurea ssp venosa var. burkii = S. rosea. Ah yes, the name game. A comprehensive run down of this is can be found in the FAQ’s of Barry Rice’s site.)

It’s an awesome plant and for more information, read about the history of this plant on the International Carnivorous Plant Society page about this friggin’ awesome plant. (Thanks Mr. Miller and Mr. Hanrahan!)

About a year or so ago, I received a few seeds from fellow grower friend, Chris Gussman. The seedlings are now showing some luteola-ness! Chris (Chris, correct me if I am wrong), crossed 2 of his S. rosea f. luteola plants and now the seeds are coming up over here pretty nice. I have hopes to propagate and distribute these plants (among others) in the future to ensure this plants survival. Thanks again Chris!

[Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa var. burkii f. luteola, 9.18.10]

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Tagged Addiction, Carnivorous Plant, Garden, growing from seed, luteola, North American Pitcher Plant, Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia, Sarracenia purpurea, Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa v. burkii, The Pitcher Plant Project

Seasons [Seedling] Shift

Posted on September 27, 2010 | Leave a comment

It is a new season, and it’s becoming obvious in the garden, as well as life. I couldn’t help but thing about change as I was driving home from the office on this beautiful evening. I was appreciating some simple things about this change into fall: taking in the colors of the fall sky at dusk, rollin’ home down highway 1 with the windows down, breathing that fall air, the feel of the wind on my bald scalp… oh and pumpkin spice lattes now available! YEAH! (well, nix the pumpkin spice. I’m happy with just coffee.) 🙂

Cycles. Seasons. Change. Growth.

Beautiful.

Shifts are necessary in growing Sarracenia as well. When one grows Sarracenia from seed like me — things can and will get crowded *very* fast. Sure, seedlings will grow in the pot – for a while – but the true potential of the seedling won’t be visable until some changes happens and it’s given a little bit of room to grow.

The following photos are of a cross that I did last year of Sarracenia courtii, anthocyanin free clone x “Green Monster” (Photos here link to the actual parent plants.) This is S. courtii, anthocyanin free x excellens, anthocyanin free. Anthocyanin free plants lack pigmentation and are all green. All awesome. More examples from an earlier green post.

[Sarracenia courtii, anthocyanin free x “Green Monster” – cross by Robert Co – It’s crowded! Sho ’nuff!]

In the photo above, the seedlings are growing very fast, however it’s time to sort this out. Time to sort and shift em into a place where they can grow.

Separating Sarracenia courtii x "Green Monster" [Removed from the pot. Time to break em apart.]

Separating Sarracenia courtii x "Green Monster" [Sorting.]

The sorting process is fascinating. You don’t really realize how many seedlings are in there until you break it all apart. The strongest ones are evident, and the rest — well other growers will compost them, but I’d like to give this particular cross one year to see how the plants fare and adjust just due to the rarity of the parentage. I’m hoping for some surprises as some seedlings may look smaller and not as strong as their siblings at this time, but the next year after a little TLC, some could have a spurt and become the winners of the group. It has happened to me with a few earlier crosses.

Separating Sarracenia courtii x "Green Monster" [Strongest seedling out of this batch. Good size and shape, and root system formed.]

Separating Sarracenia courtii x "Green Monster" [Fresh transplants… time for growth. In the coming years, their characters will be revealed.]

Moonlight Sarracenia

Posted on September 24, 2010 | 3 comments

It’s 1:30 Am – do you know where your Sarracenia are? 1:30 in the morning. Yeah… I was taking photos of Sarracenias in the autumn moonlight at one-friggin-thirty ay-em.

I was also inspired to take these photos after remembering an article in the the March 2010 International Carnivorous Plant Society Newsletter about plants and moonlight. In this article, Peter D’Amato of California Carnivores writes:

“One thing we must remember. Moonlight is sunlight, reflected by our lunar companion. Although night time varies on our earthy according to latitude and seasons, plants live in moonlight as much as the direct rays of the sun. That some carnivorous plants may take advantage of the moon’s silvery glow is not out of the realm of possibilities.”

In line with yesterdays moonlight-y equinox-y autumnal post, here are some photos of Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Hurricane Creek White’ in the moonlight. This particular S. leucophylla photographed was a division from my fellow Sarracenia grower brodude, Mike Wang. This division originates from one of the original seed grown plants collected by Barry Meyers Rice before the S. leucophylla ‘Hurricane Creek White’ site was destroyed.

Sarracenia at night
[Setup: Camera on tripod set up for 30 second exposure. The way it works – if the shutter is open longer , the more light is let in… the more light, the brighter the image. The moon was just spectacular last night, and gave the leucophyllas an other worldly glow.]