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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[Winter, 2008 – Sarracenia (purpurea ssp. purpurea x rubra ssp. jonesii) x (leucophylla x rubra ssp. gulfensis) – Anthocyanin Free Clone]
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[Fall, 2010 – Sarracenia (purpurea ssp. purpurea x rubra ssp. jonesii) x (leucophylla x rubra ssp. gulfensis) – Anthocyanin Free Clone]
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.
[Removed from the pot. Time to break em apart.]
[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.
[Strongest seedling out of this batch. Good size and shape, and root system formed.]
[Fresh transplants… time for growth. In the coming years, their characters will be revealed.]
One of the things love about Sarracenia minors and their hybrids is that they have those very cool windows on the pitcher. It’s a luring/trapping mechanism that the plant has that I mentioned about in an earlier come to the light post. So a couple days ago, I noticed one of the plants with some cool thick windows in the back of its pitcher head. It’s seed grown. The seeds came over as Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x “Golden Red Jubilee” — as they grew, a lot of the seed looked like the pod parent plant, and a couple plants have characteristics of both parents. Anyway, for this particular plant it would almost seem that it may of been self pollinated seedling? Eh… But who knows really. That’s just a minor detail. When it will bloom, it may give us a better indication. Anywhoo, for now, I just am enjoying the “Minor” detail on the back of this pitcher…
[Some pretty cool windows on the back of this one..]
As I was sorting out some seedlings a couple weeks back, I discovered one of the pitcher plants kinda … hangin’ out. Well, that thing on it was hangin’ out.
This is a 2 1/2 year old seed grown clone of S. rubra ssp. wherryi “Chatom Giant” x “Sky watcher” (cross created by Brooks Garcia) – what impresses me with this plant is that — that thing. You know, that long thing on the hood. Reminds me of an angler or something. 🙂 Now, not all the crosses from this grex look the same, (grex is just a geeky way of saying the plants that came from the same hybrid group): some have elongated lids, some are showing more color, some are exhibiting more flared hoods from the S. “Sky watcher” parentage — but they all look interesting. I hope that it gets some of that size from it’s rubra ssp. wherryi “Chatom Giant” as it matures. Yeah. 😉
[Sarracenia rubra ssp. wherryi “Chatom Giant” x “Sky Watcher”]
Happy weekend everyone! Hope your weekends are going well!
Here’s a seedling that was created by Dr. Travis Wyman. It’s yet another Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ hybrid. This one is another clone of S. ‘Reptilian Rose’ x leucophylla “pale”. There’s a few other photos of its siblings from an earlier post – (Reptile Crossing).
What strikes me about this particular seedling is that the lips are still staying green, even in strong light. When the light hits the nectar roll at just the right angle, it also can also seem to have a slight blueish-green hue to it. I hope that the angular features of the parent plant get more amplified as it matures on this particular plant. A green angular peristome (nectar roll) would mos’ def be pretty awesome!
[Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x leucophylla “pale” – cross created by Dr. Travis Wyman]
Hope everyone found Brook Garcia’s pollination tutorial helpful! I sure did! Again, everyone has their own methods and variations on how to pollinate. My suggestion is — do whatever works best for you! Don’t be afraid to try new things. Anyway, so in 2009 when I wanted to store the pollen to create crosses with plants that don’t bloom at the same time, I figured I could store pollen in little containers that were available at a local craft store. I didn’t really want to keep the pollen on a q-tip as I wanted to be able to spread that pollen around to more plants. Saving the pollen in the container would allow me a little bit more control. So being the uber plant nerd I am — I stored the pollen. Actually, it was fellow grower and friend Jacob Farin who called me a Sarracenia nerd when he saw what I was doing. (OK, yes, I am a Sarracenia nerd. I admit. And I’m PROUD!! YEAH!!)
Yes, that is correct. I stored the pollen.
In little pollen containers.
In a pollen case.
In the pollen storage section of my fridge.
Next to the bacon. You MUST store it next to bacon. If you didn’t know, pollen storage next to bacon actually keeps it viable longer.
(Actually — the fridge keeps the pollen viable longer, not the bacon. But yes, eat bacon. It is good for you.)
You can’t really see it in the photo, but I did tag those cases so I knew what pollen was being used. Good record keeping is key, and organization is a good practice.
When it came time for the pod parent to open up and bloom – I just simply took my uber-nerdy pollen case and my even more super uber-nerdy pollen brushes and pollinated away! Here’s a photo from April 2009 of my “Sarracenia Pollen Palette”.
[A Sarracenia Pollen Palette. It’s nerdy. But it works.]
The following tutorial was written by Brooks Garcia. It is a great reference for pollinating Sarracenia flowers. This guide was what I first ran across (posted on Terraforums) a few years ago when I first started to grow Sarracenia and wanted to get into hybridizing. I know that everyone has their own preferences, variation, and methods for pollinating, but I found the below to be a clear and concise guide that helped my Sarracenia addiction really bloom. Thanks Brooks!
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How to Pollinate a Sarracenia Flower
By Brooks Garcia
This is a rather simple procedure but certain precautions need to be taken to insure that: 1) You are successful and 2) You avoid possible contamination from unwanted pollen. Timing is the key here especially if you want to cross species that typically do not bloom at the same time ( i.e. flava x psittacina). With practice and keen observation you will be able to gauge when a flower needs to be protected and when to transfer the pollen.
Necessary Equipment
* Light weight fabric or tulle/bridal veil netting
* Light weight string
* Thin stakes (if needed)
* Q-tips
* Masking tape
* Sharpie permanent marker
* Scissors
Tools You Need
Flower Structure
We need to discuss the flower structure before hand so you can be familiar with the flower parts and how they function.
Sarracenia in Flower
Sarracenias are designed to prevent self pollination by their very structure. The petals are the colorful parts that attract bees and protect the pollen inside the flower from rain and wind. *The anthers produce the pollen and are in the “roof” of the flower and drop pollen onto the style. The style is the upside-down umbrella that has the 5 stigma (female receptors) and catches the pollen. *The stigmas are the ‘hooks’ or slight protrusions on the points of the style which are outside the flower away from the pollen. A bee lands on the sepals (stiff, petal-like structures), crawls down the petals and enters the flower by crossing over the points on the style between the petals thus getting pollen from a previously visited flower on the stigma. The bee gathers the nectar in the flower getting this flower’s pollen on its body and exits the flower through the “dip” in the style and under the petal thus avoiding getting pollen on the stigmas. Look at a flower closely or pull one apart to understand these dynamics.
Flower Parts
(image courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sarracenia_flower_notitles.svg, author: Noah Elhardt)
Step One: Protecting the Flower
You will need to visit a fabric store and buy a tight-knit, light-weight fabric or tulle/ bridal veil netting. Light weight is very important because you don’t want your flower stalk bending under the weight of wet material after a rain. Staking the flower stalk is an option as well on weak-stemmed species like rubras. The netting will only be needed until the pollen has been set and until shortly after the petals have fallen off. Then the netting can be removed. This is where keen observation is handy but err on the side of caution and “bag” your flower before the petals have fully opened. How will you know? The petals will still be cupped close to the style. The photo below shows the flower fully open and at this point on this particular flower, the pollen has begun to drop onto the style. It should have been bagged sooner.
Flower Fully Open
The style is the five lobed structure that is the bottom of the flower. This contains the female parts of the flower, 5 stigma in all. On the smaller species (rubras and psittacinas), the flowers are going to be quite small and two people maybe needed to carry this out; a small artist’s paint brush maybe a better tool than a Q-tip for gathering and transferring pollen. Cut a large enough square of netting to cover the flower loosely and be tied with the string. I start at the back of the flower and tuck the fabric between the stem and the back of the sepals. The sepals are the stiff parts that are left after the petals drop. Then wrap the flower loosely and tie it off until you are ready to pollinate the flower.
Bagging Procedure
After each pollination session, secure the netting until the petals have dropped and the flower tilts upward.
Step Two: Collecting Pollen and Cross Pollination
You will need to check the flower every day to see if the pollen has developed and begun to drop onto the style from the anthers. It will look like small pale yellow particles. Pollen will drop for several days up to a week and can be gathered off the anthers if necessary. The anthers, the male parts, are in the top of the flower inside under the petals. Untie the netting and carefully unwrap the flower. Take a Q-tip and very carefully lift a petal.
Lifting Petal to Expose Flower Parts
Through the “dip” in the style, insert the Q-tip and roll it between your fingers to gather the pollen on the cotton. Withdraw it carefully. Take the Q-tip with the pollen to the flower you wish to cross (you have unwrapped this flower as well) hold the stem of the flower and touch the Q-tip to the stigma. *Remember this is protruding between the petals, and roll the Q-tip up the stigma lightly.
Transferring Pollen
Be sure to do all 5 stigmas. Each stigma has a tube in which the pollen will grow down to reach the unfertilized embryonic seeds in the ovary. Each chamber in the ovary is capable of holding 100 seeds. Re-bag each flower and repeat the process the next day for three of four times to insure fertilization takes. A sure sign you have been successful is that the petals drop and the whole flower tilts up and the ovary swells.
Successfully Fertilized Flower Pod
If you want to pollinate a plant that is not in bloom yet, pollen can be saved in the refrigerator on a Q-tip in a plastic bag or wrapped in foil for several weeks until the flower comes into bloom. To “self” a plant, simply take the pollen and apply it to the stigmas. Reportedly, Sarracenias do not “self” very well for some reason but with multiple applications of pollen you should get good seed set. I label the cross by simply wrapping a piece of masking tape on the flower stem with the name of the pollen donor (father). This may have to be replaced once before the seed ripens in the fall. When labeling the plant produced, the pollen receiver is shown first. It is not necessary to wait until the seed capsule breaks open or turns brown to collect the seeds. Seeds are usually fully ripe by mid September.
Now, ain’t plant sex grand!? Good growing!
Posted in How To
Tagged Addiction, Garden, how to, hybridization, pollinate, Sarracenia, Sarracenia Hybrid
