Tag Archives: minor

Out On The Table

September Coverage

You may of remembered that at beginning of this month, I was covering quite a few things up. Now, I’m finding myself laying it all out on the table. Well, tables. This last weekend, Dahlia and I spent the day doing some trimming, pulling the weeds out of the pots, and finally – getting the plants out to the tables. In the photo to the left, you can see a few of the tables covered up, finally. I’ve had the plants just bumbling along in their cement mixing tubs and other trays packed in somewhat tight (to save space.) This is great for moving and saving space. But now, I’m sure that the plants are happy to be moving from cramped quarters onto the water tables. The way they’re packed now leaves them desiring some room for improvement. Literally. See, although it’s brighter now, the plants aren’t getting all the light or air circulation that they could be getting since they’re packed close. Don’t get me wrong though! I’m in an area that’s much better – and now that the plants are getting spread out, they’ll really get hit with the light and air that they desire. What I’m hoping for is that the elongated foliage they developed at the old place would really be put to use now – acting as larger solar panels (for lack of better illustration) and absorb even more light to store in the rhizome for next season. Also, insects do find their way in because of the vents, so that’s more food for them! It isn’t pretty just yet, but next year should be quite a show. (I’m putting this down in this blog entry so that by the time next season comes around – I can test my theory out and see if my hypothesis is right.)

In the meantime, enjoy a few photos of the work in progress below! It’s not pretty as you’ll notice the long and stretched leaves that the plants produced. I was really tempted to cut most of those leaves off for aesthetic reasons/personal taste, but I know that the plants would benefit better if I left the foliage. Like I mentioned before — I’m hoping that those long leaves will be put to good use so I’m keeping a majority of them connected to the plant still. Also,  I won’t be dividing them just yet as I’d hate to disturb/shock them after all the crap they went through this year. I plan on doing some divisions later in the late fall/winter.

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After moving a few plants to the tables, the place really started to look like a nursery! It is truly a joy to see things come this far. That’s Dahlia in the back helping me weed/clean the plants. I grouped the plants together by genus/species/subspecies/variations as well. One of the things I’d like to do in the coming seasons is concentrate more on species and populations from different locations. Doing all of this hybridizing work really makes me appreciate the species so much more and makes me realize that keeping the genetic bloodlines is truly important.

I had species mixed up all over the place before. Now that I have room, it’s good to have things together. Another project in the future that I have in mind will be to do a census. I no longer keep a growlist as there have been too many changes in a short amount of time to even try to keep up with things. Freakin’ intense…

Above I’ve placed all Pinguicula, Dionaea, Drosera, Utricularia, and Darlingtonia together. I’ll be going through and dividing/propagating later, so keep checking back as I’ll make things available every now and then. And yeah, sorry for not updating the shop as often as I should, but — once things settle down and get organized, I hope to change that!

Sarracenia purpureas, psittacinas, and minors all together in this section. In the distance, you can see how friggin beat up the minors are from being in the low light conditions. Behind that are the leucophyllas.

Here’s a shot of the grouping of minors. So SAD! UGH! They are so beat up! The older traps are weak, elongated, and floppy. However, check out a few of the new traps as you can see those are strong and upright.

Here we have the grouping of Sarracenia rubra, and in the back is the Sarracenia leucophylla section. I’m keeping the rubras on the higher end/dryish part of the table. Fellow Sarracenia-phile Mike Wang suggests that S. rubras like things on the dryer side. I’ve been top watering and letting the excess run down to the rest of the table where the S. leucophyllas are sitting. Uneven tables: I guess that’s a good thing for situations like this.

Sarracenia leucophylla - 'Hurricane Creek White' clone D

Sarracenia leucophyllas are making a come back! S. leucophyllas throw pitchers up in the fall anyway – this is their time to shine! It’s nice to see them recovering and looking much happier now!

In this front section of this table are all of the S. ‘Reptilian Rose’ hybrids/seedlings that were created by Dr. Travis H. Wyman. I’m really spacing these out to get as much light and air to the plants as possible. I have great hopes for these babies, and I’m sure Dr. Wyman does too. In the back section are various other hybrids of similar shape/form all mixed in.

Another angle of the Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ hybrid section. You can see the old lanky growth vs. the stronger upright recent growth on some of these plants.

OH MY! The anthocyanin free section. OF COURSE! Y’all should know me by now. I am an anthocyanin free addict!

Here’s a few of the Sarracenia courtii AF x “Green Monster” crosses I did from 2009. They are on the road to recovery!

The field of screams! The Dionaea group. They’ve really turned around since the move into The Asylum.

Hope you enjoyed this quick update – will be working on putting the rest of the tables together and moving plants over the course of the next few weeks. Good times indeed!

Beauty from Complexity

Sarracenia (leucophylla x oreophila) x [(leucophylla "red" x minor var. okefenokeensis) x 'Royal Ruby']Sarracenia (leucophylla x oreophila) x [(leucophylla “red” x minor var. okefenokeensis) x ‘Royal Ruby’] – Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman, 2008

Here’s a cross that Dr. Travis H. Wyman did back in 2008. The parentage has a few things going on: S. (leucophylla x oreophila) x [(leucophylla “red” x minor var. okefenokeensis) x ‘Royal Ruby’].  S. ‘Royal Ruby’ is a red moorei with leucophylla and flava in it’s parentage. The pitchers here recently opened not too long ago, and I suspect that the whiteish interior of the pitcher and nectar roll will be coloring up along with the rest of it. As far as full potential and true colors – at this time, who really knows? (Again, this year has been quite eventful for me.) I didn’t get to really see all that the spring pitchers could do earlier this year, but there’s always next season. Even though it comes from a complex background, I’m finding this clone full of promise and beauty.

A Fresh Formosa

Sarracenia formosa, anthocyanin free cloneSarracenia formosa, anthocyanin free clone

AF Sarracenia formosa – not just Anthocyanin Free Sarracenia formosa, but A FRESH formosa! (See: “fresh” as defined in the urban dictionary). Sarracenia formosa is a hybrid anthocyanin free forms of minor and psittacina; both anthocyanin free versions are somewhat limited in cultivation (at least for now), and a hybrid between the two plants is pretty interesting! This is a young seedling and  I’m looking forward to growing it out to flowering maturity.

Sarracenia (minor x ‘Judith Hindle’) x ‘Adrian Slack’

Just a quick update on this baby as I’m slowly moving plants out to the new place.  It’s growing up a little bit and just wanted to post an update on it. I did this cross back in 2009 not knowing really what to expect. Back in March, 2011 – the seedling looked like this. The areoles (those light spots like this) from S. minor had a nice little influence on the pitchers. I’m finding those dots quite interesting … totally looking forward to seeing this thing really color up in the future!

Sarracenia (minor x 'Judith Hindle') x 'Adrian Slack'
Sarracenia (minor x ‘Judith Hindle’) x ‘Adrian Slack’

Sarracenia (minor x 'Judith Hindle') x 'Adrian Slack'
Sarracenia (minor x ‘Judith Hindle’) x ‘Adrian Slack’

Sarracenia (minor x 'Judith Hindle') x 'Adrian Slack'Sarracenia (minor x ‘Judith Hindle’) x ‘Adrian Slack’

Hybrid Collaboration Update: S. minor giant x “Green Monster”

Back in the Spring of 2009 I was in my old greenhouse in Pacifica on a phone call with Jerry Addington. We were talking about hybrids, tossing ideas around and I was trying to absorb as much wisdom as I could from him. Anyway, at the time I had a blooming S. “Green Monster” (an anthocyanin free form of S. excellens) and Jerry and I were throwing around ideas about the plant and some potential crosses.  One of the ideas that Jerry brought up was that S. “Green Monster” could be used to create an AF minor giant looking plant. I thought that was a bloody awesome idea, and I had only half of the answer to that puzzle at that point time. Sadly I had no minor giant in bloom to breed S. “Green Monster” with. Soooo, I began asking fellow growers if they had any spare S. minor var. okefenokeensis out there. I’m so thankful that Mike Wang had a spare S. minor var. okefenokeensis plant with a bloom just cracking open — so he lent me the plant! SO awesome of him. I drove to his place pick it up, and then went home and did the cross right away.

There were only a few seeds that came from that cross, and a total of only 4 seedlings were strong enough to make it to this point. Only 4. Those 4 seedlings are photographed in the first photo below.

Here’s a quick summary through the years showing how this plant is evolving.

Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x “Green Monster”
20 November 2010

Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x “Green Monster”
26 August 2011

Now in 2012. Keep in mind that my lighting is sub par so the colors aren’t as great as they normally would be.

Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x “Green Monster”
27 May 2012

This next photo is something monumental for me – the culmination of our  efforts and ideas! (Well, assuming that the cross took, of course…) I had no AF minor giant in bloom, so I selfed the flower. I did this in hopes to unlock that recessive anthocyanin free gene, as well as have the size influence from S. minor var. okefenokeensis end up in at least ONE of those seedlings. The other thing that’s pretty cool that you can’t really tell from the photo above is that the S. leucophylla influence gives it a slight undulation in the lid. Hawt.

Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x “Green Monster”
Pod after self pollinating – I HOPE that the cross took…
27 May 2012

Now you may be thinking – DAAAYYMMMNNNN Rob, how the f*ck do you get  your plants to flower so fast?  Well to tell you the truth – I was fortunate to have longer than average growing seasons in my microclimate. At my old spot, it was not unusual to pollinate, harvest, stratify, then germinate seed all in the same year! Combined with long photo periods, I was able to get a slight jump on growth.  Long term though, I am not sure how that shortened dormancy affected the adult plants. Dormancy for these plants is important. I would notice that after a few years maybe a few of the plants were not as strong as in years past, but that could be due to several factors that were going on. Don’t get me wrong, they would still go dormant for about a little over a month to a month and a half in the greenhouses at the old spot. The plants outdoors would obviously get a longer dormancy time as it’s quite cooler and they didn’t wake up so fast. I can’t really See any major negative effects on the plants though, so the time I had them sleeping might of been “just enough.” I also wanted to mention that this year the plants received a longer than the past “usual” dormancy period due to lower light, so I guess that’s a good thing.

Keep in mind the other youngsters plants don’t have flowers yet. The plant photographed above with was simply the first of only four seedlings to get to this point. I look forward to cracking that pod open in a few months! So exciting to see something manifest from all of our cumulative efforts and ideas! Thank you Jerry and Mike!

Minor Details

Sarracenia minors are quite splendid, indeed! Employing deceiving light patches (areoles) as a means of hopeless escape to lure their prey deeper into the hood.  It’s a very cool windows system. Obviously this S. minor’s windows system works much better than my Windows 7 system at work… (Ugh!) I received the below plant from my good friend Jerry Addington earlier this year. Thanks Jerry!

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Sarracenia minor - Waycross, GA
Sarracenia minor – Waycross, GA

Sarracenia minor - Waycross, GA
Sarracenia minor – Waycross, GA

Coppery J’s Pink Windows

My home-boyeeee Mike Wang recently gave me another clone of Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis, (aka, ‘Okee Giant’).  He dubbed this particular one “Clone J” for his record keeping pleasure.  He has some awesome clones! A- I, and K-Z and whatever else he has in between is ALL just stunning stuff.  If you haven’t figured it out by now, there’s a lot of variation with Sarracenia and that’s part of what makes growing and breeding them so fun.  Endless permutations of Sarracenia bliss!  S. minor var. okefenokeensis – Clone J is a seed grown clone (Mike correct me if I’m wrong?), but I find it rather interesting as Clone J gets a coppery hood and some pink windows.  It’s almost like J got some pink tattoo’s all down her back… Awww, daaaaat’s HAWT!!!

Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis – “Clone J”