Carnivorous plants are badass. Beauty, seduction (um, yeah that’s a NSFW link), devious trapping prowess… acoustic echo location skills, and even glow in the dark skills just to name a few – they never cease to amaze. Heck, carnivorous plant skills even rival THIS DUDE’S impressive list of skills. Anyway, ever since I saw this in Nat Geo, I’ve been inspired to shoot around with these plants in 254nm UV light.
Recently, the amazing Paul Barden sent over a few more beautiful botanical gems (THANK YOU PAUL!!) and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of putting them under some black light and getting a long exposure going. Now, this isn’t your typical black light I’m using. These photos are shot using a specific 254nm wavelength UV light as I’ve referenced in my other posts above.
Check these beauties out! You can mouse over the image to see them in natural light. 🙂
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Nepenthes “Sabre” under 254nm UV Light.
144 second exposure, f 5.0, 50mm. Mouse over to see the plant in normal light.
Nepenthes “Sabre” under 254nm UV Light.
116 second exposure, f 5.0, 50mm. Mouse over to see the plant in normal light.
Nepenthes “Song of Melancholy under 254nm UV Light.
24 second exposure, f 6.3, 50mm. Mouse over to see the plant in normal light.
Back on 16 May 2015, I had the pleasure of visiting my bro Kinjie’s garden. This visit was quite the whirlwind weekend in the Pacific North West (PNW.) I managed to see both Kinjie as well as my friend, Derek in a time span of about 24 hours before heading back to the SF Bay Area. This mos’ def was not enough time! Kinjie has a brilliant collection of Sarracenia and I’m honored to have been able to witness his garden in person. (Kinjie, Allison and Siri – thanks for having me over!)
Hope you enjoy a few of these photos from the Garden of Coe!
The final installment of this trilogy of vignettes takes to the wonderful garden of Martinez. Drew’s collection is beautiful madness, and his space usage (especially in the Nepenthes houses) is very efficient. As an added bonus, the great Sarracenia artist himself, the legend — Phil Faulisi accompanied us on this visit to Drew’s place too! We had a great day simply immersing ourself in botanical bliss. This was one memorable weekend filled with carnivorous plant wonder. I seriously could use more weekends like this.
Drew and Selina, thank you so much for hosting us. Really appreciate you taking time out of your day to give us a tour of your amazing collection! You both are awesome.
In that company of Sarracenia flowers, a couple gems stood out. This S. purpurea ssp. venosa var. burkii f. luteola immediately caught my eye. Not just because it was anthocyanin free, but check the flowers out. It’s missing the umbrella shaped style! (See this as a reference of Sarracenia flower parts.) So weird! All the flowers on it were this way. After I pointed it out, Drew called it “Freakshow.” So cool. I love them freaks! This plant originated from a batch of seed grown plants from Chris Gussman. (Great work, Chris!) I recognized the shape and knew straight away it was from Chris since I have one too. 🙂 Mine hasn’t bloomed yet so not sure if this trait is also expressed in the siblings.
Here’s a shot of one of the flowers from that strange luteola…
…and of the other flower. If you see past the petals, there’s no umbrella! Go home, Sarracenia. You are drunk.
Another flower that caught my eye after the strange luteola flower. This is S. lamentations x leucophylla. Notice anything funny about this one? Check the sepals out! (Again, here’s the Sarracenia flower reference photo.) Typically Sarracenia sepals are separated into 5 distinct sepals. This plant has only one fused / continuous sepal. It was consistent on all of the flowers too!
An ever-so efficient use of space. It’s packed in here!
Phil freaks out over this beautiful N. robcantleyi!
Here’s a small sampling of early buds and bloomers. Many more blooms are on their way which means many more potential crosses to make into a reality.
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Sarracenia alata
Sarracenia alata – Texas
Sarracenia alata – Covington Co. (Sorry, I am unsure as to which state. MS or AL…)*
2 Mar 2015 Update: Thanks to feedback from Randy Troup it is of high probability that this S. alata is from Covington Co., MS. Thank you for the insight, Randy!
Sarracenia oreophila
Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora
Sarracenia ‘Adrian Slack’
Sarracenia flava – Anthocyanin Free – Colquitt Co., GA
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 9
This last weekend I had an opportunity to nerd-out over carnivores at Drew Martinez’s place with fellow carnie-heads Mike Wang and Josh Brown. It was brilliant getting together with these fellow growers and talk plants. Hella (plant) nerd. With this time of the year, most of Drew’s Sarracenia were on their way out, but many plants still looked great. By the way – you can see Mike’s photos on his thread on The Sarracenia Forums here.
The amazing thing is — THIS. Yeah, click that link. Back in 2012 Mike, Josh and I helped put the greenhouses together and it was quite delightful to see the houses and yard packed. Drew and Selina – thanks again for your hospitality in hosting us carnivorous plant-dorks.
My camera and one of my lenses are still in the shop as noted in the last post, but special thanks to Drew for letting me use his camera body to let me snap a few shots!
View all photos in full screen here. A few highlight photos below!
A few weeks ago Mike Wang and I visited various Darlingtonia sites in Curry Co., OR and Del Norte Co., CA. As always – I am truly thankful that I got a chance to roll with Mike again. It was truly an unforgettable experience. It was pretty much a year since we last visited Darlingtonia country. (Here’s a post to day one and day two from last year!)
We had to do some hiking to get to some of these sites. The trails (and LACK of trails) were quite steep and rugged in some places. Finding the Darlingtonia in these remote regions was definitely not easy, but the grueling trek felt like a very small price to pay to be able to witness the plants growing in their natural habitat. Oh and the scenery? <Insert expletives here.> OMG. Ridiculously good. Melt-your-face-off mind-blowingly beautiful.
I can’t adequately put into words just how outlandishly magnificent this experience was so I’ll stop trying and let you see for yourself. I strung together a few video clips and created some photo slideshows that are sorted by day below. There’s also a few highlight snapshots underneath all that. Enjoy!
Oh yeah, and if you haven’t already done so – please be sure to check out Mike’s posts of our Darlingtonia 2014 excursion here, here, here and here!
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Darlingtonia Video
9-11 Oct 2014 Various sites in Curry Co., OR and Del Norte Co., CA
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A few highlight photos follow below. To see all the photos from this Darlingtonia excursion, please view the photo slideshows above!
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It’s pre 6am. I need to start this day off right. I need to start this trip off right.
It’s all about that PHILZ COFFEE!
The first patch of Darlingtonia that we stumbled across!
FCS Site – Curry Co., OR
The Wangster and I – FCS Site – Curry Co., OR
Seedlings growing out of the water. FCS Site – Curry Co., OR
FCS Site – Curry Co., OR
Above the fog at sunset. Curry Co., OR
Fueling up before the gnarly hike.
The ravenous Mike Wang in action!
Rugged and beautiful. Curry Co., OR
So scenic. That’s Mike in the photo to give you a sense of scale. Here we are hiking around looking for the Mountain Valley Meadow site.
Curry Co., OR
Mountain Valley Meadow site – Curry Co., OR
Mountain Valley Meadow Site – Curry Co., OR
Mountain Valley Meadow Site – Curry Co., OR
Mountain Valley Meadow Site – Curry Co., OR
Summit – Curry Co., OR
Haunting beauty. Curry Co., OR
Some timelapse iPhoneography happening here.
An iPhone Gorillapod comes in handy.
Trailside Site – Curry Co., OR
Mountain Creek Site – Curry Co., OR
Mountain Creek Site – Curry Co., OR
Mountain Creek Site – Curry Co., OR
Roadside Site – Curry Co., OR
Sphagnum. Sphagnum Site – Del Norte Co., CA
Darlingtonia growing in sphagnum. Sphagnum Site – Del Norte Co., CA.
Skeleton. Sphagnum Site – Del Norte Co., CA
Darlingtonia seed Pod. Sphagnum Site – Del Norte Co., CA
Red.
Alpine Farms – Del Norte Co., CA
Alpine Farms – Del Norte Co., CA
Alpine Farms – Del Norte Co., CA
Alpine Farms – Del Norte Co., CA
Seedlings! Alpine Farms – Del Norte Co., CA
Goldmine Site – Del Norte Co., CA
Pinguicula macroceras growing vertically on a rock face! Goldmine Site – Del Norte Co., CA
Goldmine Site – Del Norte Co., CA
Mike admires the Darlingtonia growing vertically on the rock face. Goldmine Site – Del Norte Co., CA
Site 734 – Del Norte Co., CA
Site 734 – Del Norte Co., CA
Site 734 – Del Norte Co., CA
Site 734 – Del Norte Co., CA
Site 734 – Del Norte Co., CA
Site 734 – Del Norte Co., CA
Young plant/seedling growing next to charred piece of wood. Site 734 – Del Norte Co., CA
Brilliant yellow.
Site 734 – Del Norte Co., CA
Check the mustache out on this bad boy. Site 734 – Del Norte Co., CA
Site 734 – Del Norte Co., CA
Site 734 – Del Norte Co., CA
Left: My preferred footwear – hiking boots. Right: Mike’s preferred footwear – CROCS. My mind can not compute how hardcore Mike is to be able to even hike in friquen’ Crocs… CROCS! Seriously. Now that dude is a beast.
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… )
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Blog warning: I am not a plant expert. No freekin' way. I just love growing these plants and sharing what may or may not work for me. I consider myself a student - always learning, and always growing, sharing what I learn along the way!
The plant material I distribute is propagated by me. I have not, and do not collect field specimens for propagation, for sale, or for any other purpose. I do not sell plants or seeds that have been field collected by me or my contacts to fill plant orders.
Oh Hai!
Pitcher plant powwow.
A plethora of Sarracenia flowers.
Here’s a shot of one of the flowers from that strange luteola…
…and of the other flower. If you see past the petals, there’s no umbrella! Go home, Sarracenia. You are drunk.
Another flower that caught my eye after the strange luteola flower. This is S. lamentations x leucophylla. Notice anything funny about this one? Check the sepals out! (
An ever-so efficient use of space. It’s packed in here!
Phil freaks out over this beautiful N. robcantleyi!
WOW. Just… wow.
Sarracenia alata
