Tag Archives: Sarracenia

Floppy

More fun stuff I’m finding as I’m wading through the seemingly endless mass of garbled pitchers. Here’s a pot of different clones of a cross I did of S. “Starry Night” x ‘Hummer’s Hammer Head‘. As you can tell in the pot, lots of variation going on there. In fact, check out the previous posts on this cross here and here. Fun stuff! (I just gotta find the other siblings… I am not joking when I say pots are all over the place still!) The thing that kind of caught my attention was this large freakin’ floppy hooded beast thing on skinny popsicle stick pitcher tubes. WTF. It’s kind of a freak. But that’s ok. Freaks are good. Happy Friday!

Sarracenia "Starry Night" x 'Hummers Hammerhead'
Sarracenia “Starry Night” x ‘Hummer’s Hammer Head’

Sarracenia "Starry Night" x 'Hummers Hammerhead'
Sarracenia “Starry Night” x ‘Hummer’s Hammer Head’

Sarracenia "Starry Night" x 'Hummers Hammerhead'Sarracenia “Starry Night” x ‘Hummer’s Hammer Head’

Sarracenia flava “Powhatan”

Sarracenia flava "Powhatan"
Sarracenia flava “Powhatan”

Sarracenia flava "Powhatan"Sarracenia flava “Powhatan”

Recently acquired early this year, S. flava “Powhatan” is finally showing some promising form and color. It’s not as solid deep red as I would like – at least not just yet; given it’s current state and all it has been through, that is understandable. Along with the other plants, it has suffered quite a bit for most of  this year due to the low light levels it had to endure. It’s very promising seeing this plant finally showing some color at this point and put out a healthy pitcher. I also attempted to seed it with pollen from S. ‘Adrian Slack’ but that proved to be unwise the first year. No seeds, and flowering probably ended up draining the plant of energy that it needed. Oh well, you know the mantra: “There’s always next year.”  Still, it’s rather nice Sarracenia to have around. My fingers are crossed for a brilliant seasons ahead with this clone.

About S. flava “Powhatan” from Meadowview Biological Research Station:
This bold, solid clone reflects the power and pride of chief Powhatan. The flower is yellow, typical of normal yellow pitcher plant. The red color of the foliage is best developed under intense, sunny conditions. Powhatan was the ruler of the Algonquin tribe that occupied central Virginia when the colonists arrived in 1607.

Update: 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 

Earlier this month, I wrote about this intriguing and complex creature that was a result of Dr. Travis H. Wymans breeding handiwork. Dr. Wyman did this cross back on 2008.  Phil Faulisi did the pollen parent cross of S. (leucophylla “red” x minor var. okefenokeensis) x ‘Royal Ruby’. As a note for clarity, the leucophylla “red” that was used here is *not* S. ‘Dana’s Delight’ or S. ‘Diana’s Delight’ as some may have noted. It is a red form leucophylla that Phil created and has used in his own lines of Sarracenia breeding. I can’t help but to share another photo… I’m utterly mesmerized by this beauty. Man, that nectar roll is hawt.

Fire and Brimstone

Sarracenia 'Golden Red Jubilee' x purpurea ssp. purpureaWhile cleaning out the and organizing plants the other day, I stumbled upon a pot of Sarracenia ‘Golden-Red Jubilee‘ x purpurea ssp. purpurea. Always nice to find surprises like this! I did this cross back (I think) in 2009. Possibly 2008. Eh, gotta check. From what I recall, many of the seedlings were deeply and richly colored. (Example: see 5th photo in this post from June of last year.) Even some of the green ones exhibited a nice “chunky” veiny trait to them. In the photo to the left, you can see the older foliage just limp and blah all over the pot looking messy, however there are 3 recent pitchers that really stood out that stem from 2 of the seedlings in the batch. One plant decided to don a mischievous yet fiery pink. The other is cloaked in a sulfur and brimstone yellow backdrop for the web of dark veins. Seeing this color combination together made me think of fire and brimstone. Both young siblings, though different in color, display a similar and elegantly sinister facade.

Sarracenia 'Golden Red Jubilee' x purpurea ssp. purpureaSarracenia ‘Golden-Red Jubilee’ x purpurea ssp. purpurea

Sarracenia 'Golden Red Jubilee' x purpurea ssp. purpurea
Sarracenia ‘Golden-Red Jubilee’ x purpurea ssp. purpurea

SF Giants + Sarracenia = AWESOME

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS!
2012 NL WEST CHAMPIONS!

 

In honor of the SF Giants clinching the National League West Championship tonight, I wanted to update you on this project that I’ve recently completed. YEAH! So you may recall that back in May I started this little experiment inspired by the artistry of Japanese apple farmers. To the left you’ll see the photo of the plant before it colored up, with the SF Giants sticker applied to it. I wanted to see if the sticker would keep that area of the plant lighter as the plant got darker throughout the season. The result I had in mind would be to have a plant that represented the SF Giants nicely. Oh, by the way — a special thank you to fellow SF Giants fan homie Chris Nieman of Sticky Fingas Customs for creating these stickers! (Check his feed out on Instagram: @duffmanivxx.) I am glad to report that this was a success with this plant!

YES, there are awesome phenomenal parallels between baseball and gardening. If you haven’t seen it, be sure and check out John Markowski’s post: Why Gardening is Just Like Baseball. See, I wanted some way to combine and represent the SF Giants madness with my obsession with pitcher plants. Pitcher. Get it? Pitcher as in – baseball? (Womp womp…) Heck it even affects the way I pollinate my plants: see figure E in this post. And yo, in my garden, you will find a couple things that represent.

Catcher Plant SF Giants Huffii
Left: A Catcher Plant amongst pitcher plants, growing in the rally pot
Right: Sanfranciscogiantsaiea Aubrey Huffii

Funny enough, just like the SF Giants, my garden has gone through similar times. Had a rough year last season facing lots of adversity. This year was off to a slow start. Lots of changes and losses. Aaaaaand after going through a few adjustments, things all of a sudden look much brighter and better. My garden is finally coming to life, and the SF Giants just clinched the NL West Championship. AWESOME.

Back to the experiment: My little project first started out with 3 plants. The other plants didn’t do to well. Because of all the moving the plants underwent in the past few months, the pitchers got really torn up and the results weren’t too good. The other pitcher was accidentally torn up, and the Sarracenia rosea turned red even with the sticker. I will have to select a different plant next year. The one plant that did work out was this select clone of Sarracenia ‘Alucard’ – “Prince of Darkness”. This plant was created and bred by the legend,  Phil Faulisi. Below are two pictures, documenting some progress. Glad to know this works, I have some more ideas for next season! (Chris, going to have to hit you up again bro!)

Now I just gotta breed an orange and black Sarracenia… hah! 

SF Giants Alucard-1August 2012
Sneaking a peak!

Sarracenia 'Alucard' GiantsSeptember 2012
REPRESENT!!

Again, congratulations to the SF Giants!
2012 NL West Champions!
**GO GIANTS!**

Update: S. ‘Leah Wilkerson’ x ‘Adrian Slack’

Sarracenia 'Leah Wilkerson' x 'Adrian Slack'Sarracenia ‘Leah Wilkerson’ x ‘Adrian Slack’
Cross by Brooks Garcia

Just a quick update on this fighter of a plant. After suffering in the low light conditions earlier this year, it’s bounced back and is actually looking rather decent. Here are two recent pitchers that came up and a third is on the way to open up shortly. (Special thanks to the S. leucophylla influence on the fall pitchers.) In seasons past, prolonged exposure to bright direct light would cause the green veins and slight pink flush that’s currently are visible fade to white; this produced a very beautiful and haunting contrast with the deep red throat splotch. There’s still a little bit of season left, so I am hoping that this plant will show off more white in the upper portion of the hood before finally going to sleep for winter dormancy.

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.

***

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!