Tag Archives: Sarracenia

Sarracenia flava – Anthocyanin Free

Sarracenia flava - Anthocyanin FreeSarracenia flava, anthocyanin free clone

A while back a friend of mine gave me a small piece of a Sarracenia flava that I’ve been looking for; an anthocyanin free clone of Sarracenia flava. Now, for those of you who know me, you know that I am heavily into anthocyanin free plants. Basically, these are plants that are lacking in anthocyanin – the pigment that gives these plants all these crazy colors! Yes, green is beautiful. I know that some find it rather bland, or argue that they are weaker plants – but I am totally enamored by the contrast that they give when placed side by side with rest of the collection. These plants have a haunting glow and have grown strongly for me. (Note: This is not a flava var. maxima. S. flava var. maxima has some red pigmentation still, around the base of the pitchers and on new growth.) I’m looking forward to using this plant in future crosses. One goal, of course, is to create different clones of anthocyanin free S. flava.

Pod

Flower PodPod.
This is just a friendly reminder that harvest season draweth nigh…
 

New Growth

Oh the festivities of this last move… again, it was FUN! It really is amazing how much difference lighting can make. Plants look happier! (Oh, I can almost hear them signing the Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy! song…) Even in that last holding area, the plants have been reacting well. YES, there’s a ton of unsightly pitchers flopping all over the place as you may of noticed in the last post – but there’s a few new leaves springing up that signify something better is on the way! Late fall and winter is going to be fun trying to clean all this stuff up. That is a wonderful time of the year. That’s when my hand forged Katana blade comes out.  Like this. And like this. The blade is great for trimming as well as security. Hell, might as well make this fun, right? Here’s some photos that Dahlia and I took below of some plants throwing up some new growth…

Greenhouse Move 2012 - Stage II

A forest of poopie colorless floppy pitchers. Bleh! This is a result of the horrid low light conditions at the old spot. On the plus side, I am hoping that this increased leaf area will promote additional photosynthesis to make up for lost time. I hope that the plants are taking in additional light and storing that in energy in their rhizomes for some phat pitchers next year! At this time next year, watch how different these plants will be looking!

Garden Move Stage II

 Even in the fray of poopie floppy foliage, there’s some new growth! Freshly opened pitchers look promising! Seeing a sight like this is encouraging.

Garden Move Stage II

More new upright foliage in a sea of floppy.

Garden Move Stage II

Sarracenia leucophylla looking bright!

Garden Move Stage II

A new pitcher opens up on this antho free mystery hybrid with another on the way. This came from a cross of S. mitchelliana x ‘Leah Wilkerson’ done by Wes Buckner. If it really is an antho free mutation of this cross, that would be very “amazeeeeeballlllllzzzzzz!!!”.  Read about this cross here. I am in love with the elegant shape of this violent vase of a plant.

Garden Move Stage II

Sarracenia ‘Leah Wilkerson’ x ‘Adrian Slack’ by Brooks Garcia looking hawt with the new pitcher opening up! Lovely flush of pink, but that will go to white hawt once it gets going in the strong light.

Garden Move Stage II

New pitcher getting nice and juicy colored – Sarracenia [(rubra x oreophila) x flava v. rugelii] x ‘Adrian Slack’ – a cross I did in 2009, same year that California Carnivores did their cross. I am guessing the same parent plants were used.

Garden Move Stage II

Another angle of a new pitcher of Sarracenia [(rubra x oreophila) x flava v. rugelii] x ‘Adrian Slack’.

Garden Move Stage II

Sarracenia moorei “Orange Glow” x ‘Adrian Slack’ looking almost translucent. A cross I did back in 2009. I’m hoping that white on that hood really picks up in this light! Who knows. Let it grow, let it glow.

Garden Move Stage II

The top of this S. oreophila x ‘Adrian Slack’ clone getting frosty! Another cross I did back in 2009. Yeah, you can see I went a little nutzo with S. ‘Adrian Slack’ that year. Ironically, the next 2 years, the plant never flowered for me. Let’s hope for blooms next year!

Garden Move Stage II

In focus left, Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Hurricane Creek White’ (from Mike Wang. Unfortunately, I didn’t note which clone this was before taking the photo…) and to the right, Sarracenia mitchelliana, anthocyanin free. Some new pitchers that sprang up in the temporary holding location.  Radness.

Survivor

Sarracenia 'Reptilian Rose' x purpurea "Big Mama"-1Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x rosea “Big Mama” – the sole survivor.

-Meet The Parents-

Sarracenia 'Reptilian Rose'  Sarracenia rosea "Big Mama"
Left: S. ‘Reptilian Rose’  |  Right: S. rosea “Big Mama”

In 2011 I did a cross between Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ and Sarracenia rosea “Big Mama” – (parents photographed above). I only got about 10-15 seeds from this cross and was eventually left with with only ONE survivor (in the photograph). As a side note – the pod was ripe earlier than most other crosses. I knew it was ready because the pod cracked open and I saw a couple of seeds sprouting INSIDE the pod! Yes, it happens. I have no idea why, but it does from time to time. This is why this particular seedling looks a few months older than the others that I started later in the year. I took those 2 or 3 that sprouted early and planted them in a separate pot letting them do their thang, while taking the rest into cold stratification to be sown later. Those that sprouted early were doing OK. Really. They were. But because of the crappy conditions and moving that I recently had to go through — all but one survived. And as far as those other seeds? Welllll… those never sprouted, so I tossed that pot. Ehhhh, shit happens.

S. ‘Reptilian Rose’ was used as the pod parent, and I hope that it can exert a strong influence on this seedling. My luck with using S. ‘Reptilian Rose’ as a pod parent in hybrids hasn’t been very good. I get no pollen at all! And when using the plant as the pod parent, I typically get only a few seeds (10-20) and as with any set of seed, not all those seeds may make it to germination. (UGH DAYMN!! WTF!!) Things don’t always work out the way we want them to in breeding or in the garden — or even in life for that matter. We just roll with it and make the best of what we’re dealt.

When I did this cross, I was aiming for a maniacal looking Sarracenia catesbaei-ish type looking hybrid with that angular nectar roll characteristic of S. ‘Reptilian Rose’ and a large wing (or “ala”) from S. rosea “Big Mama”. I am hoping also that the sheer rotund-ness from S. “Big Mama” will be seen in this cross as well. The plant currently is too young to be able to see any characteristics, but I’ll update y’all again later once something note-worthy happens. I’ll link back to this post in the future once this baby grows up a bit.

Hopefully, I have the opportunity to re-make the cross again in the future.

Growing Up Fast

Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea AF x "Green Monster"Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea AF x “Green Monster”

My oh my, how quickly the children grow. It was only a few moments ago that they were sealed up in their little baggies waiting to germinate. Then sprouting up with a voracious appetite. Man, they grow up so fast…

Glow

Sarracenia moorei "Orange Glow" x 'Adrian Slack'Sarracenia moorei “Orange Glow” x ‘Adrian Slack’

As I was out checking up the plants, one of the seedlings caught my eye. It was kind of like “OH! SOMETHING SHINY!” in a mess of burning-out-toppled-over-older-pitchers. It’s Sarracenia moorei “Orange Glow” x ‘Adrian Slack’ which I crossed back in 2009. I haven’t really noticed it in the past because of all the transitions, and the poor conditions that the plants were in. I  mos’ def had a hard time seeing the true potential in the plants at that crappy last spot, but things are turning around here. Now that it’s getting more light, it seems happier and is putting up new pitchers. I hope that it can hold or even intensify that white coloration as it matures. This is one that I’ll be watching for sure!

A Visit to California Carnivores

Last weekend, Dahlia and I had a little weekend excursion in Sonoma County. It was a much needed time to relax after all the moving that we recently had to do. We’re settling into our new place nicely – but man… moving always sucks! (Thanks again to everyone who helped out!)

So anyway – what would a mini-vacay be without carnivores?! For me, vacations are never complete without carnivorous plant goodness. Since we were in the ‘hood of California Carnivores we decided to stop by to immerse ourselves in the carnivory. If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend stopping by. It’s always a pleasure to visit this magnificent and magical place. Thank you, Cal Carn for what you do. Continue to embolden and equip us to be better growers!

Click here for the full screen slideshow!

A few highlight photos are below the slideshow.

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A Visit to California Carnivores