Winter greetings all! I hope this finds you all well and that this winter season has been good to you and the plants. Now that it is winter and the plants are asleep, activity in The Asylum is ramping up. This winter season is a busy one indeed. I’ve been doing some cleaning, trimming, moving plants about, and even some sorting of seeds (Yeeessss, I know – many of you asked about seeds. And divisions. So stay tuned for that update…)
Here’s a small selection of photos from around the garden. First shot below is a doozy. What a complete mess this is. Yeah, I gots my trimming work cut out for me. Most plants have long since put away the glory of the season past. They are once again clothed in the sleep of crispy crunchy pitchers. Soon enough, this place will be bursting full of life again…
Dormancy
And of course, my trusted garden helper – my katana, puts some work in…
Quick clip: Slicing through Sarracenia.
Sorry for the quality. Filmed in slow motion (120 FPS) on the mobile device.
Sarracenia oreophila section – all squared away.
Dionaea, Pinguicula, and Drosera (Drosera out of shot in background) cleaned and organized.
Dormancy: Sarracenia oreophila
Sarracenia alata – maroon throat
A few pitchers still hanging on.
Seedling: Sarracenia leucophylla x “Eva” pitcher still vibrant.
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And while the Sarracenias sleep, the Nepenthes crew bask in these cooler temperatures. Watching the Nepenthes and tropicals grow during the winter helps break up the monotony of all the lifeless pitchers. I like them ‘cuz you know, I always have to be growing… *something.*
Nepenthes ventricosa x tiveyi
Nepenthes thorelii x aristolochioides
Nepenthes (eymae x (stenophylla x lowii)) x trusmadiensis
And finally – back home is the grow tank. I turned an unused 50 gallon tank into a refuge for some Heliamphora, Cephalotus, Nepenthes, a Pinguicula and Drosera. There’s a variegated vanilla orchid growing in the corner and a mounted staghorn fern (Platycerium coronatum) that was not taking too well to the cooler temps in the greenhouse. Be looking for updates from the grow tank in the future.
Under the Nepenthes dome. 
Drosophyllum lusitanicum
Amorphophallus titanum
Dormancy. Time to bust out that katana blade and slice through this madness soon. 
I did have a lot of losses though and I’m still mourning those plants. As my friend Kinjie told me regarding these plants, “Hey, you gotta learn somehow!” Yes, true, but losing plants is a sucky way to learn! To the left is a Nepenthes densiflora x truncata. You can see some of the cold damage that this baby took. The center of the plant is still alive and there are new growpoints forming where the cold turned the main growpoint into mush. In any event, I’m so very glad that many of the plants survived. Some of the surprises that I found under that overwinter film provided some great comfort, hope, and solace.
Nepenthes tiveyi “Red Queen”
