Purpurea Pumice Ice Bowl

RobBlog, Sarracenia

More frozen fun from this morning! This week, temps have been dipping into the low 20’s and teens – and some plants still look decent. S. purpurea (most notably northern types) and their hybrids can take that cold – with the pitchers lasting into the next season. More recently I’ve been drawn to purpurea and purpurea type plants lately. Not just for the looks, but also for cold hardiness. They do fine here outdoors in the PNW and have been taking the cold each year! Here are some frames of a S. purpurea type plant that I received from Jerry Addington. It’s some type of purpurea, but exact parentage is unknown. I planted it in a pumice rock and mulched with live sphagnum moss. During warmer times, the moss is green and lends excellent color and texture to the bowl. Kinda looks gross and messy now, but the moss will grow back. I may end up planting some plugs of the red sphagnum in there later on. The red type has a more compact growth habit and is not so stringy, plus a touch of red would be interesting. This will be the second season it has grown in this set up. The bowl the rock planter is in was purchased from a local thrift shop. I lined the bottom of the bowl with Fluval aquarium substrate and the bowl is filled with water to keep the Sarracenia and moss hydrated. The Fluval works nicely as a foundation for the pumice and adds a nice look. I set the bowl on top of a hardy succulent filled concrete planter that I had cast years ago. It is so intriguing that these plants can take the cold each season.