Found this one plant on my recent trimming project…. Back in September 2010 I wrote about a cross I did with Sarracenia “Starry Night” and Sarracenia ‘Hummers Hammerhead’ here. (Check that link out to see some of the sibling crosses…) One of the plants turned out with a clear S. Hummers Hammerhead influence… Just an example of the variation that comes when growing from seed.
Sarracenia “Starry Night”x ‘ Hummers Hammerhead’
Oh, more interesting things are being found here and there! Here’s a couple young plants from a cross of Sarracenia “Savanna Fire” and Sarracenia flava “Cinnamon Tube”; this particular cross was done by my friend Wes Buckner a few years ago. He sent me some seeds from this cross and they’re turning out pretty nice. By the way, S. flava “Cinnamon Tube” is a cross between flava var. rubricorpora x flava var. cuprea. Bear in mind the photos of the young plants below are last year’s pitchers that I left from the trimdown; they’re tell-tale signs of what is to come in the future. Last year I had the seedlings growing somewhat under the deck, so they didn’t get as long of a photoperiod as I would of liked to give them. They would of had colors that were more intense if under sun all day. Anyway, the plants are dormant and will wake up in the coming month or two and I’m really looking forward to that.
Again, note the variation between the different siblings. There’s more siblings that I’ve trimmed back and I’m looking forward to what they’ll show off in the coming season!
Meet the parents:
left: Sarracenia flava “Cinnamon Tube”
right: Sarracenia “Savanna Fire”
Sarracenia “Savanna Fire” x flava “Cinnamon Tube”
Sarracenia “Savanna Fire” x flava “Cinnamon Tube”
Sarracenia “Savanna Fire” x flava “Cinnamon Tube”
Part of the fun of diving into the fray of trimming and cleaning is finding things that I haven’t seen in a while, or at times — didn’t even know about. There’s so many plants hiding between this and that, and with the seedling babies – heck, I don’t even know what’s going on sometimes. Here’s a couple sibling young plants that my friend Wes Buckner did between Sarracenia “Bud Wilkerson” (a moorei, or a leucophylla / flava Sarracenia hybrid) and a Sarracenia chelsonii (a Sarracenia purpurea/rubra hybrid). He sent me these seeds about 3 years ago, I think. You can see the variation between the two and that’s what makes Sarracenia breeding for me so fascinating. You never quite know what you’ll get. One is producing nice upright veined and ruffled pitchers drawing influence from S. chelsonii. The other plant (that should produce some larger pitchers this coming year, and not as quite as large as it’s sibling yet) has a little bit more of the moorei influence and what I hope to be a consistent vertical throat splotch. The latter reminds me a little bit of some cat’s eyes…
Sarracenia “Bud Wilkerson” x chelsonii
Sarracenia “Bud Wilkerson” x chelsonii
Posted in Blog
Tagged Bud Wilkerson, chelsonii, hybrid, Sarracenia, Variation, Wes Buckner
As I go thorough each bench and tray, it’s kind of cool finding things that I forgot about. It’s as if surprises await me as I go through and do my trimming duties. The other day I was trimming through trays and found a cross I did a few years ago. This is S. (leucophylla x oreophila), Karen Oudean Clone x purpurea ssp. venosa.
Sarracenia (leucophylla x oreophila) Karen Oudean Clone x purpurea ssp. venosa
It’s been a while since I’ve seen some of these seedlings, but was pleasantly surprised to see how some were turning out. Most of the pitchers were already going crisp but the horizontal line in the throat was a consistent feature in the other pitchers of this plant. A nice surprise to find, and I am really looking forward to seeing how this plant will be at full maturity. The rhizome is looking a bit swollen, so I hope that I can get some flowers when it comes time…
Oh boy, can’t wait to see what other surprises await me in the trimming fray!
Posted in Blog
Tagged hybrid, Karen Oudean, leucophylla, oreophila, purpurea ssp. venosa, Sarracenia
Earlier this year I got a recent division of S. readii x moorei – select. This was created by Phil Faulisi – and I’m really happy that it threw up some recent late pitchers. I can’t wait to see the large pitchers it will throw up next year. I’ve seen some established divisions of this plant with impressive pitchers.
S. readii is a rubra/leucophylla hybrid. S. moorei is a flava/leucophylla hybrid. The late pitchers on this plant are quite a treat this late in the season, thanks to the S. leucophylla influence which sends up nice pitchers in the fall. A few other plants in the garden have already been reduced to phyllodia. (Phyllodia are those non carnivorous leaves – they catch sun rays for the photosynthesis action…)
Ahh, I’m going to enjoy this cuz dormancy is right around the corner… 
[Sarracenia readii x moorei - select clone]
[Sarracenia readii x moorei - select clone]
I crossed one of my select Sarracenia (leucophylla x oreophila) clones with S. ‘Adrian Slack’ back in 2009. It’s recently been putting up some juvenile pitchers that are tell-tale signs of what the plant will look like at maturity. At least, I hope. Below are photos of two clones that I found interesting.
This first one doesn’t have much color showing; that I know. At least not just yet. I am loving the floppy pitcher hood and wide sweeping mouth configuration here. The hood right now has very subtle coloration of lighter green splotches – I hope with age and a bit of stronger light it will bring out this characteristic. It’s still a seedling so it’s currently in a greenhouse with very bright filtered light.
***
The second seedling that caught my attention is below. The pitchers were just opening up and you can see that the white spots are already forming. I’ll be watching this plant in hopes that the white spots spread to create a more vivid white top and mouth. The S. ‘Leah Wilkerson’ x ‘Adrian Slack’ that I have does something similar – the coppery tones will eventually turn lighter then be flushed out by white. Let’s see if that same thing happens with this seedling.
Posted in Blog
Tagged Adrian Slack, hybrid, leucophylla, North American Pitcher Plant, oreophila, Sarracenia
[Sarracenia courtii x 'Adrian Slack']
A couple years ago I had this strange notion of crossing a very colorful clone of a nice deep red S. courtii with S. ‘Adrian Slack’. There’s a lot of seedlings from this batch that are coming up pretty nice. Here’s one pitcher that recently opened. I’m really looking forward to seeing how these babies will do in the coming years. You may of remembered this entry close to a year ago. Almost a YEAR ago! It’s just amazing seeing the “kids” grow up! Geez.
It’s a trip. Speaking of kids, my youngest is starting kindergarten in the coming weeks ahead. And my eldest starts first grade. DUDE. REALLY?! WTF, where does this time go?! I’m amazed and blown away at how fast time goes by. Seriously! There’s always that constant parallel of growth in life with the garden. I love how I can look at the garden and see how it echoes different events and milestones in my life. YES I’d like to see all these seedlings I have grow up to maturity, however I’m also learning that it takes time. It’s really teaching me to savor the moment and enjoy every moment, and every season I am in. It doesn’t last forever…
Happy Friday everyone! I was out relaxing a bit in the garden when I got home, and just wanted to share with y’all how this cross was doing. Again, it was a cross I did back in 09, and now I’m starting to see the work start to pay off, 2 years later! Be sure to check this post out so you can see how far these babies have come along.
And again, just to show you, here are the two parents:
[Meet the parents]
[Left: S. courtii, AF | Right: S. "Green Monster". (S. excellens, AF)]
What’s funny is that the the two “select” seedlings that I set aside back then, are about the same size (or now even smaller) than some of the other seedlings I have growing in that tub now. Goes to show you, you never really know what you’ll get when breeding and growing from seed – and what seedlings will spring up as late starters. Or I should say, late jumpers.
I’m really liking the seedlings with the clean polka dotish action on the pitchers. Finally seeing the fruition of my labor is exciting and keeps me going in this obsession. I’m still fairly new at breeding – can’t wait to see some of the other stuff cookin’ grow up!
[S. courtii AF x "Green Monster" - August 12, 2011]
Posted in Blog
Tagged AF, anthocyanin free, Courtii, Green monster, hybrid, Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia
…No, not a fattie like that one you go blazin’. It’s just that this juvenile plant threw out this one robust fat pitcher. This cross was created by my friend, Wes Buckner. It’s a Sarracenia (leucophylla x oreophila) x purpurea ssp. venosa, Columbus County, NC. The purpurea parent in this one, I am told, is a nice large purp that gets pretty big. Well, I can see some of that fatness shine through here.
The other younger pitchers were similar but did not have the same wide bulbous type pitcher. Let’s see what happens with the other up and coming pitchers!
[Sarracenia leucophylla x oreophila x purpurea ssp. venosa, Columbus Co., NC.]
Posted in Blog
Tagged fattie, hybrid, leucophylla, oreophila, purpurea, Sarracenia, Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa var. burkeii f. luteola
Oh where, oh where has Rob been?!
Howdy y’all! I know it has been a few days since I’ve been on here. I’ve been out of town but am back! It was nice to get away for a few days, but nice to be back! I have some really cool things to show ya from my trip, but I’ll post that a little later!
So, before I left for my road trip, a baby Cyclops showed up to stay with me! Not the mythical one eyed dude — but rather Sarracenia “Cyclops”. It was a very nice surprise to have the plant arrive before my trip! (Thank you so much Dean!) Dean sent me this one along with a few other awesome hybrids. This plant was created by Dean Cook – be sure to visit his site: http://www.flytraps.com – he has a nice selection of plants for sale! The parentage is (leucophylla x flava rugelli) x courtii and I can kinda see the one eyed monster that could come from this baby plant. The plant photographed below is a small division, however I’m told that this plant gets pretty big. I’m really lookin’ forward to seeing how this baby S. “Cyclops” grows here!
[Sarracenia "Cyclops"]
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