Sarracenia Clean Up ASMR

RobBlog, Sarracenia

Enjoy the soothing sounds of Sarracenia pitchers burning.

With the impending growth right around the corner, it is now time to clean up the grow area. My usual method of tidying the Sarracenia up is trimming. (See Trim 2021 here.) This season, I decided to commence cleaning with a little bit of burning. In the 90 second Sarracenia burn ASMR video, the flames consume the dormant pitcher canopy allowing the phyllodia (those flat non carnivorous leaves) to enjoy more light and fresh air. Fire, after all, is part of their natural and dynamic ecosystem. Fires help to keep pests and competing vegetation at bay, clearing the way for new growth.

By the way, this fiery method of clean up is probably not the best for plants in plastic pots and would be better suited for bog plantings. (Yes. I have melted tags. And melted table liner. Ugh.) I’ll be doing more trimming and clean up over the course of the next few weeks and am pretty excited to see what this season will hold.

Trimming is one of those meditative and therapeutic work flows for me. As I trim away, I keep a grateful attitude recalling how much I’ve looked forward to seeing those traps grow and develop in seasons past. Now, I have the opportunity to create space for that to happen all over again.


Important note that should go without saying: Please use caution. If you work with any sort of open flame, please have the appropriate safety measures in place. I always have some way to extinguish the flames within reach, such as a hose or fire extinguisher.

Persistent Pitchers

RobBlog, Darlingtonia, Sarracenia

March already?! What? Spring and new growth is right around the corner. But for now – it is still grey and cold out here. While most of the collection is looking very dry and crispy, a few persistent pitchers are still lingering from last season. Last season! Mostly S. purpurea and their hybrids seem able to hold a few traps through a PNW winter. I love how hardy these plants are. They really keep the yard interesting during those cold wet/icy days.

Cold Dragon

RobBlog, Sarracenia

Cold Dragon.

Here’s another creature that survives the winters out here. Below is a photo from September 2020 – when this infernal alien amalgamation was spawned into existence. It is comprised of custom concrete horns, glass eyes, sphagnum moss, and the fantastically strange S. purpurea “Smurf”. The gnarled and twisted pitchers were the perfect plant for the crest. Sphagnum moss was used as a top dressing. As the moss grew in, it secured everything into place. This planter is going through a third winter and still looks decent.


The stone horns were custom cast by Kierstin at SmogTeeth, and eyes conjured by Megan’s Beaded Designs. Before putting this together, I had soaked the concrete horns in water for a few days to leech out any minerals/salts. I then sealed the horns using a soy-based concrete weather seal. The seal serves a barrier to keep water out, and to keep excess minerals from leeching into the planter. Honestly I wasn’t sure if it would work, but we are now going through the third year and so far so good. Sarracenia are still alive! The glass eyes were set into a small plastic lid and then sealed with silicone seal, then incorporated into the planter. Those eyes paired perfectly with the horns! The ceramic bowl was obtained from a local thrift shop

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Winter 2021 to the right.
Dragon is dusted with snow.

And now, a few more photos below from the recent cold snap.
Winter, 2022.

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.

Seedling Spotlight: Lidless

RobBlog

Pitcher plants come in all sorts of colors and forms. They look pretty unique already … but those lidless ones? Oh, those lidless ones are on another level of strange and I like it! They are beautifully bizarre and appear heliamphora-esque. I enjoy the overall look of their simplified shapes. Back in 2019, I crossed S. flava var. rubricorpora – lidless and S. flava – lidless giant. That cross did not give me many seeds – only three. But even with a small seed set, I was glad to grow something from it. Truly fascinating to see characteristics from both parents, such as the red body and dark throat markings, be put on display on an unconventional pitcher form. Fun stuff for sure and I am excited to see these babies grow and evolve! 🌱

A few observations…

Clone I carries over some of the red body coloration from S. flava var. rubricorpora lidless and displays veined patterns on the interior hood column. The lidless hood column has subtle undulations and the peristome is slightly warped.

Clone II pitchers start off mostly red with pale yellow/cream undertones. The hood column is also undulated, but appears to be slightly wider than the other two. Column interior veins spread and darkens up as the pitcher develop. I like how the peristome stays bright as the colors shift.

Clone III develops a deep red body. The pitcher coloration and veins are complimented quite nicely with the bright yellow peristome. The undulating column appears to rise higher than its siblings with a slight arch over the pitcher opening.

Sarracenia Seedlings

RobBlog, Sarracenia

Hi! Here’s a few seedlings that have been under lights this winter. Some of the characteristics are now starting to show and I’m pretty excited to see how these evolve! There’s a few interesting ones I’m watching. As always, I am enjoying the journey. Witnessing something that was once a concept manifest into something tangible, beautiful, and carnivorous is pretty special. 🙂

Seedling: S. luteola x purpurea “Smurf”

RobBlog

Last month I pulled some seedlings from the outdoors to grow under lights indoors for the winter. This will give them a little jump in growth to prepare for next season. A few years ago I did some crosses with the uniquely shaped S. purpurea “Smurf”. Smurf has an interesting form with a hood that tightly rolls inward. This causes the hood to form a point or appear contorted. Weird? Yes. Rad? Also YES!! I used pollen from S. “Smurf” paring with an anthocyanin free S. luteola for the pod parent. It looks like the hood form carries over in most of the seedlings. Below is one of those seedlings engulfed in moss. (They really needed a good cleaning!) It felt good to get them cleaned up. Seedlings have been repotted into individual pots and the light can now reach more leaf surface area. These should be pretty cool once they get some size. And of course, you may already know where I’m going with this cross. Something like this, but instead a S. purpurea “Smurf” version. 🙂 Photos below from 12 Jan 2022.