Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Drosera filiformis ssp. filiformis gearing up

I love Drosera, but not so many do very well with our cold temperatures. The typical and alba forms of Drosera capensis do well, but the red and broad leaf forms quickly departed. Drosera slackii went backwards steadily until I took pity on them and gave them to a friend in Sydney. Drosera nidiformis and D. burmanni hung on in small numbers for a long time, but eventually petered out. Drosera pygmaea did really well, but disappeared after the bog gardens went back to pots. Drosera rotundifolia also did well, but again I nearly lost them putting them into pots - their winter resting buds were hard to find while I repotted in the dark. That said, there is a new leaf visible in a photo on the blog post above (after) this one – check the photo with the bees.

Perhaps the best performing Drosera I've grown outdoors here are Drosera filiformis ssp. filiformis and Drosera binata (all forms of the latter are very reliable). Drosera filiformis is something that looks amazing when grown en masse, so I have a 200 mm pot crammed with it. Here's a photo of that pot just breaking dormancy:

Drosera filiformis ssp. filiformis breaking dormancy