The first Sarra flower of the year is getting close – nearly all the plants have produced scapes that have started to nod forwards. Note the pond at upper middle is less developed than the rest of the ponds; these are the Sarracenia leucophylla.
The first to open is going to be a coin-toss between S. flava var. ornata ‘Biddlecombe heavy vein’ and a nice clone of S. flava var. maxima from Honeysuckle Road, Harleyville.
The Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’ contingent may have been the first to appear, but they have been well and truly overtaken.
As mentioned above, the Sarracenia leucophylla are usually always a little bit later to flower than the S. flava. These are the flower buds of cv. “Tarnok”. Its taken since 2009 when I first got them from Gotcha! Plants to get them to a decent population. I’m thinking it may be an idea to hybridize some of them with any overlapping S. flava varieties to see what I get.
Elsewhere in the collection, the sundews are beginning to emerge from dormancy. These new leaves of D. binata only opened in the last few days. They are always a spectacular sight at this stage of their development…
As are Drosera filiformis. These are the typical variety.
To close, here are some succulents – a flowering Pleiospilos nelii stone plant (which remarkably takes our winters with very little protection) and an unnamed Lithops.
