Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Collection photos – 27 November 2018

Here’s some photos of the collection to show how the colour of the plants has developed since the last photos.

Sarracenia flava ‘Dracarys’ Sarracenia flava ‘Dracarys’

This is a clone of S. flava I call ‘Dragon’ for the intense red of the pitcher mouth, which is reminiscent of a fire-breathing dragon. It is one of the first seedlings I have grown to maturity, the cross being made in 2011 as a selfing of a form of S. flava I’ve called the NSW clone elsewhere on this blog.

Sarracenia x moorei backcross ‘David Martin’ Sarracenia x moorei ‘David Martin’

Sarracenia flava var. flava ‘Helmut’s giant’ Sarracenia flava var. flava ‘Helmut’s giant’

Sarracenia flava var. flava ‘Helmut’s Giant’ showing its very fine and faint throat venation.

Sarracenia flava var. flava, ex Gotcha Plants Sarracenia flava var. flava ‘Helmut’s Maxima’

Some more flava var. flava – a clone from Gotcha! Plants (left) and Helmut’s Maxima.

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’ Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’ Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’ Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’.

Sarracenia flava var atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’ x atropurpurea (Phil Reyter’s clone) Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora FRT 1-1 x atropurpurea ‘Phil Reyter’s clone’

Some years ago, I asked John Creevy if he could try making a cross for me – FRT 1-1 crossed with a very slow and stunted atropurpurea I grew that came from Phil Reyter’s collection. The plant above is the result. This is the first year its been big enough to see the results.

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea (seed grown) Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘all red traps’ ex Ron Abernethy

I also made this cross, and the seedling at left is what resulted. Its still got a while to go. At right is another atropurpurea from Ron Abernethy’s collection.

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ex Owen O’Neil Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ex Owen O’Neil

Another atropurpurea that I am pretty sure came from Owen O’Neil’s collection.

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ex Blackwater S.F., Florida Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ex Blackwater S.F., Florida.

Two clones of S. flava var. atropurpurea from Blackwater S.F., Florida.

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-5’ Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-5’

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-5’

Sarracenia flava var. cuprea ‘Ross Rowe’ Sarracenia flava var. cuprea ‘Ross Rowe’Sarracenia flava var. cuprea ‘Ross Rowe’ Sarracenia flava var. cuprea ‘Gotcha Heavy vein’

Sarracenia flava var. cuprea ‘Ross Rowe’

Sarracenia flava var. cuprea ‘Gotcha heavy vein’ Sarracenia flava var. cuprea ‘David Martin F1’

S. flava var. cuprea – Gotcha heavy vein (left) and ‘David Martin’s F1’ (right).

Sarracenia flava var. rugellii ex Phil Reyter Sarracenia flava var. rugellii ex Phil ReyterSarracenia flava var. rugellii ex Phil Reyter Sarracenia flava var. rugellii ex Phil Reyter

Sarracenia flava var. rugellii, ex collection Phil Reyter.

Sarracenia flava var. rugellii ‘Triffid Park clone’ Sarracenia flava var. rugellii ‘Triffid Park clone’

Sarracenia flava var. rugellii ‘Triffid Park clone’ (note – this is not Triffid Park’s ‘cut throat’, which is a clone that has never done well for me at all).

Sarracenia flava var. rugellii (seed grown) Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea FRT 1-1 x self (seed grown - own cross)

Some more home grown plants – a var. rugellii and a selfing of FRT 1-1…

Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora (seed grown)  Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora (seed grown)

And to close, a very nice home grown clone of var. rubricorpora.

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Growing Drosera adelae under the Ikea 6W Vaxer grow light

Drosera adelae, Sakuya Konohana Kan

Drosera adelae has long been one of my favourite carnivorous plants. As a kid in Queensland, I had no trouble growing it. But here in Canberra, I have really struggled with it. Summer growing was no problem, but every winter, I would loose it to cold.

Drosera adelae terrarium; AUSCPS meeting

This year, we did some work on our house that made it a lot warmer and this allowed me to keep D. adelae alive through the winter. “Alive” being the operative word though - my plants looked miserable to say the least by spring time. After seeing the beautiful plants grown by AUSCPS Canberra member Barry (above), I decided to set mine up like he had done – in a large glass bowl.

Terraria for two of the Three Sisters - Drosera adelae & Drosera schizandra

As the plants were so miserable, I decided not to stress them further by de-potting them. So I sat the pot directly into the bowl and covered it with a sintered glass plate as a lit. That solved the humidity issues, but not light. Some of the root suckers perked up with the humidity, but the parent plant was still etiolated and green, with saggy leaves and no dew.

Drosera adelae recovering from a harsh winter - progress after 1 week under an Ikea Växer grow lamp Drosera adelae - after one month under an Ikea Växer grow light

About a month ago, I noticed Ikea sell a LED grow light called Vaxer. I brought one of the 6W lamps and its cord set to try out on the D. adelae bowl, with the resting lens down on a sintered glass dish lid. The results were impressive – see the before (top), one week under the lamp (left) and one month under the lamp (right) photos above. The plants coloured and dewed up within days, and within a week, new leaves had unfurled, were showing colour and staying erect.

Drosera adelae flower (Triffid Park clone)

After a month under the lamp, the plant has produced beautifully coloured new growth, flowered, and is covered in dew. Curiously, under bright light, this clone produces red flowers, but under lower light produces white flowers. I am feeding the plant using fish food (flakes) sprinkled on the leaves. Next up is to plant it out into the bowl after its recovered for a few more weeks, maybe around Christmas.

Drosera schizandra plants grown in coffee jars Drosera schizandra in coffee jar terrariums

Speaking of the tropical Drosera, I’m very happy to report the D. schizandra are also growing well in their coffee jar terraria, and have produced a few new leaves each – one even produced a small offset (see right photo). If they get any bigger, I’ll see about getting them a larger home. If I can keep these plants growing as well as they are, I’ll see about getting some D. prolifera for another try.

A guided tour of the Sarracenia flava ponds at their peak, Spring 2018

Sarracenia collection, late November 2018

The Sarracenia flava have now hit their peak for the year, and look fantastic (with one exception). Its always a bit of an anxious time as the plants come up – will the wind topple them over this year? Are they going to colour up as well as last year? Its a poor season for insects, is it going to affect pitcher production? And so on. But as the plants open and colour up, most worries evaporate and its time to sit back, relax and enjoy the plants.

Here’s a guided tour of the Sarracenia flava this season:

Sarracenia flava var. rugellii (Phil Reyter’s clone), 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava var. rugellii (Phil Reyter’s clone), 2018-19 season

These S. flava var. rugellii were brought at the 2011 AUSCPS Christmas party in Sydney from grower Phil Reyter. I’ve had mixed luck with rugellii; my first was a clone from Gotcha! Plants started out ok, but remained somewhat on the small side and is sensitive to repotting – it seems to be a bit of an underperformer relative to other clones I’ve had since, with Phil’s being one of the better ones. This clone is unfortunately slow to build up to a good size.

Sarracenia flava var. rugellii (ex Owen O’Neill); 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava var. cuprea x var. rugellii (ex Ron Abernethy); 2018-19 season

A new acquisition from 2016 (thanks Owen!), this var. rugellii is another good clone. Its exceptional for being a strong divider that forms good sized clumps, and also for its huge lid. Like all rugellii I’ve ever grown, it only produces a pitcher or two per growing point, but the clumping habit makes up for this. 

Another plant still establishing in the collection after I re-acquired it from Ron Abernethy last year, at right is S. flava var. cuprea x rugellii. Ron tells me this cross was a mistake – he crossed the wrong flower! This plant is sold by Triffid Park and seems to have been exported to a number of countries, so its not done badly at all for an accidental production. Triffid Park now sell one of its siblings as “Brass Top” (ie. Ron tells me '”Brass Top” is from the same cross, but is a different clone). It is a very good clone that performs extremely well, and looks great with the cut throat and heavy veining.

Sarracenia flava var. cuprea (Gotcha! Plants heavy vein), 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava var. cuprea (Gotcha! Plants heavy vein), 2018-19 seasonSarracenia flava var. cuprea (Gotcha! Plants heavy vein), 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava var. cuprea (Gotcha Plants heavy vein); 2018-19 season

A perennial good performer, this var. cuprea is one I call ‘Gotcha! Plants heavy vein’. Gotcha (John Creevey) brought it as seed from Allen Lowrie sometime during the 1980s or 1990s. The veins have not filled in fully yet, and the lid will be very rich copper in colour by midsummer.

Sarracenia flava var. cuprea (ex Ross Rowe); 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava var. cuprea (ex Ross Rowe); 2018-19 season

This beautifully coloured plant is a new one for 2018 – it is a clone grown for many years by fellow Canberra grower Ross Rowe. It outperforms every other var. cuprea I’ve grown in terms of how strongly coloured its hood is. I wonder if it may well come up as an all (or nearly all) red plant in years to come.

Sarracenia flava seedlings (2011 crosses); var. cuprea and var. rugellii Sarracenia flava var. flava seedling; 2018-19 season

In spring 2011, I selfed every S. flava flower I had open and sowed the seeds out in summer 2012. The first of these plants are now at flowering size (I didn’t use any fertiliser to help them along). The above and below plants are some of the progeny. Above left is a var. rugellii and a var. cuprea, and at right a var. flava with a pitcher mouth that fills in all red. They will need their own pots next year, so I’ll carefully put some labels with their rhizomes to mark out what plant is what.

Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora (seed-grown, FRT 1 x self); 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora (seed-grown, FRT 1 x self); 2018-19 season

Another seedling I’m very happy with is this S. flava var. rubricorpora (in fact, its the only rubricorpora that coloured up this season). Its the progeny of David Martin’s rubricorpora clone “FRT-1”, which has been badly set back (along with the other rubricorpora in my collection this year) for some reason.

Sarracenia flava var. cuprea (ex Owen O’Neil); 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava var. cuprea (David Martin’s F1); 2018-19 season

A couple of more var. cuprea – at left is a clone I got from Owen O’Neill in 2016, and at right David Martin’s F1, which is now approaching 40 years of cultivation.

Sarracenia flava var. flava (ex Gotcha Plants); 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava var. flava (Honeysuckle Road, Harleyville, NC); 2018-19 season

Here’s some flava var. flava – at left is a clone from Owen O’Neill, and at right, one of the plants I brought at the 2007 ICPS conference in Sydney that re-started my collection. It was one of a number of plants that Greg Bourke donated to the Sydney Botanic Gardens, grown from seed. The parent plant was from a flava population on Honeysuckle Road at Harleyville, North Carolina.

Sarracenia flava var. flava (Helmut’s giant); 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava var. flava (Helmut’s giant); 2018-19 season

Another var. flava, this plant is a very tall clone (biggest pitcher was 74 cm this year) that was grown by legendary Pinguicula grower Helmut Kibelis. Its the largest of my flava this year, but is a few centimetres smaller than one of the leucophylla spring pitchers. It looks like a var maxima, but always gets a tiny amount of red venation.

Sarracenia flava var. flava (ex Gotcha Plants); 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava var. flava (Helmut’s ‘Maxima’); 2018-19 season

And to finish the var. flava – this handsome plant was also from Helmut, who told me he believed it to be the same as what people in Germany were growing as “Maxima” in the 1980s. As clones get circulated, it is easy for their identity to get confused, and that indeed is what happened with this plant. A quick search shows the plant grown by Slack and distributed as “Maxima” (now as “Slack’s Maxima”) is different, with a smaller hood and more venation. Nonetheless, this is a magnificent clone that always looks great. I’ll refer to it as ‘Helmut’s Maxima’ from now on.

Sarracenia flava vat. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’; 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava vat. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’; 2018-19 seasonSarracenia flava vat. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’; 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava vat. atropurpurea ‘FRT 1-1’; 2018-19 season

On to the flava var. atropurpurea. FRT 1-1 is putting up a spectacular display as always.

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea collection, 2018-19 season

My favourite plant, I’ve more or less dedicated an entire growing pond to it.

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea (Blackwater SF via Ron Abernethy); 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea (Blackwater SF via Ron Abernethy); 2018-19 season

This is a clone of atropurpurea from Blackwater State Forest in Florida. It flowered for the first time this year, and it was used to cross pollinate every other atropurpurea in my collection!

Sarracenia flava var. atropurpurea (David Martin’s FRT 1-5); 2018-19 season Sarracenia flava var. maxima (ex Ron Abernethy); 2018-19 season

To finish up the atropurpurea, at left is another David Martin clone, FRT1-5. At right is a var. maxima I grew until a few years back when I accidentally sold my divisions of it to Owen. It is a tall but robust plant that will eventually produce a weakly copper hood.

Sarracenia x moorei ‘David Martin’; 2018-29 season Sarracenia x moorei ‘David Martin’; 2018-29 season

As a sort of segue into the leucophylla spring pitchers, here’s a flava x leucophylla (= x moorei) backcross from David Martin. Its a slow grower, but produces magnificent rubricorpora-esq. pitchers. This pitcher is 72 cm tall.

Sarracenia leucophylla spring pitcher; 2018-19 season Sarracenia leucophylla spring pitcher; 2018-19 season

Here are some of the leucophylla spring pitchers, which are always taller and have different patterning and colouration to the autumn pitchers. The pitcher at left is the largest in the Sarracenia collection this year, standing at 77 cm.

Untitled Untitled

And to finish off the Sarracenia - above left is luecophylla cv. “Tarnok”, with its unusual flowers, and at right, a red-veined leucophylla about to open. I’m half tempted to cash-in my leucophylla for S. purpurea after having seen purpurea in the wild earlier this year, but will wait to the end of the season to decide.

Venus' flytraps (Dionaea muscipula), 2018-19 season

Here’s the VFT collection in their own minibog, which is doing very well considering I lost all my plants last year.

Venus' flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) 'Biddlecombe Red clone' Drosera burmannii seedlings and Drosera pulchella

One plant I found buried under some Sarracenia late last season is the all-red VFT bred and circulated by Peter and Jessica Biddlecombe during the 1980s and 1990s. While not a bad clone, it seems to have been dropped by everyone for newer clones like Pink Venus, Aki Ryu and Red Velvet. I’m also using the VFT minibog for Drosera, which (besides D. binata) get overshadowed by the Sarracenia. The Drosera burmannii and D. pulchella I acquired last season seem to have taken to the garden well too.

Venus' flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) cv. "B-52" Venus' flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) 'Low, Giant'

Some more VFT: at left: B52, and right: Low, Giant.

Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen tibicen) bathing; Canberra, ACT. Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen tibicen) bathing; Canberra, ACT.

And to close off – here’s one of the cheeky neighbourhood Magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen tibicen) having a wash in the bird bath next to the Sarracenia.