Normally, I trim back the Sarracenia in Autumn, because the books tell you to remove dead growth during winter to eliminate disease risk. This year I didn’t. Why? Because some friends in the AUSCPS told me that they left foliage on their plants during winter and removed it as the first flower buds push through the rhizomes in Spring. The idea is that the dead foliage acts as a blanket to protect the rhizomes and the growing points. It also means the plants still have loads of green foliage to photosynthesis. These arguments sounded logical, and the people in question have beautiful plants, so I tried it.
So here is a (bad) panorama of the before…
And an even worse pano of the after! What a difference the removal of dead foliage makes! Now I can start watering to make sure all that Sphagnum is looked after. It has grown very well, given I planted a few handfuls last year. With luck, it will grow into an all-covering lush green carpet this year.
