Visiting UNH Durham

Sarracenia leucophylla 'Tarnok'

On Friday, I took the day off work so I could drive down to the Seacoast and teach a couple 4th Grade Classes about carnivorous plants. (I'm pretty sure their favorite part was the Venus Flytrap feeding). On the way down there, I stopped by to see my friends at the UNH Greenhouses and check on their collection.

Sarracenia oreophila

Since last year's repotting, everything is doing fantastic! The Sarracenia that really caught my eye was this Sarracenia oreophila. The picture does not do it justice. The pitcher mouth was almost as large as my outstretched hand. It was among one of the largest Sarracenia traps that I have ever seen.

Pinguicula flower

Of course, UNH didn't just have a few fantastic Sarrs. It also had a host of other plants - Pings, Neps, Utrics, Catopsis, Brocchinia, Venus Flytraps, etc. And they were all doing so wonderfully! I was also happy to contribute their first Darlingtonia (and I thought it was appropriate to donate a copy of my book).

Pinguicula

I was very impressed with how rapidly UNH's Pings were growing and dividing. Nearly every pot we planted up last year had one to three plants in it. Now, nearly every one has a dozen or so. It was incredible!

More Sarracenia

And, it was thrilling to see how large some of their Sarrs had become. I remembered our discussions as we potted them up into bogs - would there be enough plants to "fill out" the bogs. Well, there's no question any more. In another season or two, they'll be repotting and dividing those plants.

Nepenthes truncata

I was also treated to some wonderful Nepenthes pitchers, like this Nepenthes truncata. (Actually, this plant was flowering. It was a male. I was surprised how large the flower stalk was compared to the rest of the plant. The plant was maybe a foot tall, but the flower stalk was about three-and-a-half feet tall).

Nepenthes 'Miranda' Upper Pitcher

I was also treated this is neat Nepenthes 'Miranda' upper pitcher. I hadn't realized how much this plant changes pitcher form between lower and upper pitchers.

Some of the Collection

A couple of the plants that I really loved were the Brocchinia reducta and the Catopsis berteroniana. They were both a bit too large to get proper pictures of with any camera that I had with me. As you can see above, they both were small clumps of plants that rivaled the Sarrs in height.

Nepenthes 'Rokko'

Happily, one of my earlier contributions, a Nepenthes 'Rokko' originally from North Carolina State University is doing well and producing nice, upper pitchers. In fact, it looked a bit like it needed a pot upgrade. The plant had gotten that large!

Another shot of the Nepenthes truncata

I really liked this Nepenthes truncata. It has always had such fine pitchers every time that I've visited UNH. I can't wait for mine to grow larger. (Nepenthes truncata has to have my favorite leaf-shape of any Nepenthes).

Nepenthes graciliflora

The Nepenthes graciliflora had, probably, a hundred pitchers. It is one of the plants that does exceedingly well in UNH's greenhouse environment. Like all their Nepenthes, it had doubled in size since we cut it back last spring. The secret to such growth is having a diluted fertilizer in the water used to water the plants every time.

Sarracenia leucophylla 'Tarnok'

I was just so impressed by the collection. It's really something anyone in the area ought to swing by an see sometime.

Pinguicula flowers

What's especially amazing is that there's never a time that UNH's Pings aren't flowering. This time around, so many had flowers it was astounding. Most times I go, there are a few flowers, but this time was exceptional.