American Plants Outdoors in Zone 5a/5b

Venus Flytraps waking up from Winter in mid-May

One of the frustrating things about living in the far north is not only having to find space inside to store all the plants you'd like to grow outside, but also how long it take s outdoor plants to start growing. While everyone down south started seeing sprouts from their Sarracenia and Dionaea in Mid-March, for me, growth started in mid-May. Quite a long difference in time.

As you can see from the photograph above, the VFTs don't really mind the delay. I don't think I lost a single one of them over the winter. (In fact, some seem to be dividing again and have put out some healthy growth).

My American Carnivores

Sadly, I can't say the same for my Sarracenia. I sustained some pretty heavy losses due to treatment over winter. (I'll better prepare next winter). Thankfully, I was privileged to be chosen by Paul Barden for a Sarracenia seedling giveaway and, in addition to a dozen or so seedlings that I've sprouted, I now possess more than 140. Unfortunately, I hasn't anticipated that Paul would send me so many, so I could tell him that I only have about two seedling trays worth of space for my American collection, in total, so, I'll certainly be doing a big giveaway over at Terraforums in the fall, if I remain in my current apartment.

Overall, the plants have started growing (and have opened some new pitchers and traps since I took these photos), but I'm not sure Zone 5a/5b is really situated for most American carnivores (besides our native ones). I did look into getting some from the extreme South, but, apparently, plants like Pinguicula antarctica aren't as cold-friendly as their names would imply.

I'm sure that people who have the ability to create in-ground bogs and mulch those bogs for winter have better luck - though I can't imagine extremely southern plants such as Sarracenia minor would do well. Honestly, if I had the ability to put an in-ground bog in, I would fill it with hybrids with Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea (and that species) and try a light mulching, as well as have some plants I keep indoors, like these, in winter.