 |
| Sarracenia leucophylla |
Alright, after visiting the bog down in
southern New Hampshire, I had to check in on my own bogs. The plants at home have been gorging themselves on the summer's insects. I would say, on average, the pitchers survive for a week or two before they are filled to capacity. Shockingly, that's even faster than my Sarracenia would be filled when I lived down south. Then again, I guess the season for insects is so much more limited here that insects are that much more prevalent in the summer.
 |
Sarracenia rubra subspecies gulfensis x (leucophylla x flava) (Right; Left)
Sarracenia alata x rubra (center)
Drosera binata dichotoma "Giant" (center) |
What that rapid feeding has meant is that pitchers quickly develop an unsightly rot in their center. At the same time, however, the boost in nutrients has meant that my Sarracenia, which were struggling after winter, have bounced back and are doing better than ever. My hope is for a warm fall that stretches into mid-to-late October. That would allow these guys to store up quite a bit of energy before winter.
 |
Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora (center)
Sarracenia flava var. maxima (right) |
I realized as I was categorizing my Sarracenia earlier this summer that I had inadvertently collected all (or almost all) varieties of Sarracenia flava. As one of my favorite species, I'm very happy to see how well they've been doing over the course of the summer. (They were also one of the few species that did well over winter).
 |
| Sarracenia leucophylla/leucophylla hybrids |
I'm also starting to see some good growth from my Sarracenia leucophylla and leucophylla hybrids. These always look a bit odd before they put up truly mature pitchers, but I'm hopeful that I'll get some next year (as well as some flower that I can cross and which will produce a good seed set).
 |
Sarracenia (rubra x oreophila) x (rubra x oreophila)?
Surrounded by Sarracenia x excellens |
There is no doubt that this Sarracenia oreophila hybrid is the current prize of my Sarracenia collection. The pitcher mouth is nearly 5" across although the pitcher is only about a foot tall! (Compare it to the Sarracenia x excellens surrounding it). It is quite a spectacular pitcher and one that has been gobbling up insects. (My hope is that it is still in good shape in time for the NECPS show.
 |
| Sarracenia flava var. cuprea |
Lastly, I wanted to share a photo of my Sarracenia flava car. cuprea. The pitcher is still immature, but already this plant is showing great promise.
Great plants. I live in PA and had concern about the winters. I too have a lot of flava crosses, so glad to hear they have the most success with winter. Curious if your bogs are in ground or raised bed/pots. Do you cover/protect/mulch? Almanac calls for a snowy winter... but like you said, hopefully we get an extended grow season to give things a real good stretch of food and energy gathering. Thanks for sharing your photos , observations and experiences.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm actually going to try the refridgerator method this year with most of my plants as mine are in portable pots (because I rent. :( ). However, I do know a couple people in PA with plants in above ground bogs. They don't seem to have a problem. I've also heard from a number of NECPS members in MA, CT, and NY that they have in ground bogs which they usually mulch with pine needles in the fall. There don't seem to be any real losses (except for, occasionally, S. purpurea burkii and S. minor, both of which usually experience much, much warmer winters). As for mine, I've only really seen cold sensitivity for S. purpurea burkii.
Delete