2015 NECPS Show: Tower Hill Botanical Garden

The Entry to Tower Hill Botanical Garden

Last weekend, Tower Hill Botanic Garden hosted the best show ever put on by the New England Carnivorous Plant Society. To be part of that experience was phenomenal! Tower Hill put a lot of effort into advertising and outreach and multiple media outlets picked up stories about the show throughout and before the weekend.

The Sarracenia Table
(I'm in the background!)

The show was so busy that the space was virtually packed the entire time Tower Hill was open! It was amazing! Preliminary estimates are that more people attended in the first half-a-day than the best show in Rhode Island. (There were so many people and Tower Hill liked our show so much that we got invited back before Saturday ended!) (We also all loved Tower Hill. They had absolutely incredible volunteers helping us out).

The NECPS Member's Table

It was great to be able to clear out a lot of plants from my outside collection. It's amazing to think about how many 2.5" pots and how much soil a couple seed pods worth of Drosera capensis can take up. I'm glad that I was able to pass off many of those easy plants to people who were just getting into the hobby.

Emmi's Darlingtonia

Alright, onto the plants. I have to mention the Darlingtonia that our members brought. As many long-time readers know, it holds a special place in my heart (so much so that I even wrote a book on it)! Emmi's Darlingtonia, which I last say last year is doing quite well. She created a whole rock/water garden around the plant and it's quite stunning in real life.

Luca's Darlingtonia

Luca also brought a fantastic Darlingtonia. It was a stunning, mature plant that he has been growing in a highland greenhouse. (I think I got that location correctly). It is mesmerizing the way it caught the light.

Luca's Darlingtonia

Alright, one more shot of Luca's Darlingtonia before I move on. (It was a really great plant to show to the public. I very much enjoyed seeing it).

Emmi's Bonsai  Native Bog

Emmi also brought a bonsai bog full of native plants. It was fantastic to see an entire New England bog encapsulated in one tiny environment. It was a great preview for those who went to on Monday's bog tours.

Cephalotus

There were a few, stunning Cephalotus present as well. Some had pitchers that must have been the very upper limit of the pitcher size of this species. They were quite large, and it was very impressive to see them in person. (Now, if only, I could get over the Australia and see them in the wild!)

Emmi's Complex Highland Chamber

The Nepenthes hamata in the highland chamber in this photo is being cooled by the water chiller on the left. On the right, is a fogger, which serves to humidify the chamber. (As you can tell from the fogging, the humidity is or is near 100%). The plant itself is suspended above some water and lights are built into the tank. It's quite an elaborate set-up.

Heliamphora nutans "Giant"

This Heliamphora nutans "Giant" is special for two reasons. First, it's the parent of my own plant. Second, it appears to be producing a pitcher atop a flower stalk! It was really incredible to see, and now I can't wait for my own plants to start producing some more mature pitchers.

Heliamphora...

Ugh, forgot to note the name of this Heli. I remember that it was something unusual. Maybe one of you can help me out in the comments. In any case, note the pitchers growing atop the woody stem. That was pretty neat to see in person.

The Venus Flytrap Feeding Setup

The highlight of the show, for many visitors, was the Venus Flytrap feedings. (I think we all brought a few Venus Flytraps to help with these demonstrations).

A Venus Flytrap Feeding

This was one of the smaller crowds thronging around the flytraps during feeding time.

Shaun's Sarracenia

Shaun had this massive Sarracenia labeled as a "x catesbaei" but it looks like a x catesbaei crossed with something else, in my opinion. In any case, it's a fantastic looking plant. I was very impressed!

Drosera graomogolensis

This Drosera graomogolensis was one of the most popular plants at the show, judging on the number of photos people were taking of it. It is a truly incredible specimen, and I'm hopeful that, at some point, I'll have the opportunity to grow this fantastic species.

Sarracenia purpurea subspecies burkii
Steve's Sarracenia purpurea

Hands down, the best looking Sarracenia purpurea at the show were Steve's. (They are the ones in the clay pots). Each one was perfectly posed to clump around a center point. All had a wonderful reddish/green with nice purplish highlights.

Ryan's Nepenthes sumatrana x (platychila x fusca)

Ryan Georgia brought a few plants, including this stunning Nepenthes sumatrana x (platychila x fusca). This is, by far, the best specimen of this cross that I have seen. The lighting in this photograph wasn't too great. (Florescent lights were the order of the day). Still, you can tell that this plant had wonderful coloration.

Byblis liniflora

I believe that every genus of carnivorous plant was represented, including Byblis. These wonderful little plants were grown by Matt. You may recognize them from my two posts last summer about UCONN.

Drosera spatulata?

And we had plenty of roundandsticky dews, too. 

Roridula dentata

We even had a Roridula! (Actually, I think there were two at some point). Jeremiah Harris's table is in the background of this photo. It was cleared of plants by halfway through Sunday.

A Shot of the Sarracenia Table

The tables full of plants were downright impressive. (Sadly, I forgot a bunch of plants at home, so I actually only ended up bringing two bogs in addition to my sale plants. Fortunately, everyone else brought more than enough plants).

Nepenthes macrophylla

There were also a few rare plants, including this Nepenthes macrophylla. (I may have broken my budget and picked up a macro seedling...I just...I just couldn't resist. There were so many awesome plants on display and for sale!).

Sarracenia purpurea

I really loved this Sarracenia purpurea, too. It has amazing coloration. 

Me

This is me at the beginning of the day on Saturday. Well, not really the beginning for me. I had to get up at 4:00 AM to make the journey down. So, realistically, it was the beginning of the show.

Steve's Anthro-Free Sarrs

I can't remember which plants were crossed to make this crop of anthro-free Sarrs, but I do remember that they were very young for being so big. Maybe Steve will comment and fill me in again.

B-52 Barrel

Dave's B-52 barrel is always a hit. Those flytraps are so big! It's amazing to see a whole barrel full! (And it's awesome for feeding demonstrations).

Red Venus Flytrap Cultivar

I don't remember what cultivar these Venus Flytraps were. (Honestly, the cultivars kind of blend together after a while). There were very healthy looking, however, and it was neat to see some Venus Flytraps with some deep red coloration on display.

Luca's hamata

I'll end with the plant that everyone reading this probably wants, Luca's hamata. It's an incredible plant, and it's fitting to end a post about an incredible show with such an incredible plant.