Here's my beloved P. 'John Rizzi'

(Door opens silently, soft padding footsteps can be heard approaching the corner of the room...)

Just in case the administrator thinks that too few people are posting on this forum, let it be known that I am just a small 'freshman' lurking in the corner listening intently to the professors speaking in a foreign tongue. I read, I think about what I read, I consider buying a tropical plant and decide I better listen longer. I don't have questions, don't yet know enough to know what to ask. But I'm learning a lot! Keep it up!

Well Pixy if the times comes that you decide you would like to own a CP, give me a hollar. I have numerous extras of N. ventrata, just be warned once you own one you will be addicted to the hobby.

(a soft voice whispers in Pixy's ear)

Taaaaaaaaaaaaake him uuuuuuuup on the oooooooffer.
Heeeeeeeeeeeeee has niiiiiiiiiiiiiice cuttings that root weeeeeeeeeeeeeeell.

And, then you can start whole new threads on how to care for your new 'lil ventrata.

And then... as time wears on, you will post that you need help caring for another 'lil nepling... and another.... and another... and another.

I couldn't help but notice you are in the state of Washington. You do realize you could grow Sarracenia quite well where you live don't you? If you went and bought one of those, you could post that you need help with your pitcher plants.

And this my dear Pixie is how the sickness grabs you with no warning and before you know it, you're out there spreading plants around.

Professors! Ha! Only one of those here and it isn't me or Wolf.

(POP)

Yes that was the sound of my bubble bursting!

Aww honey, I didn't mean to burst your bubble. He does have about 30 some odd years growing experience on us though. Can I make it up to you by sending you a 'lil Nepling of my choice (I have good taste) or would you prefer to have an Equil doll sent that you could poke pins in?

No need for the nepling, but I will take the doll!

Gonna make me pull out the old needle and thread and work now are ya!

Uh oh Lauren. You better be careful with those dolls. What if Wolf knows some old lady who lives in a cabin in the mountains all alone??

Do I detect we may be converting a new vic...ahem...hobbiest? Pixy, you may have no idea yet of the immense pleasure some of us get in sharing the passion of carnivores. Stick with us kid. Our generosity is often renowned. Lauren made a very good point about your location. You are in a very good area for growing Sarracenia. All you have to do is give us the word and we can help you get started. There are so many cps that can be grown indoors year round. Nepenthes are a good start. Just say the word.........yes that's it, the word............that ole word......................we're waiting.... No presure here! LOL!

LOL, Wolfman....blow your bubble back up. You're still one of us. Better be careful Lauren....Wolfmen and Philculas all have really pointy teeth. Sorry....the halloween thing is getting to me. Speaking of which, I'll bet you didn't know that 8 or so years ago I gave out venus fly traps to the trick-or-treaters instead of candy! I had hundreds of them in 2" pots with a little culture sheet taped to the pot. The parents LOVED it! I did warn them all that the plants were going to go somewhat dormant but not to worry.

The next day there were some 10 or so kids at my door looking for more plants. I sent them all home with a Drosera capensis. One of those kids still lives in the neighborhood and still has his vft. It helps to live next to the grower. hee hee.

Oh now, I never thought he might know some old lady living in a cabin in the mountains all alone. Thank you for pointing that out.

Wolf- no Equil doll for you!

Now regarding the new victim... er uh meant to type Pixie... I've seen photographs of her yard and there isn't much more I can say other than that it is enitcingly inviting and it has an understated elegance to it that is unparalleled by most. Yups, she's one of those who has that knack of pulling designs together that are like eye candy. How about something with height and nice fall growth like a leuco or leuco x? No pressure of course. If you send her a Sarr for her yard and Wolf sends a Nice Nep for her knock down gorgeous bathroom... I could send her some pots. Call it a community effort to er uh spread the obsession onto more shoulders. No pressure of course.

You are too cool philcula. If this idea had even been suggested to me I could have very easily started VFTs in individual pots to be able to hand out and it sure would have been a much nicer treat to hand out at the door than full size candy bars. We don't get a lot of trick or treaters around us because the houses are too far apart so most kids want to get the biggest bang for their time so they go trick or treating in subdivisions where the homes are real close together. I'd say we maybe get all of 20-25 and there was one year when it was drizzling and we only had about 5 show up the entire day. I think the most we ever had was about 50 and I have no idea why there were so many that year.

Retract your teeth boys!

Gosh, Lauren, thanks for the vote of confidence! Did Lauren share her extremely cool photos of wild CP's? I've been playing with those and still plan to get some printed. I love them!
Well, willing victim that I am, I must admit to owning some 'sarrs' (did I say that right? LOL) already. Since they grow wild here, I keep them outside rather than in the greenhouse. I believe this one is Sarracenia X 'Dana's Delight' . I recall taking the photo so I could identify the other little plantlings growing at the base of the plant. Oh knowledgable ones, could the little flat things be lungworts? And the little start shaped beauties?

I also have Darlingtonia californica and Sarracenia leucophylla 'Tarnok'. I'm not holding out on you, I don't have any tropicals yet! I wouldn't say I'm really exactly 'fighting' the addiction, since I'm always on the lookout for interesting looking varieties. I'll show you a couple more photos in the next posts.

So, a victim I may be, but a willing one. But my neck is extremely tender! I welcome any contributions by CP Pushers, er, I mean, .. Dealers, no wait, that would be hobbyists!

Here's Drosera binata dichotoma. I bought this one to share with one of our mutual friends from North Carolina. This is outside right now, but am I right in thinking I need to put it in the cool greenhouse before long?

Here's Drosera spathulata. Again, bought it to share with our mutual North Carolinian. I found these two at a local nursery that specializes in tropicals and was surprised to find them there.

One thing, I've read the threads here about watering CPs. When I bought 'Tarnok' I discussed watering with the guy I bought him from, a CP dealer who shows at all the local gardening shows. He gave the the same info, but said I could put them in my veggie filter (attached to my pond) as long as I kept them potted in the peat moss/sand mixture. I was worried that this water would have too many nutrients for them, but experimented with it and they have been thriving in the veggie filter all summer. I have the pots just barely sunk into the gravel. Am I pressing my luck?

Edited to say: this one for the greenhouse before long, too?

Oh, and does it mean that I am getting addicted if I am always checking out the pitiful CPs that Lowes carries, just in case I find a really cool one? Actually, I bought my Darlingtonia there and it has done very, very well indeed.

This message was edited Oct 21, 2005 10:20 PM

Say Pixie, your gardens really are beautiful and I still can't get over the real linens you used for table cloths for your outdoor party. Over here we're lucky if we remember to slop a checked vinyl tablecoloth over the picnic table if we have guests.

I've got a D. binata dichotoma. I like them very much. The D. spathulata doesn't do it for me though but yours looks really nice. Where did you buy those and how much were they? Just curious.

Sounds to me as if you are pushing your luck with Sarrs in a veggie filter to a pond. Some can do well in there when they are actively growing and they might even make it a few seasons but in the long run... I'm thinking it might be best to move them. Ask philcula what he thinks.

Darlingtonia I did well with but I tired of adding rainwater ice cubes to their trays every morning noon and night and then I did have a problem with one of my dogs taking a liking to them and then I had to stick them in an eastern exposure and the only one available was by the back door so the kids were constantly knocking them over as they ran in and out that door so I sent them on to nice new homes. If you are growing those and not having to fuss over them you are doing great.

I am somewhat familiar with Lobaria pulmonaria and your photo of the little plants around the base of the CPs don’t look anything like Lungwort lichen. I like Lichens very much. I think they are cool. I have a few Lungwort plants around here because they have interesting spotted foliage and grow well in shade and you don’t have pulmonaria spp. either.

Congratulations! The star shaped thingies are the flowers to Liverwort which you are overrun with in that pot. Look up Marchantia polymorpha.

I think I see Pearlwort growing in the bottom of the photo in and amongst what you thought might be Lungwort. Look up Sagina procumbens and see if that’s a match to that sprig.

You’ll want to get rid of all of that potting medium and repot those Sarrs into a new mix. You really need to get rid of everything other than the Sarrs in that pot because they’re probably all your basic run of the mill noxious container weeds and if they are beginning to flower... my guess is they are ready to jump pots.

I have a funny story to tell you. A long time ago before I was familiar with Pearlwort, I got a whole pot of it. It had the daintiest little flowers and I thought it was special so I set it aside. It did very well and soon the pot was crowded. I thought it was so special that I split it in half to share with a friend. I had no idea what it was but he called me on the phone and asked me why I spent $4.85 to send him Pearlwort that could take over his entire greenhouse. He gave me the Latin name and I looked it up and told him that if he ever told anyone I had sent him Pearlwort I would scream. We've had a good laugh about this now for a while. Some noxious weeds are really pretty, at least I think they are. Pearlwort is an evil pot jumping weed that is tough to get rid of if it gets established.

Yes, you are in the early stages of addiction if you are checking Lowes regularly. You are aware the Home Depot and Walmart regularly offer these plants aren't you? And Target has a special this week in their floral department that looks like 'Danas Delight' and maybe 'Dixie Lace'? Not that I want you to rush right over there but they're on sale this week for $10 a piece and the plants are huge. Now you have found a few online nurseries haven't you? We feel your pain.

Ahem, er, yes, I was aware of HD and Walmart. I just don't get to them as frequently. I was at Target two days ago and they didn't have anything. Fortunately - er, I mean, It's Too Bad that I have to go by there today to pick up some film. I might end up checking their plant section. Actually our plant section at Target is really not good at all. And our Lowes will keep those poor CP's in the little closed boxes until they are nothing but mold before they will consider clearancing them out.

Now, I realize it was late last night when I posted, but I knew as I was typing that Lungwort wasn't the word I was looking for, as I have several pulmonarias growing in my shade bed. Liverwort was the word my addled brain needed, but you see, I plan to repeat my 'freshman' year as many times as necessary. Lungs, Liver,... aren't they all body parts anyway? So some plants treat the liver, some treat the lungs. Did I mention that I have many 'estrogen' moments at this time in my life? Can we all be patient with that?

So on to my pot. You are right on about the Liverwort species. I think they are very cool, which is why I had not taken them out of the pot yet. Are they interfering with my pitchers growth? I really like them and think they should have been featured in the video clip that you posted on another thread. But I'll move them if they are making my pitcher's lives hard.

Thanks for the headsup on the pearlwort, but I think what you are seeing in the photo is actually a kind of moss that grows here. We have a million kinds. It's opportunistic, but I've never considered it invasive. I generally just pull it out of areas where I don't want it. I looked at several photos of the pearlwort and it doesn't look the same. But I'll give it closer scrutiny when I go outside today. Pull some from the pot and all if its still there.

My Darlingtonia is doing well, but I have the zone for it. I believe it is native to Oregon and northern California. So it stays moist and gets full sun for most of the day. Keeping it's feet in the veggie filter keeps the roots cool, which it appears to appreciate. We don't get the amount of heat you get, so I can imagine your climate would be a bit of a challenge for it. Right now it is sharing a pot with Sarracenia purpurea (which I forgot to mention...) but they will be in larger pots over the winter. They were both small when I got them.

Unforgivably, I have forgotton to mention Pinguicula primuliflora (I think). Yes. I have a Ping. Didn't put two and two together until I went to look in my garden program for the name of that dainty flowering DP that I have. Did I mention my freshman status? Is this part of the hazing ritual?
I got this one in one of those little bitty smothering boxes at Lowes. I promptly put it in a large pot with peatmoss and sand mixture. (Oh - WASHED sand. I have been reading all the posts on this forum.) It has tripled in size since I bought it and it has flowered continuously all summer. I have to keep the slugs off of it. Offending creatures that they are.

So the Droseras I bought at Jungle Fever Exotics in Tacoma. I wouldn't really recommend this nursery after going there, but they did have these neat droseras. They were both in three inch pots, very full pots, and were 5.50 each. They had only 1 of the D. dichotoma at the time. If you are interested in them, I'll check and see if they have more.

Yes, I have found the on-line nurseries. Sigh. My goal for the winter (not my only goal, but one of them) is to incorporate a garden area next to the veggie filter where I can plant my hardy CPs in the ground. I should be able to reproduce their growing conditions, since we have native ones here. At least I hope so. Otherwise, I'll put them in large pots of their favorite medium.

Thanks for loving my garden! Always a work in progress, as are we all!

Phil, I love the Haloween story! If I had received a flytrap on Halloween as a child, I would have thought you were the coolest man who ever lived!

Now here's a story of pain for you: I was at one of the local hoity toity nurseries around here about 2months go, checking out their indoor plant section for good deals on tropicals that I can grow outside. They had one of those tropical CP, Nepenthes I think?, that have the very cool pitchers hanging down from it. It was about a 10 inch hanging basket and the plant was 20$ . I thought this was the absolutely coolest plant I had ever seen, but there were no growing instructions and I can't pay 20$ for a plant with no ID and no growing instructions, so I passed it up. (Also I was spending money on tropical water lilies that day. I have to have SOME kind of restrictions don't I?) So I come home and google 'tropical pitcher plants' and low and behold, there are many of them! How uninformed could I have possibly been? Then, in yet another piece of evidence for my conspiracy theory of the universe, someone posts photos of one of theirs on DG. Coincidence? I think not. I actually envisioned this plant growing in the very bathroom Lauren referred to.

So that's my current pain. I know you understand.

"Lungs, Liver,... aren't they all body parts anyway?". Yup, you're not so menopausal after all. Internal organs are internal organs so we get an A+ for at least getting in the general area. Oh how I laughed when I read what you typed.

Hey thanks for the offer of checking out that nursery but I was more curious as to where it was and what they were asking for their plants.

Pxy-

Just want to quickly mention that your Drosera binata dochotoma will probably go dormant this winter. They usually do. Keep it cool and moist, but not wet. It should resume growth again in the spring. Do not try to force it to grow indoors during the winter as this will eventually kill it off. It does go dormant in its native Australian habitat.

You're very fortunate to be able to grow Darlingtonia as you do. I've seen them in most of their California locations and they are quite spectacular. I have a photo taken of me standing at the base of a low hill with several hundred thousand Darlingtonia behind me. It was the most awe inspiring sight ever.
One could also find Drosera rotundifolia and Pinguicula macroceras ssp. nortensis growing with the cobras. Truly a sight.

Thanks very much, Phil. I had planned on overwintering this in the greenhouse, which is cool but will protect if from freezing. Glad you mentioned this because I was checking on it today and it appears that it is already starting to go dormant.
I would love to see some CPs in their native habitats sometime. I had no idea that Darlintonia was so persnickety. I feel fortunate that it does well with so little attention from me. So far, I think I've been lucky.

Whoops, typo!

This message was edited Oct 23, 2005 10:09 AM

wow!!!! you all have such beautifual cp's. i would like to start a collection but i don't know where to begin and am on limited funds. can anyone suggest a reasonably priced online site? thanks.

Hi Nicksgrammy - I understand that www.cobraplants.com is a good site. I'm thinking of ordering from them in the spring.
Also, Lowes and Home Depot, and Walmart all carry CP's in those little nasty plastic boxes. The small ones are less than 5$ and once they are out of their boxes, they grow.

Sarracenia Northwest or Dangerous Plants for Sarrs-
http://www.cobraplant.com/
http://www.dangerousplants.com/

Both of these places have affordable plants and you'll get nice healthy plants as well as the ability to contact them if you have any concerns but why don't you hold off on Sarrs until next spring.

At this time of year, you might want to start with some nice Mexican Pings.

My Pinguicula in the photos at the beginning of this thread all come from-
http://community-2.webtv.net/@HH!FB!77!6EAE238B3F0A/Philcula/PhilsPlaceNursery/
You will have the ability to contact this hobbyist too if there are any issues ;)