Sarracenia questions.

I am looking at a growers catalogue and they have two Sarracenia listed. They are Dana's Delight and Judith Hindle. They are listed at $5.58 (plus shipping) and say they retail at $9.99. These are five inch pots and you have to buy 10. In light of my new gardening situation, I think I'd like to have these. Is this a good price? Oh, it also has them listed as hardy only in zone8-10. Would I be better off to look for other varieties?

If these questions are somehow inappropriate, I can have this thread killed. I was looking for honest advice. If everyone is just busy, I understand.

The questions aren't inappropriate at all. I can't find my notes. I put them in a laundry basket to "clean off" my kitchen counter before the holidays and now they are buried. This is going to sound really bad but we'll be having a lot of people through these doors real soon and I sort of shuffle stuff around to maintain the appearance that "Susie Homemaker" lives here. Unfortunately, I'm not Susie Homemaker and I can't get to your question until I bring the laundry baskets with the "goods" back upstairs to spread back out over my counters. I am all discomboobelated right now because my piles and lists got moved all around. Really sorry.

In the interim, Dana's Delight and Judith Hindle would be hardy if planted in the ground in your zone. I don't know where that vendor came up with them only being hardy in zones 8-10. To be quite blunt, I don't think they will do all that well in a zone 10 because these are temperate species and need a dormancy. I have both of them growing in the ground here in zone 5 and they are just fine.

The pricing seems fair but... depends on a few variables. I think you might be better served waiting. Chelle, can you hold on for a bit until I can get to my notes and folders and catalogs? It won't be but another weel and a half or so if that's ok.

There is no hurry. I was just a bit concerned when no one said anything. LOL

The person who has more experience than the sum total of all of us put together is probably gone for the holiday visiting friends or relatives. Phil will be back. He'll probably have some suggestions for you.

Wolf is probably typing his posts out of his car so he can't get to his notes either.

All the way around, this is a tough time of year with so many people into full swing holiday mode. Time for me to go back to finish off the crab stuffing for my stuffed mushrooms and then I have to sleep. Oh, I can't wait until I can trash my counter tops again by spreading out all my piles.

ROTFLOL Hey, send me some of those mushrooms! Okay, I'd settle for a recipe. Hubby and I used to love stuffed mushrooms. I pretty much stopped making them after the kids came along as they don't much care for mushrooms.

I do have to also laugh about your countertops. We don't have nearly the storage in this house that we did at the other and can't hardly keep everything out in the garage or barns. I sure miss all the double closets I built and I miss the basement and fruit cellar as much! I don't miss the little yard though. :)

Hey all-

Badseed, your plants should do fine in your zone cause I live in zone 10 and I am a BIG TIME Sarracenia grower. To shed some light on this dormancy spectre we need to look at the fundamentals that induce a true dormancy. Daylength, night temps. Sarracenia only need night temps in the low to upper 40's to experience true dormancy. In fact, Sarracenia that are given dormancy temps above 39 but below 48 will produce larger, more robust growth the following year. They do not really need super cold, just very cool night conditions to prosper well. The short days are a given provided your plants are left outside. Do not fear if there is an occasional frost. It will not harm the plants. Only ongoing, consistant freezing will destroy them if they are not planted in ground and mulched. Ideally...I am referring to a bog garden and not direct garden soil planting.

Both 'Dana's Delight' and 'Judith Hindle' are very lovely and very hardy Sarracenia hybrids that should do just fine outdoors provided they see nights in the 40-47 degree range during this time of year. Dormancy, once started, will commence even if the temps happen to get a bit warmer than desired. It is the increase in day length and subsequent warming of the earth that causes them to break dormancy.

Now go get your plants and enjoy them.

Merry Christmas all and the Safest, Healthiest, Happiest New Year.

Hello Phil! Thank you much for your advice and wisdom!

Right now we are seeing night time temps in the mid 20-30s. Those temps are constant in the winters here in Ohio. We also get very hard frosts, like the grass breaks when you walk on it kind of hard. I am thinking I would need to bring the plants in for the winter. Would I be correct?

Oh, I am in the process of building either a huge bog or several good sized ones. I am doing my research on soil and plants right now.

Thank you again Phil!

Sorry I missed you asking for this. The recipe is so quick and easy you will flip. I used to make them from scratch complete with my own Hollandaise sauce from scratch but then I had a few at somebody else's home and they tasted better than mine so I asked for her recipe. I about fell over when she told me she didn't even need to write it down it was so easy.

She doubles her recipe because she has a lot of shroom lovers at her house but here goes-

4 lg packs of mushrooms, enough to fill 2 large cookie sheets. Pull out the stems and compost them (yes, she told me to compost the stems)

2 boxes of Stove Top pork stuffing. Prepare according to directions on the box

6 6-oz cans of crab meat. Drained. Mix in to stuffing. Fill mushroom caps and bake in oven until done. I stick them in at 325 for about 45 minutes.

Then she told me she used Knorr Hollandaise sauce. This comes out of a foil pouch. Prepare according to directions on packet. Dribble over mushrooms after they're done baking.

That's it, that's the recipe I now use and it's better than the one I was using and considerably less labor intensive. The only difference is that I used 8 cans of crab instead of 6 because my husband loves crab.

I gotta go to bed, I've been under the weather for a while and still am not up to par. Nightie night.

Michelle, fyi, I recently bought a quart-sized Judith Hindle for 12.99. It's a beauty.