Post by dhaas on Jul 9, 2014 22:33:25 GMT -5
Greetings!
This is my second shot at writing an introduction; the first one was accidentally deleted when I tried to upload some pictures (I’m incredibly skilled with technology). While I just joined this forum (I don't usually use/ go on forums), I have been interested in carnivorous plants for almost 7 years, ever since I was gifted a copy of The Savage Garden. At the time, I lived in Davis, California, so I was able to visit California Carnivores and start my collection. However, after around a year or so of growing, I moved to St. Louis, Missouri and needed to leave my small collection behind. I didn't grow anything for several years, until I was given 3 Mexican butterworts (which had been my favorite plant while in California) and a temperate butterwort. Almost 2 years and an estimated (I've never really taken a formal census) 160 plants (including seedlings, sundews, divisions, and duplicates) later, my collection is still growing. This spring, I constructed an in-the-ground bog for my temperate plants. This is still their first season, so they're still adjusting to the new conditions. However, they appear to be doing well. Although most of my temperate plants are in the bog, I still have a few plants in pots and trays. These are all either plants deemed incapable of surviving an USDA Zone 6a winter in the ground (although the bog will be mulched with pine needles) or duplicates of plants in the bog kept in case, by some tragedy, their counterparts in the bog should perish. I also have some highland Nepenthes, tropical sundews, Mexican butterworts, bladderworts, alpine temperate CPs unable to tolerate a hot, humid summer, and a Heliamphora under lights in a cool basement closet. Of my temperate plants, Sarracenia are my favorite (although I don't have any Darlingtonia [I've been afraid that they'll die in a Missouri summer]... yet) and Nepenthes and Heliamphoras are my favorite tropical (although I don't have any Cephalotus). My collection is nothing compared to some of the behemoth collections I've seen photos of on here, but I'm still proud of it. I look forward to getting to become more of a part of this community in the time to come!
Best wishes,
DAH
Note- I was going to upload some pictures, but I don't trust myself to do so anymore. I'll wait until I return home (I'm out of town) so that I have a larger number of photos to choose from and can afford to fiddle around with this (forum).