February 2019

[calen]

The nice thing about winter here in my part of Oregon is that it's long enough to provide plenty of time to perform all the maintenance tasks that should be done before growth commences in earnest, yet also doesn't generally get so cold that its impossible to work outside. It's basically 4 months of refrigerator temperatures without many frosts or warm spells. The plants seem to REALLY dig this even coolness and get a great stress-free "sleep" every year. I finished trimming the collection yesterday (multiple green cans worth!) and things are looking tidy. 
Untitled by Calen Hall, on Flickr
You'l see a lot of green in the photo: I leave 100% of phyllodia on flavas and moorei, trim leucos and alatas all the way down, and cut minors about half way back. Miscellaneous and complex hybrids I treat according to their primary pitchering season: early performers I trim less, late performers I trim more. I want the crowns of the late season performers to start off as open as possible, so that there is still adequate light reaching the rhizome late in the year. On the other hand, plants that will be putting on their biggest effort of the year first thing benefit from the presence of big solar panels to bankroll all that growth without drawing as much starch from the rhizome.
This photo shows what my flavas look like after grooming, but mostly I wanted to showcase the insane morphological diversity in the species. The plant at left is flava "Widemouth" and it has these odd, wide, short, waxy blue phyllodia only a few inches long. On the right is cuprea Giant "Big Cuprea" (gotta come up with a better name lol) which is the physically largest flava clone in the collection. It's like a Chihuahua next to a Great Dane!
Untitled by Calen Hall, on Flickr
Seedlings trimmed up too! Wasn't as meticulous with these - just gave them a haircut so new traps can come up free and clear.
Untitled by Calen Hall, on Flickr
Sphagnum does best for me in the partial shade between taller Sarracenia in the community tubs - the dang raccoons also don't find it in here. Oh how they like to dig through live Sphagnum! These Bay Co. ornata / rubricorpora plants are already showing flower buds. It is my hunch that they initiate bud break based on photoperiod, which explains why they are so early up here despite the cold. Subsequent growth of the inflorescence will be regulated by temperature, and these plants won't actually bloom until late April. Bud break is only 2-3 weeks later here compared to northern CA, but bloom time is 4-5 weeks later.
Untitled by Calen Hall, on Flickr
Lastly, Darlingtonia californica looking super colorful from the cold. This is a mountain strain that is mixed red and green in summer (D. c. var. ornata?? lol) and then turns solid red over winter.
Untitled by Calen Hall, on Flickr
  

[jwalker]

Are your Darlingtonia a easier type to grow. I've been interested in trying to grow them but have been afraid lol

[calen]

Feb 3, 2019 21:02:03 GMT -5 jwalker said:

Are your Darlingtonia a easier type to grow. I've been interested in trying to grow them but have been afraid lol

It's a bit hard for me to say, actually, because Darlingtonia basically grow themselves in this part of the world - they seem to be exceptionally carefree here. That being said, all the plants I have from various sources are "mountain" plants from interior regions of northern California and southern Oregon which do have a reputation for being more forgiving in cultivation. Before mountain forms became more widely grown, cool-climate coastal genetics predominated in cultivation and I believe these are the source of D. californica's difficult reputation. Many growers speculate that the interior plants have a much higher heat tolerance than the coastal plants. This would make sense since they do experience much more heat in the wild away from the cool coastal fog belt. My plants bake all summer with the Sarracenia and don't bat an eye. I have them in a looser mix of 50% quarter inch basalt gravel + 50% peat, whereas the Sarrs are in 100% peat, but that is the only major difference in how I grow them. 

While it makes sense on it's face that cobras would do well in a climate very similar to that in their native range, it's hard to say exactly why they do so well here. Climate is a factor, as is the resilience of the plants themselves, but is there more to it? Are the cobra's endosymbiotic organisms found naturally in the soil and water here and are able to colonize the plants and strengthen them? 
Due to their difficult reputation I did very little with cobras when I grew in California - especially after I lost a few in a row over the summers. As a result, I am just getting them well-established in the collection here and hope to have more to report in coming seasons. 

[jwalker]

Interesting if like you said it could be something in the peat or water has anybody tried basically inoculating there peat with peat from plants growing wild or from someone like you in there area. I guess that would only work if it was like a fungus or something and the conditions in the other garden were similar.

[boarderlib]

So I was experimenting with a 5 gallon pot and a couple Home Depot rescues and my "greenhouse". The pot also contains several northern purp seedlings, and a couple whoopsie fly traps. You know the little ones you forgot to put into a pot after a repot. As some here know the plastic cover on my greenhouse suffered a catastrophic failure during winter storm Harper. I guess the 13" plus of snow was a little too much for the deteriorated plastic to handle. I didn't think much of it since the only thing that was in there was lilies and my 5 gallon pot of CP's which I kind of forgot were in there. Then we got the cold snap, temps plus or minus zero, and -35° F wind chills. The second day of the cold snap I remembered my rescues in there, so as a responsible plant owner I drug them into the garage with the others.

Fast forward to this weekend when I finally got to check on the plants in the garage. Here's what is left of the exposed pot. The roof of the greenhouse was still in tact above this pot, so there was no snow on it to insulate it.

These pics were taken in January to show the failure.



Here's the pot as of yesterday.

[dj57]

This is what I woke up to this morning here in the Pacific Northwest:

2-25-2019 by DJ , on Flickr

Bog 2-25-2019 by DJ , on Flickr

Bog 2-2019 by DJ , on Flickr

IMG_8319x1 by DJ , on Flickr

IMG_8320x1 by DJ , on Flickr

IMG_8321x1 by DJ , on Flickr

IMG_8322x1 by DJ , on Flickr

IMG_8324x1 by DJ , on Flickr

IMG_8325x1 by DJ , on Flickr

IMG_8326x1 by DJ , on Flickr

IMG_8330x1 by DJ , on Flickr

IMG_8332x1 by DJ , on Flickr

IMG_8335x1 by DJ , on Flickr

IMG_8336x1 by DJ , on Flickr

Frosty sundew seedpods, 2/25/2019 by DJ , on Flickr