CaRNUCOPIA has moved!

This will be my last post on Blogger, folks. I've decided to move my blog over to WordPress. My new web address is: http://carnucopia.wordpress.com/

Hope to see you there!!!

The Fellowship of the Bog

So I may (or may not) have mentioned that I only have a small growing space outside for my Sarracenias and other outdoor CPs here in SF. In the past few months I've felt the space crunch and had to thin out my beloved collection. However, some Sarrs I simply just can't part with so I've decided to ship them to The Shire (aka Upstate NY). The plan is to create a bog garden and put all of my Sarrs in there when I'm visiting my parent's house at the end of August. It'll be a lot of work but once I'm done they'll have a permanent home where they can grow their little hearts out. I'm sure they'll appreciate the full sun and high humidity of those NY summers! Here's a photo of the "future bog site" as it looks right now. It is an island of plants that are far less interesting than Sarracenia.

This is how the island looked before any work began.

Thanks to my Dad, the small chartreuse-colored tree is
now gone. Construction is underway!



Yeeeeeessss. :-]



Go Dad! Nothing left now but some big rocks and roots.

Darth Nepenthe

"I was watching the Star Wars marathon on TV last night and got to thinking: "If Darth Vader was a nepenthes, which one would he be?" Kind of a tough question to answer but I figured the best choice out of my own collection right now would be my Nepenthes izumiae x XTrusmadiensis. I've attached a pic of my plant. This is the first pitcher I've gotten so far. Hopefully as it matures it will get darker and more Sith-like."

*The above quote was from a new thread I started on Terra Forums. I'm interested to see the responses from other users. Follow this link to check it out:

http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127180

Here is the photo of my Darth Nepenthe...

Purple People Eater...Revisited!

I first posted about this particular Sarracenia cultivar back in February when I had just received it in the mail. Back then there wasn't much to show, just some dormant rhizomes. The same can NOT be said now!



This gem is fast becoming one of the favorites of my Sarracenia collection. Hopefully I can keep the aphids and caterpillars off of it (some of my other pitcher plants haven't been so lucky). Can't wait to see what other pitchers it has in store for me this season!

Hamata is King (of my collection)

I'd say out of all the Nepenthes out there, the one that evokes the most admiration from growers has to be N. hamata. [Ok, maybe that isn't entirely true. N. macrophylla and N. edwardsiana are heavy-hitters too. I don't have an N. edwardsiana (sigh) BUT I do have two N. macrophyllas. I'll have to save that for another post though. :) ]

Aaaanywaaays...

If that N. hamata also happens to be seed-grown then double that admiration. The reason I say this is that I've seen the sheer number of responses and views from online posts related to hamatas. People go crazy for 'em! Also, prices for tissue-cultured plants are usually high. I'm not really shocked though since this has to be the most sinister-looking of all Nepenthes (and perhaps any other carnivorous plant). Those wicked, recurved teeth. That wild hair on the top of the lid. That cool pattern on the pitcher. What's not to like?!?! Alright, alright...I'll quit gushing about this plant (for now) and go ahead and show you my seed-grown N. hamata. Here is the latest (and greatest) pitcher. ENJOY!

Wacky Weather

Lucky (unlucky?) for me most of my carnivorous plants are grown indoors. Lately we've been having some weeeird weather: hail, water spouts, torrential rain, tsunami warnings and thunder & lightning! Outdoors my Sarracenias keep on keepin'-on and a lot of them are starting to put up flowers. That's always a sure sign of Spring for me. I just trimmed off the old pitchers from last season yesterday. I'll have to post some photos soon of the first flowers and pitchers of the season coming up!

My Newest Roommate

So this past weekend I attended my fourth (or maybe it was fifth???) Pacific Orchid Expo here in San Francisco. I'm always in awe at some of the amazing orchids I see there so I can imagine how bad it must be for true orchid aficionados. My favorite exhibit (AND sales booth) always belongs to Andy's Orchids. They have an AMAZING selection of species orchids. In years past I've gone to their sale booth without a plan only to find myself dazed and confused an hour later not knowing what to buy. This year I decided to make things easier on myself and go with an orchid native to a place where most of my favorite Nepenthes come from: Borneo. After finding a friendly salesperson and giving her my criteria, she was able to track down a few orchids from Borneo for me. I'll admit that it still wasn't a piece of cake when it came time to choose but boy did it help! I ended up leaving the show with a Bulbophyllum macranthum. It's not in bloom yet but the photos that I've seen online of the flower are growing on me :] Check it out:

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080228065153/orchids/en/images/thumb/d/d5/
Bulb_macranthum.jpg/220px-Bulb_macranthum.jpg