Purple People Eater

What's not to love with a name like that?? I recently acquired a Sarracenia hybrid called 'Purple People Eater' from California Carnivores. Peter D'Amato told me it was a seed-grown hybrid they made back in the 9os whose heritage was lost. Apparently, a customer who purchased one of the originals brought in some divisions of his mother plant recently and I pounced on one of 'em! You gotta love those mystery hybrids. From the looks of it though it definitely has some S. purpurea in it. Right now the plant is dormant so all I've got to admire are some shriveled pitchers from this past growing season. Also, the plant isn't as large as photos of others I've seen online so it still has a lot of growing to do as well. Hopefully with a little TLC it will end up looking like this one:

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh214/txwatcher91/P1080852.jpg

Hortus Botanicus

I've kinda been procrastinating about uploading my photos from my summer trip up to Mendocino County, CA. Fiiinally I got around to resizing and saving some of them from my visit to Hortus Botanicus in Fort Bragg. Let me just say that if you've never been there and you live in the Bay Area, then you really should make the effort to get over there. It's such a cool little nursery with an emphasis on weird botanical delights. I'm talking succulents, orchids, bromeliads, South African natives, Australian natives and last...but certainly not least...CARNIVOROUS PLANTS! The owner, Robert Goleman, has a very impressive personal collection of carnivorous plants as well as many different genera of CPs available to purchase. I've attached a few photos below of the many Sarracenia species and hybrids residing there. Enjoy!

{FYI: another post about HB is likely to follow with more photos}

Neps as Bat Houses???

Just read an article the other day talking about bats in Borneo roosting and defecating in Nepenthes rafflesiana elongata. I've heard of Nepenthes such as N. lowii and N. jamban having pitchers adapted to catch bird poo but never heard of an animal like a bat actually roosting in aerial pitchers. Pretty interesting stuff. I love how nature is so adaptable. Seems like they're discovering something new everyday over there in Borneo. I REALLY need to get there one of these days. Anywho, here's the article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9372000/9372874.stm

2011: The Year of Opportunity!

Well 2011 is upon us! One of my New Year's resolutions is to post much more frequently to this blog. The way things look for 2011 I'll definitely have more to talk about in the carnivorous plant realm. For starters...I've currently got many different types of Nepenthes seed sowing as well as some Nepenthes cuttings taking root. Also, I just ordered various types of Drosera seed that should be arriving next week as well.

Looking forward to the BACPS Winter Meeting tomorrow at the SF Conservatory of Flowers!
http://www.bacps.org/nextmtg.html

BAck fRom ThE DEAd!!!

The blog you thought had given up the ghost has returned!! Just call it the ZOMBIE blog. Maybe if I start doing more regular posts I'll actually have an audience, haha. So yeah, it's been a minute since I last posted. The past 21 months have been kinda crazy. Sadly, my greenhouse is no more BUT the carnivores live on! I am now back in SF and growing my "indoor" CPs INSIDE (shocker huh?). It sure ain't as fun as a greenhouse and I have less space but all things considered, they're doing pretty well. It's taken some extra tinkering (humidity trays, terrariums, changing potting mixes, etc.) but I'm making it work.

STAY TUNED!

GREENHOUSE!!!

Boy it has been awhiiiiile since my last post. Lots of craziness going on in life. First and foremost was our move outside of San Francisco to Pacifica. Then came the whole unpacking thing and then the lousy economy and all this job uncertainty stuff. Blah. Well things have started to finally calm down here and...oh yeah...along the way I FINALLY GOT A GREENHOUSE!!! I LOVE IT!!! It's definitely not very big (only measures 6x8) but it finally gives me a place to grow my NEPENTHES (and one Heliamphora)!

Conservatory of Nepenthes...errr Flowers

As usual I'm about a month behind on my blog but better late than never, right? This post is about my visit to the Conservatory of Flowers here in San Francisco. I must say that I really love their little collection of Nepenthes. Enjoy!

Picture perfect

I love this one.

Cute lil' bugger. I think this might
be Nepenthes alata.

My Nepenthes truncata is about 1/50th this size...
needless to say it's got a ways to go!