Post by mbfmark on Apr 17, 2012 2:16:55 GMT
OK, its April 15th and would be Tax Day if it weren't also Sunday. But time for an update on the bog garden. Many of the S. x catesbaei are already dropping their petals, with the S. flava and S. alata are still holding on. At the same time all the S. leucophylla, S. purpurea, S. jonesii and S. x moorei types are coming into bloom. And since we have bees, all types of new hybrids are probably being created! In a few shots you'll see 'tasteful' green mesh over some blooms that I am trying to hybridize myself - just like a bee, but with a record book and a permanent tag!
So, this next photo is my group of S. purpurea ssp. venosa var. montana, which came from a small lakeside bog on a residential community about 50 miles away in NC. The lakeshore was being 'beautified' with concrete walls, destroying what little environment was left, save for this one lot that was still for sale, containing the colony of plants. I only took two clumps (separated into 5 separate plants) but visit the site now and then to try to keep the 100 or so plants remaining from the same fate that many others had obviously taken as the lake shore was developed. It is actually a man-made reservoir, but the species must have existed in its drainage basin and established there not long after it was created.
Anyhow, based on these plants at least, I think they are much more like the northern form, S. purpurea ssp. purpurea then typical ssp. venosa. At least they don't grow like the ssp. venosa plants I bought from Meadowview. They have very tall flower scapes and put out many new pitchers at once in the spring - with a rather shiny texture to them. They are totally evergreen. My ssp. venosa tend to be semi-deciduous in our winters and put out new leaves only gradually, one maturing at a time per rosette. True, these plants don't look like some other photos of seen of 'var. montana,' so there may be different populations descended from different forms. All are in such isolated pockets that the genes probably rarely mix if ever between the populations.
This next plant is a spontaneous seedling from my bog garden in Atlanta about 20 years ago. The leaves are just like S. flava in shape, green with some red veins, but the flower shows that there are other genes, probably S. leucophylla in the background. What a beautiful color!
The D. filiformis in all its forms are growing like crazy and starting to unfurl bloom spikes. These "Florida Red" plants were purchased from a hobby grower last spring and they seem unusual in that they bloomed and produced seed all season long. Consequently, there are hundreds, if not thousands of tiny seedlings throughout the bog, especially in sandy/gravelly places. You can see toothpicks in the background where I started marking the location of seedlings. That is, until I realized they are in almost every square foot of the bog! I had read that this form doesn't usually make hibernacula and would be killed by freezes, so last fall I frantically dug up some of the plants and kept them in the greenhouse. As it turned out, they all went to sleep for the winter and survived the bog being frozen solid for a few days in January with no ill effects.
This next photo is D. rotundifolia waking up for the spring, along with one tiny D. filiformis (if you have good eyes). These are the form that grows in the "splash zones" of our local mountain waterfalls, but they will also do fine in normal bog conditions.
Here's an interesting cross between the anthocynanin form of S. jonesii and S. purpurea var. heterophylla. I got the plants at a specialty nursery in Atlanta about 15 years ago. They are slow growers, but seem to be doing better now that they are out in the bog. I've seen a clone called 'Green Tuba' that looks just like this, but don't know if these are tissue culture from that plant, or just seedlings - its was too long ago to remember.
Well that is plenty for now. There are also CARPETS of D. intermedia seedlings coming up, so the islands and peninsulas of my little bog paradise will be quite amazing by mid-summer! I'll post more photos once the leaves are more developed.
So, this next photo is my group of S. purpurea ssp. venosa var. montana, which came from a small lakeside bog on a residential community about 50 miles away in NC. The lakeshore was being 'beautified' with concrete walls, destroying what little environment was left, save for this one lot that was still for sale, containing the colony of plants. I only took two clumps (separated into 5 separate plants) but visit the site now and then to try to keep the 100 or so plants remaining from the same fate that many others had obviously taken as the lake shore was developed. It is actually a man-made reservoir, but the species must have existed in its drainage basin and established there not long after it was created.
Anyhow, based on these plants at least, I think they are much more like the northern form, S. purpurea ssp. purpurea then typical ssp. venosa. At least they don't grow like the ssp. venosa plants I bought from Meadowview. They have very tall flower scapes and put out many new pitchers at once in the spring - with a rather shiny texture to them. They are totally evergreen. My ssp. venosa tend to be semi-deciduous in our winters and put out new leaves only gradually, one maturing at a time per rosette. True, these plants don't look like some other photos of seen of 'var. montana,' so there may be different populations descended from different forms. All are in such isolated pockets that the genes probably rarely mix if ever between the populations.
This next plant is a spontaneous seedling from my bog garden in Atlanta about 20 years ago. The leaves are just like S. flava in shape, green with some red veins, but the flower shows that there are other genes, probably S. leucophylla in the background. What a beautiful color!
The D. filiformis in all its forms are growing like crazy and starting to unfurl bloom spikes. These "Florida Red" plants were purchased from a hobby grower last spring and they seem unusual in that they bloomed and produced seed all season long. Consequently, there are hundreds, if not thousands of tiny seedlings throughout the bog, especially in sandy/gravelly places. You can see toothpicks in the background where I started marking the location of seedlings. That is, until I realized they are in almost every square foot of the bog! I had read that this form doesn't usually make hibernacula and would be killed by freezes, so last fall I frantically dug up some of the plants and kept them in the greenhouse. As it turned out, they all went to sleep for the winter and survived the bog being frozen solid for a few days in January with no ill effects.
This next photo is D. rotundifolia waking up for the spring, along with one tiny D. filiformis (if you have good eyes). These are the form that grows in the "splash zones" of our local mountain waterfalls, but they will also do fine in normal bog conditions.
Here's an interesting cross between the anthocynanin form of S. jonesii and S. purpurea var. heterophylla. I got the plants at a specialty nursery in Atlanta about 15 years ago. They are slow growers, but seem to be doing better now that they are out in the bog. I've seen a clone called 'Green Tuba' that looks just like this, but don't know if these are tissue culture from that plant, or just seedlings - its was too long ago to remember.
Well that is plenty for now. There are also CARPETS of D. intermedia seedlings coming up, so the islands and peninsulas of my little bog paradise will be quite amazing by mid-summer! I'll post more photos once the leaves are more developed.