Carnivorous plants are in a category of their own, and within this special syndicate of bizarre botanical badassery there are those plants that are, well… just plain freaks. I’m talking about some of these lidless ones. Some may even apply the adjective “fugly“ to these curiosities. But hey – to me, they’re beautiful in their own unconventional way. Keep it freaky.
Sarracenia flava var. ornata – lidless
Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora – lidless
Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Bris’
Here’s an update on a beautiful and unique moorei cross by James Soe Nyun. (S. flava var maxima x leucophylla “Burgundy” is the cross.) It’s a little behind in development and coloration compared to this time last year, but the plant is still doing well. The red coloration is only now starting and it contrasts quite nicely with those green veins. It’s been noted that using select clones of S. flava var. maxima will yield this “inverted veins” effect. I did a couple crosses both last year and this year using a few S. flava var. maxima clones so we’ll see what comes out of it. In the meantime, enjoy a few shots of this fantastic moorei. Beautiful work, James!
Sarracenia flava var. maxima x leucophylla “Burgundy”
Sarracenia flava var. maxima x leucophylla “Burgundy”
Sarracenia flava var. maxima x leucophylla “Burgundy”
Sarracenia flava var. maxima x leucophylla “Burgundy”
Here’s a rather lovely and sinister looking Sarracenia flava var. ornata cross that was done by none other than my Sarracenia-bro-dude, Mike Wang. I like how the pitcher tube is heavily brushed in a rich red. The dark network of veins run up through the hood accented by the gold backdrop on the lid adds a nice touch to this pitcher. Awesome work, Mike!
Sarracenia flava var. ornata x
flava var. ornata “Black Veins” – Bulloch Co., GA – Clone B
Cross by Mike Wang
Sarracenia flava var. ornata x
flava var. ornata “Black Veins” – Bulloch Co., GA – Clone B
Cross by Mike Wang
Sarracenia ‘Black Widow’ x flava var. rubricorpora – Select Clone
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
Sarracenia flava var. ornata x flava var. ornata, Bulloch Co., GA – Clone B
Cross by Mike Wang
Sarracenia flava var. ornata – Bulloch Co., GA
Sarracenia flava var. ornata – Bulloch Co., GA
Sarracenia flava var. autropurpurea – Blackwater State Park, FL
Sarracenia flava var. cuprea x flava var. ornata
Cross by Don Elkins
Sarracenia flava – Anthocyanin Free
Colquitt Co., GA
Back in 2010, fellow Sarracenia grower James Soe Nuyn of Lost In The Landscape did a brilliant cross which has resulted (in my humble opinion) in a very elegant moorei. The cross is Sarracenia leucophylla “burgundy” x flava v. maxima. I noticed that a few crosses with flava v. maxima with a stronger colored plant sometimes come up with similar results. Not sure all flava var. maxima’s will do this though.
As the new pitchers unfold and begin to color up, the green veins light up quite nicely against the gentle pink and white of the pitcher. Lovely work, James! I am a fan.
Sarracenia leucophylla “burgundy” x flava v. maxima
Sarracenia leucophylla “burgundy” x flava v. maxima
Sarracenia leucophylla “burgundy” x flava v. maxima
Sarracenia leucophylla “burgundy” x flava v. maxima
Last year, fellow Sarracenia grower Eric Morrow sent me small divisions from a few of his plants. These plants are still young divisions (not of blooming maturity yet), but they are maturing quite nicely. Thanks, Eric!
Sarracenia “Leigha Simone”
A beautiful red moorei cross done by Oliver Bres, seed grown by Eric Morrow and named for Eric’s daughter. This is still a small division and I’m really excited to see this as it matures. The parentage is S. leucophylla – “purple and white giant” x flava v. rubricorpora.
Sarracenia “willisii” x alata red black
Sarracenia “willisii” x alata red black
Sarracenia (rubra gulfensis x leucophylla) x ‘Leah Wilkerson’
Sarracenia ‘Leah Wilkerson’ x moorei “Red” – two different siblings
Sarracenia “willisii” x alata red black
Sarracenia “willisii” x alata red black
Sarracenia “Saurus” never ceases to amaze me. This select cross of S. leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava var. ornata was done by the legendary Phil Faulisi. I remember when I first saw this beast of a plant at Phil’s place in 2009 – I had to pick my jaw off the floor. I jokingly told Phil, “Phil – dude that thing is a Sarracenia-Saurus!” He then goes “Dude, you know what? You just named that plant!”
The pitchers on my division this year got to over 30 inches. If the plant wasn’t divided, they would of gotten close to the 40 inches that it normally attains. (See Phil’s post here.)
The pitchers below are fresh fall pitchers that recently opened up this past week. They will color up and get dark as the season rolls on. You can see the pitcher on the right in the first photo starting to darken up. For the time being, I’m enjoying the beautiful contrast of the veins as they lace up the pitcher. Simply amazing! As always, brilliant work, Phil!
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Sarracenia “Saurus” – A Phil Faulisi Creation
Sarracenia “Saurus” – A Phil Faulisi Creation
Sarracenia (leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava var. rubricorpora)
x ‘Adrian Slack’
A cross I did in 2012, showing off some nifty coloration!
Greetings all! I hope you’ve had a great start to the new year so far. My wish is that you, your loved ones and your plants will find happiness and health all throughout this coming year. Things are quite busy on this end with winter clean up. All this in preparation for the growth that will soon follow. The Sarracenia in The Asylum are all brown and crispy and pot-by-pot, table-by-table… slowly they are getting their shave on. Winter fun, yes? I’m about to burn them all down… 
Yet, with all the dead foliage that surrounds me, I’m still growing things. A few plants (both carnivorous and non-carnivorous) around the greenhouse are doing well. I have a few plants in my office cubicle that keep me company whilst I’m at the office. And YES – I’m still tinkering around with the Nepenthes. Remember this last year? Ugh. Sheeeyaaatttt…. I hope to do better this year. And so far, so good. That greenhouse-within-a-greenhouse (woooah, that’s so botanically Inception-y) is doing wonders for them. Man, those things are so fascinating and beautiful. They give me something to grow while the rest of my botanical world is not as green. I still have the tank going on that I referenced at the end of this post. I’ll update you with a few photos in my next entry, so stay tuned for that. In the mean time, here’s a handful of frames of what’s been going on in The Asylum.
This is my winter-ish-zen moment. Yeaaa, gettin’ this mo-fo cleaned up. For the most part, this is my view – carting out dead pitchers, weeds, and old media wheelbarrow load by wheelbarrow load. Oh joy, oh rapture! It’s such a cleansing experience!
Thought this was pretty cool, a few of the S. alata “Maroon Throat” pitchers still looking quite nifty!
Another angle of those S. alata “Maronon Throat” pitchers.
S. alata “Red Mustache” with a couple of pitchers. Don’t mind that mess in the background.
The flytraps now all spiffy and ready for the growing season.
Ah, you know. a small pitcher of S. ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 8 just hangin’ out in that mess of dead pitchers…
S. leucophylla “Purple (kinky) Lips” and her burning-out phyllodia tips. The traps normally do not form that way, it just happened that this one opened weird for some reason and ended up looking… kinky.
This year promises to be a pretty good one! There’s a few things in the works, and some neat crosses that will be sown soon. And YES, I hope to have some plants/rhizomes available in the shop once I’m able to get a little more organized. (Right now, there’s still a few seeds available… check it out) I’ll post some photos from the Nepenthes house as well as photos from the grow tank in the next post. In the mean time, I’m off to the next table… Woohoo!
Off to the next table…
February, so far, is looking pretty fab. Thanks to the warm January, much of the crop has been moving at a very fast speed. There are plenty of buds to be found all over the place, a few open pitchers, and… seeds germinating! Enjoy a few snapshots from the past couple of weeks.
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The seeds (from 2013!!) have been sown! Yes, you read that right. These have been sitting in cold stratification for a year. A couple of weeks ago, my wife and the kiddos helped pot up all 202+ crosses. It was an extremely busy year for me last year and by the time I was ready to put them down, the year was half way over. I didn’t want to use supplemental lighting as with this many seeds, as that electric bill would just be nuts. Now that I finally have a little more space, I was able to finally put these down.
And guess what? Many pots have seeds that have are sprouting! Exciting! The one in the photo is S. purpurea heterophylla x leucophylla “Red” – these came from Jerry Addington and should produce a brilliant crop of anthocyanin free recessive plants to work with in the future.
The Asylum. Check out the Sarracenia alata flowers already opening up! And check out that other half of the greenhouse that needs trimming! Heh!
Sarracenia rosea – Baldwin Co., AL in flower.
A few more Sarracenia alata buds about to pop!
One of my crosses from a maybe 3 or so years ago. This is S. ‘Alucard’ x ‘Adrian Slack’ glowing with the sun hitting it from behind. Notice one of last year’s autumn pitchers compared to this year’s larger spring pitcher. What a jump! You can see tell-tale signs of what the plant would be like from last year’s pitcher. However, with this year’s pitcher, you can see much more character shine through! The unknown of what comes out of the cross and how that plant matures is part of the excitement that comes with growing from seed. Anyway, I’ll post another photo later on so you can get a better view of this year’s most recent pitcher from this cross.
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 14. New pitcher coloring up against last year’s wreckage. Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman.
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 9
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
Another one of my crosses – Sarracenia leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava var. rubricorpora x ‘Adrian Slack’ – new pitcher opening up!
Sarracenia oreophila, awake and ready to devour insects!
Sarracenia alata – Anthocyanin Free!
A new pitcher stands out against last year’s crispy dead pitchers.
Young pitchers stretch towards the sky. Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora x flava ‘Suspicion’ – an anthocyanin free recessive cross. This cross was done by Aidan Selwyn. I hope to use these AF recessive S. flava plants in future (anthocyanin free) crosses.
Ok, ok, ok… I’m totally geeking out here. This is a flower bud of an anthocyanin free form of S. flava – Colquitt Co., GA. YEAH. You know what this means…
Here’s a small sampling of early buds and bloomers. Many more blooms are on their way which means many more potential crosses to make into a reality.
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Sarracenia alata
Sarracenia alata – Texas
Sarracenia alata – Covington Co.
(Sorry, I am unsure as to which state. MS or AL…)*
2 Mar 2015 Update: Thanks to feedback from Randy Troup it is of high probability that this S. alata is from Covington Co., MS. Thank you for the insight, Randy!
Sarracenia oreophila
Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora
Sarracenia ‘Adrian Slack’
Sarracenia flava – Anthocyanin Free – Colquitt Co., GA
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 9
Sarracenia ‘Legacy’
A young plant from a cross I did some years ago. Not of blooming age yet. The mother/pod parent plant – Sarracenia (leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava var. rubricorpora) – is a fantastic red moorei bred by Phil Faulisi. There are some interesting variations going on with the siblings, and I’ll post some photos later on in the season. For now here’s one of the larger plants from the bunch. There’s some great coloration going on right now with this one.
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Sarracenia (leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava var. rubricorpora) x ‘Adrian Slack’
Sarracenia (leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava var. rubricorpora) x ‘Adrian Slack’
Sarracenia flava var. ornata – Bulloch Co., GA
A couple of recently opened pitchers from this stylish S. flava. The veins make this plant appear as if it is sporting some pin stripes! Those veins also will get darker as the season progresses.
Just a few Sarracenia flavas, for fun. Enjoy!
The flava section
Sarracenia flava ‘Waccamaw’
Sarracenia flava “Powhatan”
Sarracenia flava var. autropurpurea
Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora
Sarracenia flava “Killer”
Sarracenia flava var. ornata – tall clone
Sarracenia flava “Extreme Red Throat” – a seed grown plant from Mike Wang, similar markings to S. flava “Killer.”
Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora “lidless”
Sarracenia flava var. ornata “lidless”
Many of the Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ crosses by Dr. Travis H. Wyman have just turned out fantastic and it has been a joy to watch the plants mature from seed over the years. The parent plant, Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ was created by Phil Faulisi, and breeding lines involving Phil’s prodigious reptile have yielded quite fascinating results. I can only imagine where these breeding lines will take us in the coming years. One plant that really catches my eye year after year is Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – clone #15. This plant sends up a beautiful disorderly mass of pitchers with the strong angular influence from Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose.’ This gives the plant a chaotic appearance, hence my (currently working/unofficial) name, Sarracenia “Chaos.” As the season progresses, the coloration will darken and turn to a deep red.
Sarracenia “Chaos”
Parentage: Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 15
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
Sarracenia “Chaos”
Parentage: Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 15
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
Sarracenia “Chaos”
Parentage: Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 15
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
Sarracenia “Chaos” – profile
Parentage: Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 15
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
Sarracenia “Chaos”
Detail of chaotic nectar roll.
Parentage: Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 15
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
Hello all you beautiful people! Yeahhh, I know — It seems like it has forever since I’ve posted anything here. Yeah, things have been pretty busy outside of the garden the past couple of months but rest assured I still make time to go down and recharge my soul in The Asylum. The plants are all still doing good, but it’s that weird in-between time for me now. Spring pitchers already are burning out (thanks to my early season start) and pitchers of the autumn-indulging plants are just starting to form. Anyway – here’s a quick and dirty photo-update-reel from the past few weeks.
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Sarracenia oreophila – for the most part the spring pitchers are gone. Still a pitcher here and there looking ok.
Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Hurricane Creek White’ – clone F x ‘Adrian Slack’ I had this one seriously cramped pot of of these seedlings and repotted those seedlings into these four trays. You can see the old foliage all floppy n’ crud but they’re all throwing up new pitchers. Should be a pretty interesting cross.
Sarracenia leucophylla “Purple Lips” x leucophylla “Mesa Exotics”
Cross by Phil Faulisi
Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Hurricane Creek White’ – Clone F
Sarracenia leucophylla “Helmut’s Delight”
Sarracenia lecuophylla ‘Bris’
Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis – Ware Co., GA
Sarracenia flava var. autropurprea
Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora – lidless
Sarracenia flava var. ornata – lidless
Sarracenia flava
Sarracenia flava “Extreme Red Throat”
FREAKIN’… THANK YOU ERIC!! So not that long ago a really awesome surprise came in the mail from Eric Morrow. After a somewhat really bad week for me, this surprise was a huge pick-me-up. By the way – check out Eric’s Instagram feed for some Sarracenia-heavy updates: @sarraceniacrazy!
Sarracenia (‘Leah Wilkerson’ x oreophila) x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla)
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
In my clean up of plants this year, I was glad to have found this baby barely surviving. I salvaged what I could and glad it’s recovering nicely!
Sarracenia ‘Royal Ruby’
Sarracenia “Blood Moon” – new pitcher unfolding.
Cross by Brooks Garcia
Sarracenia ‘Black Widow’ coloring up.
Sarracenia lecuophylla “burgundy” x flava var. maxima
Cross by James Soe Nyun
DOUBLE HEADER! Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var.rubricorpora x leucophylla)
(Ehh… forgot to note which clone this was…)
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var.rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 4
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman
Sarracenia alata – AF
Sarracenia minor – AF
Sarracenia flava AF – Shalotte – Brunswick Co., NC
Sarracenia flava AF – Telogia – Liberty Co., FL
Kinky lip on that pitcher for some reason, heh!
Sarracenia flava ‘Suspicion’
Sarracenia “Green Monster”
Sarracenia “Green Monster” – F2
This one is reflecting a lot of S. leucophylla color influence
Sarracenia moorei AF – parentage: Sarracenia leucophylla AF x flava ‘Suspcion’
Cross by Aidan Selwyn.
Sarracenia “Monster Cat” (“Cat” short for “catesbaei”)
Cross by Jerry Addington.
Sarracenia purpurea “Smurf”
Sarracenia willisii x alata “red/black” from Eric Morrow, Cross by Michael Sprouse.
Sarracenia willisii x alata “red/black” from Eric Morrow, Cross by Michael Sprouse.
Sibling to the plant above.
Another angle of the above Sarracenia willisii x alata “red/black” from Eric Morrow, Cross by Michael Sprouse.
Sarracenia leucophylla “Purple Lips” x (rosea “Big Mama” x leucophylla “Purple Lips”)
Cross by Phil Faulisi
Sarracenia ‘Alucard’ “Prince of Darkness” x alata ‘Night’
A cross I did a few years ago. Had a few of these growing in one pot, and the pot self culled itself. I recently repotted the survivors (strongest of that bunch…) and they’re putting up some promising young pitchers.
Sarracenia (minor x willisii) x purpurea ssp. purpurea) x leucophylla
Another neat little seedling of a cross I did that is reacting well to the repotting from earlier this year.
Sarracenia flava “widemouth” x (leucophylla “red” x minor var. okefenokeensis)
Sarracenia oreophila x ‘Adrian Slack’
I repotted most of these plants into individual pots only this year. They seem to have liked that.
Sarracenia oreophila x ‘Adrian Slack’
Sibling to the one above it. The whole litter has everything in between both of these forms and color schemes. Gotta love the diversity.
Sarracenia oreophila “veined” x ‘Adrian Slack.
S. ‘Legacy’ like!
Sarracenia (leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava var. ornata) x ‘Adrian Slack’
Sarracenia ‘Alucard’ x ‘Adrian Slack’
Sarracenia (oreophila x ‘Royal Ruby’) x ‘Adrian Slack’
Sarracenia ‘Adrian Slack’
Sarracenia ‘Leah Wilkerson’
Sarracenia ‘Legacy’
Here’s one of the more recent crosses I did – Sarracenia leucophylla “Hanrahan” x alata AF. I’m excited about this one because… well… it’s an AF recessive S. areolata and can’t wait to use it in future AF projects. And… it’s fuzzy!
Not a pitcher plant but… sheeyat, I’m loving how this Drosophyllum is doing.
Hello all you beautiful people out there! Hope you all have been well! I’ve finished moving out of The Asylum and took the month of February to just relax a little bit from the wonderful fiasco of hauling an entire large greenhouse full of plants from point A to point B. (A huge thanks to the BAPP crew for the help!)
The new place is coming along well. I’ll slowly be putting the pieces together again and will be working on the new location throughout this year. It’s not as large or grand as the marvelous Asylum, but you know what – it’s something. The Sarracenia are growing outdoors now and that’s been brilliant since they’re now getting much needed rain. It just feels good to know that the plants that were once in the greenhouse for 3 1/2 years are now getting a much needed flush from the the rain.
I also wanted to report that on 29 Feb I was able to do my first pollination of 2016! I self pollinated an anthocyanin free clone of S. catesbaei. The parentage is S. luteola x S. flava ‘Suspicion’ – grown from seed, cross by Adrian Fawcett and you can see them when the first germinated back in 2013 here! (Thanks again, Adrian!)
Seeing the first flower is always refreshing sight. This neon thing broke the bleak ocean of trimmed and dead foliage like a beacon of hope for better things to come. This year will be a transition year getting to know all the nuances and idiosyncrasies of the growing spot, but so far it looks like the plants don’t have a problem with it. Looking forward to seeing how this year will turn out. Thank you all again for following along this crazy botanical journey of mine, y’all are just awesome.
Sarracenia catesbaei flower – anthocyanin free clone
Inspired by the Netflix original series – Stranger Things.
Because I like strange plants.
This is dedicated to all of the the stranger Sarracenia.
Here are some of the freaks.
You might even find some of these growing in the Upside Down…
feasting on Demadogs.
Stay strange.
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Sarracenia “Smurf”
Sarracenia “Smurf” at season’s end. Still a freak in dormancy.
Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Bris’
Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Bris’
Sarracenia flava lidless seedling
Sarracenia flava. var ornata – lidless
Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora – lidless
Sarracenia flava – lidless splotch throat
… And then there is this beyond-strange flavaesque thing SO freaky even Demagorgons stay away.
Perhaps one of the strangest Sarracenia I’ve seen so far.
So strange.
Yes. It is functional and catches prey. The pitchers are generally very open (as you can see) then twists shut approaching the base. This completes the weird pitcher formation. Here we have a digested fly in one of the pitchers. There are smaller insects at the base that the plant is feasting on.
And this is where we must leave off for now. With all this strange-ness in the Sarracenia gene pool, I wonder what other strange creatures may appear in future seasons?
Stay tuned for Stranger Sarracenia – Season 2. 
Sarracenia oreophila
