2010-10-30 Pygmy Drosera

If you recall, last December I posted a picture of a minuscule plant called a pygmy Drosera, or pygmy sundew. As promised these tiny little things have grown from the size of a pinhead in December to a full sized 1 inch across by May. Over the summer, they caught thousands of little gnats and even an occasional fly.

Fall is their time for asexual reproduction when each plant spews forth about 25 gemmae from its apex. Gemmae are essentially modified leaves that root automatically when they hit the ground. Last year I had a total of 7 quarter sized plants that each produced 25 gemmae. As my Mth111 students SHOULD be able to tell you, their growth is exponential with growth factor approximately 26, so P(t)=7(26)^t. So, I'm going to have WAY more plants than I can handle. If you want any gemmae, just let me know!

They're easy to grow in a greenhouse or outside/inside if they have full sun all year long. If you're growing them outside/inside, give them an open southern window in the winter and put them outside in the summer. Good amounts of sun produce good amounts of dew and darkness kills them. They don't repot well since their roots are thinner than a human hair and as long. Never fertilize (they catch their own). Handle with care and sow them right away after you receive them. Sow them on the surface, not buried at all. I used a toothpick and tweezers combo to sow. Use a pot that is at least 3 inches deep, preferably 5in-6in deep. The potting soil is an equal mix of peat and pumice. Always set the pots in a saucer full of water, preferably rain water. Always water from the bottom. If you live somewhere that is VERY hot during the summer, less than full sun is a good idea. In the winter, keep the gemmae above 55F for good growth and in subsequent years, keep the adults above 35F. Generally avoid letting the rain fall on them. They eventually get tall as they age, reaching a massive 5-7 inches like bizarre miniature palm trees.

If you want more info, please click here.

Drosera barbigera: Sow 1.5in apart. Supposedly gets tall eventually, but are modest 1 inch sized after 1 year. The gemmae are the little granular bumps in the center.


Drosera callistos: Sow 1in apart. Very cute! I have 40 tiny plants comfortably in a 6in across pot. Dark orange flowers in early summer.


Drosera dichrosepala: Sow 1in apart. Almost 2 inches tall!


Drosera omissa x pulchella: Sow 1.5in apart. A very strong grower. Larger diameter, almost 2 inches across. Great bloomer: pink flowers all summer long!


Drosera omissa: Sow 1.5in apart. Good grower, not as strong as the hybrid, though. About 1-1.5in in diameter. Also has pink flowers all summer long.


Drosera paleacea ssp trichocaulis: Sow 0.5in to 0.75in apart. Very tiny! You could probably fit 100 plants in a 6in pot. The tiny mosses are taller than the sundews.


Drosera scorpioides: Sow 2in apart. The huge one! Almost 4in tall after 1 year. Like miniature palm trees. Fantastic at catching gnats. White flowers. 4 plants in a 4 inch pot comfortably.


In addition, I just got a big Boophane disticha. I have some small ones from Telos Rare Bulbs, but couldn't wait... Neat South African bulb that eventually forms an enormous fan of twisty leaves.


My old Haemanthus albiflos from Bovees Nursery is blooming. Had this thing for 2 years now. I tested it in light freezing weather last year: the leaves freeze solid! but then recover completely when they thaw. PS: Bovees is having a big plant sale this November!

2010-10-22 Around the yard

Just a couple things before the cold sets in.

It's a Common Longsquirrel.


All of my tropicals are still blooming, including the Plumeria. Not for much longer, tho.


Lisa's newest plant, Masdevallia Aquarius.


My Oxalis lupinifolia is blooming in the greenhouse for the first time. Very cute.


One of the Protea repens that I started in October 2007 is about to open its first flowers. This will be the very first Protea I've ever bloomed! I'll post more when something actually happens.


BTW, I don't know if the cool summer affected anyone else's Protea's, but mine didn't grow during their usual June growing season and are putting out new leaves right now.

2010-09-11 Mount Hood

With family in town, we had a gorgeous day on the mountain. Blue sky, fresh air.


I love these high altitude chipmunks. They must hibernate for 8 months of the year!


Brad looking the wrong way.


Neat dead tree.


We also hiked around Trillium lake. Aconitum columbianum was open still.


The Drosera rotundifolia were specked with bug corpses. You know, like they're supposed to be.


Thanks for coming, guys!

2010-09-03 Mount Hood

Beautiful day on the mountain.


Beautiful day on the River.


Did you know it's Fall already? Some of the Acer circinatum are turning.


A lot of Piperia unalascensis are open.


If you head up Rd 48, and then turn down the tiny winding (paved!) Rd 4890, you'll be delighted by the amazing forest scent, perfumed mostly by this thing: Ceanothus velutinus var velutinus.Smells like really nice pine mixed with sweet.

2010-08-24 Around the yard

Windows! I got 10 nice clear, 4ft, double paned, vinyl picture windows installed. Good price on Craig's list. There are still framed out spots for two more and I'm thinking sliders so I can get a breeze from front to back if I want one. It's a world of difference in there already with the brightness and the warmth. I got some shadecloth to help with the ferns and whatnot in the back.

Outside looking in.


Inside out.


In the back, next to the ferns, Agapetes and Neofinetia's are my Asimina trilobata, Paw Paw trees that I grew from seed from One Green World. I started them this June and they're already about a foot tall. I have 10 and they have to go be planted in pairs or triples for good pollination. Very small trees. 10-15ft in as many years. Very tasty fruit: like a cross between a banana and mango flavor. Full sun once they are 3yrs old (since they burn when young!). Native to the SE USA.


Still in the GH, my very first Castilleja miniata from seed is blooming! Castilleja are hemiparisites and this one's host is a grass out of which it sucks water and nutrients. Those that didn't take to their host aren't doing well at all.


A weed, Monarda hybrida Lambada that I like for some reason.


The first flower on my Epilobium rigidum from seed. Goes in the rock garden, eventually.


Outside the GH, Lisa's Echinacea Hot Papaya is putting on a good show.


And the Silphium laciniatum attracts all sorts of bees.


Speaking of attracting all sorts of bees, nothing does it like the Joe Pye Weed, Eupatorium purpureum. This is the one I dug up from WV. It also spent some time in E WA for a while... It's had an adventure. The hummingbirds like this one too, but they don't like all the bees that it attracts as well.


The white currants are almost ripe... I think. They've looked like this for a month and continue to be sour.


The Plumeria is blooming. Great scent.


Sarracenia leucophyllum, the white top pitcher, is growing its fall pitchers, which are the biggest and most colorful of the year.


One of my 3yr old Protea repens is setting its first flower bud. Pretty exciting. No idea when it will open. Frankly, I thought it would be open by now.


I fertilized my Protea's with Alfalfa meal, which is 2-0-3 NPK and also gave them a double dose of Ironite, which is 1-0-1 plus a bunch of trace minerals, mostly iron, which they supposedly need a lot of. We'll see if it helps them grow and form buds for next year. Until now, I don't think that I fertilized my Protea's at all.

My Leucojum has apparently been renamed as Acis autumnale. An Acis by any other name would still be cute.


Just repotted: hundreds of bulbs. Started with like 5 in 2004.


In the sunroom, Oncidium Sherry Baby is blooming on schedule. Always smells vaguely of chocolate...

2010-08-21 Southern Oregon

Made the seed trip. Very relaxing and productive at the same time! The drive down was smooth, as was the drive back up. There was a fire burning down on HWY 199 by $8 Mountain as well as Onion Mountain which made it hard to collect seed for one stop, but we were fortunate enough that by the time we made it to our campsite, we had moved past the smoke.

That night, it was almost a full moon (two nights off), and I managed this photo of the moon rising through the thin clouds.


The morning after camping captures my senses: the sweet cold air, the rising sun pressing its warmth through the long shadows, the river and birds babbling, the blue sky above and a long way to go before it turns black.


Epilobium rigidum. Probably the very plant whose seed I grew.


This Lilium bolanderi is blooming size at a staggering height of 8in. Its flowers must be about an inch and a half across and would be bright red, fading to orange, spotted with black and green. We never see their flowers because we're never around in July.


Another thing we never ever see is Calochortus howellii, because it also blooms in July. However, given some unknown set of circumstances, we found about a dozen this year in bloom in late August. Each was growing in the drier ground about 5 ft away from a bog. Sweet! This plant is endemic to Oregon, and in fact a circle with about 20 mile diameter would encompass every plant in the wild. It is Federally Threatened.


It has pink anthers at first.


It's about 12in tall. The plant growing on the ground with the fuzzy ferny leaves is Horkelia sericata. Just FYI. You never know what they'll ask on Jeopardy.


A seedpod is about the size of a marble.


Requisite bog photos. The Darlingtonia looked particularly nice this year: tall, regal and not besmirched by summer.


Different bog.


A rare serpentine bog resident, Gentiana setigera, bloomed as if it was spring. I never can get seeds of this thing since it blooms so late!


This plant is a SW OR, NW CA endemic.


I thought that this Antennaria suffrutescens looked particularly interesting.


These Triantha occidentalis ssp occidentalis grow in the drainage ditches for the road, and the bogs themselves, of course.


Here's another one with two blooms: one just opening and one with seed pods forming.


We didn't take too many photos since we were too busy gathering seeds. I'll just have to wait 9 months for more pictures...