Fred's Carnivorous Plants and other oddities

[fredg]

The Heliamphora I had heading for the bin but gave a last minute reprieve is coming on by leaps and bounds. Several new pitchers have matured and several more on the way.
Now I'm puzzled as to why I didn't grow it this way before.

[ashley]

That looks happy Fred  
Is it H. nutans, and how would you recommend growing it?

[fredg]

That's H heterodoxa x minor Ashley. Heliamphora don't appreciate constantly wet feet so tray watering isn't recommended. However, I put that one in a super long tom (10cm x 10cm x 17cm) and it's happily sitting in a water tray with Utricularia  reniformis which never dries. The way it's going I'll need to find some bigger super long toms. Medium is live sphagnum and perlite.

[ashley]

Thanks Fred.  The super long tom certainly works well.  Is it to ensure constant mositure but without saturation, and does the plant prefer to be drier/cooler over winter? 
I know nothing about Heliamphora but am tempted to try ...

[fredg]

Cooler is OK overwinter but not freezing. They also like strong light.

[brianw]

My Heliophora nutans seems happy with constantly wet feet, but only 10-15mm in summer and occasional zero in winter. Never intentionally not standing in water for more than a day or so. They are in shallow pots of perlite sphagnum moss.

[fredg]

That's the wonderful thing with Carnivorous plants Brian. There's always someone doing it differently ( usually me).
 

My water trays average about 2" (5cm) depth of water. Previously I have used overturned saucers to stand the Heliamphora on, this however can cause problems if you go on holiday and/or the level isn't topped up, for whatever reason,  before the level gets too low. The pots were therefore standing in a 2" depth and they just didn't like it. Now with these much deeper pots they can be treated just like their companions. The plants like it, I don't have to faff about with different levels. To me that's a win win situation.

[ashley]

Heliamphora preferences are a bit clearer to me now.
Thank you both.

[fredg]

This Toad Lily has finally decided to start opening the buds.

Not a perfect flower so far but it's passable.

[Michael J Campbell]

Nice. 

[fredg]

We were up, this week, getting some repairs done on the Scottish estate. Three of these appeared in the paddock on Monday morning,with two deciding to skip the fence and peruse the garden. Possibly some of the ones MrsG photographed in March.

       

[fredg]

This has also appeared while I was away. It's a very strange time of year for a Drosophyllum to think about flowering. I was hoping they would hold off until early spring.

 

[ashley]

In advanced bud here too (D. capensis).

[Maggi Young]

In advanced bud here too (D. capensis).

 And will these buds open soon or simply sit overwinter?

[ashley]

Within 2-3 weeks I'd say Maggi, but the plants are indoors so higher temperature is probably a factor.