Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Carnivorous Plant Society Meeting
I went, last Saturday, to a meeting of the Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society up at the UC Botanical Garden in Berkeley. It's a bit of a trek for me - about an hour's drive - but I was able to stop, for the first time, by Annie's Annuals up in Richmond before heading to Berkeley. I picked up about a dozen new plants at Annie's - they actually grow mostly perennials these days. The plants seem a bit cheaper in person than online, and there are plenty of things to interest even the most jaded plant geek.
But - back to the BACPS meeting. The BACPS meets approximately quarterly, publishes an electronic newsletter, holds a summer show, and is completely free to join. Attending the meetings in the UC Botanical Garden is a great deal, as the garden provides the room for free and lets all the attendees in for free. I've been a quasi-member and webpage manager for many years after my friend Bill told me about it. It's unique among plant clubs in attracting a large following of young people.
The middle of winter is not the best time for carnivorous plants in the San Francisco Bay Area. All the stuff which grows well outdoors here ( Sarracenias, Temperate Drosera, Dionea ) is dormant or at least looking really ratty. We're pretty much stuck with some tuberous Drosera, Utricularia, and all the Nepenthes you can afford. I got to take a bunch of close-up photos of very small Utricularia flowers this time.
We also got to see a tiny Nepenthes edwardsiana and a really beautiful Nepenthes ramispina that were brought in for show and tell. Nepenthes edwardsiana is basically not available commercially in the US at this time. It's a highland tropical species requiring cool temperatures, but it has a really cool toothed peristome around the mouth of the pitchers. The tiny specimen we saw had traps less than a centimeter across, but they were already showing the characteristic tooths. Nepenthes ramispina ( pictured at left ) is easier to grow and more available, and this specimen was extremely well-grown. The traps get big in proportion to the leaves and can have very nicely contrasting colors.
The BACPS meetings always have a presentation of some sort. This time, we had four experts in a panel discussion on pest control, fertilization and disease control. They came from many different backgrounds ( the owner of California Carnivores, a horticulturalist with a background in commercial-scale production, the rainforest manager from the California Academy of Sciences, and a former Botanical Garden curator ), and I think the discussion turned out to be a lot more interesting than anybody thought it would be.
The next meeting is April 4th. More pictures from the meeting are here.
But - back to the BACPS meeting. The BACPS meets approximately quarterly, publishes an electronic newsletter, holds a summer show, and is completely free to join. Attending the meetings in the UC Botanical Garden is a great deal, as the garden provides the room for free and lets all the attendees in for free. I've been a quasi-member and webpage manager for many years after my friend Bill told me about it. It's unique among plant clubs in attracting a large following of young people.The middle of winter is not the best time for carnivorous plants in the San Francisco Bay Area. All the stuff which grows well outdoors here ( Sarracenias, Temperate Drosera, Dionea ) is dormant or at least looking really ratty. We're pretty much stuck with some tuberous Drosera, Utricularia, and all the Nepenthes you can afford. I got to take a bunch of close-up photos of very small Utricularia flowers this time.
We also got to see a tiny Nepenthes edwardsiana and a really beautiful Nepenthes ramispina that were brought in for show and tell. Nepenthes edwardsiana is basically not available commercially in the US at this time. It's a highland tropical species requiring cool temperatures, but it has a really cool toothed peristome around the mouth of the pitchers. The tiny specimen we saw had traps less than a centimeter across, but they were already showing the characteristic tooths. Nepenthes ramispina ( pictured at left ) is easier to grow and more available, and this specimen was extremely well-grown. The traps get big in proportion to the leaves and can have very nicely contrasting colors.The BACPS meetings always have a presentation of some sort. This time, we had four experts in a panel discussion on pest control, fertilization and disease control. They came from many different backgrounds ( the owner of California Carnivores, a horticulturalist with a background in commercial-scale production, the rainforest manager from the California Academy of Sciences, and a former Botanical Garden curator ), and I think the discussion turned out to be a lot more interesting than anybody thought it would be.
The next meeting is April 4th. More pictures from the meeting are here.
