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Update

Morning all. Sorry about the lack of updates, I sat on my camera and haven't been able to charge it up yet.

Anyhoo... first the good news!

The new water butt has arrived, and has been plumbed in. It's amazing how quickly they fill up, and amazing how much water the munchers actually use!

I've installed most of the CP's in massive trays, so having a bigger surface area obviously increases the rate of evaporation, hence using more water, but I think they're much happier this year. The first pitchers are opening now, and I think that some have started catching flies.

I'll try to take some pictures tonight, and post them later. TTFN!

The quickening has begun!

Hello again! Spring is springing! Well, at least in the house. These are my drosera binata and they've all sprung up in the last week or so.

Bad news: The winter has left it's usual trail of sarracenia that didn't make it through the winter. Some died because they were too dry it looks like, which is my fault. :(

Note to self: Need to get myself some seedlings soon to replace the losses. I should be a bit more regular with my posting here now. I've got lots of repotting to do as a lot of last years have grown a bit too big for their pots. ttfn, but come back and check the site out soon. =]

Wooo!

Now I'm on . Suppose I better start updating this more often now!

And in the daylight...  

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More Flava pictures, taken this evening.. 

Flava flooooooower. 

Here's a wide shot of that stupid reed growing in the middle of the Sarracenia Oreophyila. That's a flava and a big pot of digitalis in the background. The digitalis is there because it's good for the bombus bombus (bumble bees - latin fans!) in the summer.  

...and here is my other Oreophila. This one is from Sand Mountain, which I think is in Alabama.

Interesting fact, fact fans - there are only about 35 wild populations of S. Oreophyila left in the wild. It's probably less than that now, cause the book I got that fact from was published in 2002.

There's a flower in there somewhere amongst that reed thing that's growing in there. I think this one has two main divisions, and that other plant is right in the middle of them, so I'm reluctant to break them up. Seems to be doing alright anyway, so I'm not too bothered by it. 

Sarracenia Oreophila. My favourite variety, probably cause it's quite rare, and I feel like a bit of a conservationalist by growing it. All the pitchers on this one died back in the autumn, and you can see that all the leaves there are actually phyllodia. Phyllodia are the winter leaves that don't pitcher, but photosynthesize to keep the plant going while it's in dormancy. Which is a bit of a contradiction in terms, but hey, what do I know! ;) 

Mystery drosera that died back over winter, but are reappearing now that it's warming up a bit. I think they're alicae. Which I am crap at growing.  

Stella, enjoying the Sunday morning sun.  

There can be only one!  

That's a reference to the movie Highlander.

Why Highlander? Because the quickening has begun!

Apparantly, the quickening is a term that can be applied to spring, cause the sap starts to rise in the trees, and new growth begins.

Seems it's from Celtic/pagan or something...

IMBOLC : Celtic name for Candlemas. This sabbat is celebrated around Feb 02. It is a festival of lights that celebrates the 'quickening" and the resurgence of life in the ground

Facts, full of, this morning, I am. Hrumph!

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Not a CP, but an orchid. It's a cymbidium.
 

Took this picture the other morning. Pretty cool, huh?