Sarracenia breaking dormancy

I mentioned last week that my Sarracenia were finally breaking their dormancy, but I was unable to get a decent picture. They've put on a little size since then, so today it's time to make that post.

S. alata (Stone County, MS) "Heavy Veins." Hope the veins are as nice as the name implies!

I got these plants back in mid February, in my first carnivorous plant trade. I actually didn't have much in the way of carnivorous trading material then, so I was lucky to find someone looking for cold hardy succulents. I was able to send him a couple Agave americana and Agave parryi var. huachucensis, as well as a bonus Sempervivum. In exchange I received S. minor (Orange County FL), S. flava typical, S. alata (Stone County, MS) "Heavy Veins," and S. leucophylla "Titan." None of them are registered cultivars, but it's nice to get species rather than hybrids to start off my collection, especially a few with location data.

S. minor (Orange County, FL).

I'll be the first to admit – I barely knew anything about growing Sarracenia when these showed up. This contributed to my anxiety as they sat around in the backyard, doing nothing. Meanwhile people all over the internet had pictures of big, handsome pitchers coming up.

S. flava, typical. Also a VFT photobomb.

The first growth I noticed was during a break in our 10 days or so of serious, constant rain, but I don't really think the rain is what woke them up. I think they were just adjusting to their new digs, sending out some new roots, and getting ready for the show. I was super relieved when I saw the growth starting up – it would have been embarrassing if I had made some catastrophic error and lost the plants.

S. leucophylla "Titan." This was the first of the four to wake up.

According to the grower, these are divisions from nice mature plants, 8 to 10 years old. I can't wait to see what the full flush of summertime pitchers looks like. In the mean time I'm enjoying seeing the funny little proto-pitchers push up noticeably every day.

My S. purpurea, which I bought from the Cactus Jungle, doesn't go dormant to quite the same degree as other species. It's been pitchering pretty regularly for the last month and a half or so, and continues growing nicely. There are also ants and gnats in the pitchers. Good job little guy!

S. purpurea. This plant is growing very vigorously, with loads of new pitchers in just a few weeks.