Checking in on various plants

I decided today to trim off the flower stalks from my Drosera x tokaiensis. This is a sterile man-made hybrid, which blooms like crazy but for no real purpose. The stalks were sort of getting in my way, so I finally trimmed them all down.

Many felled stalks of Drosera x tokaiensis.

A dewy, very robust little plant.

With the mess of flower stalks out of the way I'm better able to see the Drosera ultramafica x spatulata that lives behind the D. x tokaiensis.

This guy has really settled in in the last month and is just looking great.

It's a stunningly red plant, and I started some leaf cuttings of some of its more wilted leaves shortly after receiving it. They sat around for a while, but having been recently fed they're starting to take off.

I'm very happy with these 3 cute little plantlets.

The one in the middle is starting to get its mature shape.

Outside in my Sarracenia I noticed a bit of volunteer Sphagnum.

This was quite a welcome surprise! Hopefully this Sphagnum keeps on keepin' on.

It's growing at the base of my Sarracenia leucophylla, fairly sheltered by the dense pitcher growth. Hopefully it'll spread and prove adaptable to my climate. That would be great.

Inside, there's a flower stalk forming on my Drosera capensis red form.

The fuzzy little stalk is so funny looking.

It's interesting how fuzzy the flower stalk is at first – this form is much less hairy than other forms of D. capensis, and its mature flower stalks have very little hair at all.

One of my Drosera filiformis Florida Red plants seems to have gone entirely dormant.

Sleep well little dude.

I've talked with several people now who have said that D. filiformis seems to go dormant somewhat at random. Apparently all the Drosera x hybrida (which is D. filiformis x Drosera intermedia) up at California Carnivores went dormant a couple weeks ago, in the middle of summer. As you can see, the dormant plant's bunkmate is actually looking better than ever lately. Who knows. Plants are weird.

A couple of plants in my second growing area (on the steel racks) are showing signs of heat stress, including this Drosera intermedia 'Cuba'.

Looks a bit wilty in the heat.

I really started noticing this after installing the propagation area below, which has definitely boosted the ambient temperature around my tray. I think better airflow would make a real difference in heat buildup – the air in my living room can be quite still with the windows closed. Still, it's only a couple of D. intermedia plants and my Drosera prolifera that have shown clear signs of stress, so maybe it won't be too big of a deal, especially since cooler weather is definitely on its way.

And also, there are plenty of plants who don't seem to mind the temperatures at all.

These pygmies are so great!

Just look at those pygmies! Drosera helodes on the left and Drosera allantotigma (my favorite) on the right. Dewy and beautiful.

So that's what's up lately.