Page 5d.
2008 and "Year in the life part 2." - concluded.
Spring 2009.

its SPRING again!
The "year in the life" has come full circle!

(well..as I said a year ago..its Spring for my plants, but definately not Spring for me!
it is 8 degrees F (negative 13 C) outside as I type this on March 3rd..there is still a good month of winter yet to go)

But the plants are ready to come out!
I took them out on February 22 this year..a week later than usual, but only because I was too busy the weekend before..actually, I have been considering just keeping them in the stairwell until April! but im still not sure how that would work..and since the plants have had plently long enough dormancy already (3.5 to 4 months by late February) its fine them for them to come out now..

Another sucessful winter's sleep!
everything appears alive!
they sit in front of the sliding glass doors until they go back outside for the season (usually mid-April)











In the fall, as I was cutting off all the pitchers, I marked a few Sarracenia for re-planting in the spring..I had several smaller plants that were crowded in among much larger plants, and the larger plants were shading them too much,  so im going to dig them out and plant the smaller plants into their own container, creating a 4th large mini-bog. They are all smallish "mixed hybrids"..As soon as we get a warm enough day, I will drag the bogs out onto the deck and do the repotting. I want at least a 40 degree day (+4C) to do that! there are no 40 degree days coming anytime soon.




These 4 smaller pots are the S. minor clump, a pot of D. filliformis, the D. binata clump (which STILL needs repotting! I didnt do it last year!)  :-(
but this spring Im going to cut it in half and create two D. binata pots.
and the 4th small pot is a S. flava 'veinless' that is going to get repotted into to the new  sarracenia bog.

So thats all for now!
I will update the re-planting whenever I get to it..hopefully in a week or two..I would like to do it before all the plants start serious new growth.

then that will probably be the end of "year in the life 2008"!
a full year documented.

Here is a new page I just added..a look at the yearly temps:

 

(click on the chart)

Update!
March 14, 2009
Time for a repotting..its overdue.

Got some new peat moss:



Im going to take some sarrs out of the three large minibogs and make a 4th, smaller minibog,
which will contain the "misfits"! ;)
then the three big bogs will be mostly all one variety of Sarr..plus VFTs..

One bog will be Leah wilkerson and three S. 'excellens'
One bog will be all Judith Hindle.
One bog will be all Leucophylla.
and the forth, new bog will be a mix of sarrs..
and oh yeah, im also separating out the Sarracenia rubra ssp. alabamensis AL-02 and giving it its own pot.

The D. binata pot REALLY needs to be repotted! :(



im going to cut the mass in half, seperate the two halves, and re-plant both in a larger pot,
to make more room to grow.

the binata pot after repotting:



And the new minibog:



containing random sarrs taken out of the larger bogs.

Update!
April 24, 2009.

The plants have been outside more this March & April than usual..
because its been unusually warm this spring!
so I have been leaving them out if its warm enough, bringing them into the garage if nightime lows fall below freezing..
This is good because they get good light, but the cold temps (35-45-55 degrees F for a month or so) means they have been growing
very slowly, compared to past years when they are indoors and warm in early spring..
but thats fine! I would prefer they are outdoors in bright sun with cool temps,
rather than indoors with inadequate light but warm temps..

Here are some pics for late April:





I had to put the ugly chicken wire back on. :(
the mother robins are unstoppable..they love the spagnum moss for nesting material.
I think the wire mesh is going to be a fact of life for me..
the CD's help, but not 100%.









the S. minor clump is sending up a lot of flower stalks!



the repotted D. binata clump:

May 29, 2009

We have come full-circle with the "Year in the life"..February 2008 to February 2009, and a few months beyond..
Its now May, and everything is flowering and slowly coming back to life..



its interesting to note how far behind the growth is this year, compared to last year
and other past years, because the plants were outdoors in the cool March/April air this year..
but as I said, I don't mind! its all good.

I waited awhile to make this last post because I wanted some good pics to end the series with! ;)
the plants generally look pretty boring in the early spring, so I waited for some nice photo potential to develop..
Here you go, the Sarracenia minor clump in bloom!









and thats everything for "Year in the life 2008-2009"..
thanks for watching!
hope it was useful and interesting..

thanks,
Scot

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