AndyP

Hi, I notice that the CPS website meetings page has this down as being from Noon to 5pm. Can someone just confirm whether the correct start time is Noon or 1pm (I think it is usually 1pm, but just want to check)? Cheers, Andy.

Haha! Yes - either attached to my face or held above my head in an attempt to get a better impression of the scale of things! Maybe I should've taken a stepladder...! Hi snowwy - Yes, the variation in colours was quite interesting, and it would probably take a long time to go through the entire collection to pick out suitable new parent material, but I suspect that Frank has his eye on a number of plants! Cheers, Andy.

As one of those there "with cameras", here are a few photos (and I do only mean a few, since I managed to take over 300 without really noticing...!) I could probably have taken another 300 and still missed loads! I have a few views of the overall set-up to try and give an impression of the size of the place, along with some of the individual plants that caught my eye as I wandered about. It is quite difficult, however, to give a good idea of the sheer scale of things there, but hopefully these will help...! Cheers, Andy.

Hi folks, Just a quick post with a few photos from the UK CPS AGM at Reading last Saturday for those of you that didn't make it to the greenhouse. Andy.

Hi Danny, Yes - it's the first time that it has flowered. I bought it at the UK CPS AGM in 2006 from Sarracenia Nurseries: you'd have to ask them about the exact medium, as it's been in the same pot since I bought it, although it is mainly peat-based. I moved it from a longer tray containing a few other Utrics to its own tray to make photographing the flowers easier, and there were quite a lot of traps underneath the pot. I haven't disturbed the soil to see how pot-bound it might be though. It took getting on for 2 months or more for the stalk to emerge and eventually produce flowers, but I doubt it will be able to compete with Mr d'Amato's! The plant has always sat in water (max. depth in the tray is around 1cm to 1.5cm, I would say). I never really checked on its "preferred" conditions, so just assumed that it needed to be in water to trap prey! Probably just as well it doesn't seem to mind, or it'd likely be dead by now! Cheers, Andy.

Thanks, Yes, the flowers are quite showy, aren't they? Pity that they're fading fast now though... Andy.

Hi, It's been a while since I last posted anything, but I've eventually got around to sorting out a few photos to upload... The flower stalk started to appear at the beginning of August, which surprised me a bit as it seems a little late in the season, and I have read that it can be difficult to get to flower. Anyway, I don't give it any special treatment - it just sits in about 1cm of water year round in my frost-free greenhouse, but I guess it must be reasonably happy with the conditions, since it has produced this display. It has taken a couple of months to get to this stage, and the first flower is now fading. Andy.

Interesting... I took this the other week: It is also a D. eneabba B flower. I've also just seen another similar photo in a recent message - maybe they are evolving... Andy.

At the risk of going slightly further off-topic...Does anyone know how long these spiders have been around in the UK (the Wikipedia entry states that they originate in the tropics)? They appear to be the predominant type of spider in our house, but have only appeared over the last few years, as far as I can recall. Cheers, Andy.

If it germinates OK, then much of it may well be heading your way for the seedbank... Perhaps it will be better to wait until early Spring to try it though...in time for Chelsea, since it's basically common species. (sorry I haven't sent any seed in from this year yet - just been really busy at work recently...). Andy.

Hi Jure, Has the weather been confusing plants in Slovenia this year, or have you noticed this late flowering before? Where did you take the photo? Andy.

Hi, I've unearthed some old seed in the fridge recently (various Drosera/Pinguicula species dating back as far as 2001), and was wondering if it was worth seeing if any will grow after all this time. My dilemma is whether to sow it now, or leave it until next spring, when anything that does come up will have a bit more time to grow before winter. Any suggestions? Andy.

Hi Heather,Unfortunately I didn't make any notes of the names, although 1 or 2 are the same as those named by John. Maybe we should have a competition to see who can name the most... If I get there next year I will make more of an effort to record what I am actually photographing Andy.

Hi, I acquired a D. tubaestylis tuber at the CPS AGM in April & put it in a drawer. A month or so ago I added a drop of water to the little bit of sphagnum I had put in with it (as this seemed to have dried out), but now it appears to have started growing: I presume I have confused it by suddenly increasing the humidity, but I'm not sure what to do with it now :? Should I pot it up & let it start growing normally, even though it will effectively be growing at the wrong time of year (for where it is currently living), or can I leave it as it is in the drawer for the next few months & plant it at the 'proper' time for the northern hemisphere? Cheers, Andy.

OK...you asked for it... Unfortunately I was too intent on taking photos to actually make any notes of what I was photographing, so I'll leave it to the experts to fight over the identification of these plants... Andy.

Ah! I see now...I am trying to keep them away from that corner as I have a couple of Drosera rotundifolia there (although they have never really done that well here, for some reason). The pings tend to smother them given the chance...I guess you could say the pings were placed evenly(ish) when I repotted last year... Hi Mikei. I've had this sink for probably around 10 years, although I replanted them all last year as the soil needed replacing (which could also account for the neat rows, as I had to fit as many as possible in a small space!). It was the turn of the sink to look good this year - last spring I posted some photos taken around my pond, but this isn't looking so good this year. Ha! Ha! I was thinking the same thing...anybody want to swap some... Andy.

Oh you are fussy, aren't you? They're not all well disciplined though - notice that some have escaped over the 'fence'... To be honest, I can't quite see them as being in neat rows as such - I'll have to go out with a ruler to check... Andy.

Not sure if that should be the collective name for a load of P. grandiflora , but here's what my sink on the patio looked like a few weeks ago. Sadly the show is now over for another year...just waiting to see how much seed is generated now... Andy.

Hi Valentin, I hope you haven't left for your trip yet, as I have a little more info. for you: Firstly, the panoramas are likely to require panning back & forth in your browser, which I find annoying usually, but I didn't want to reduce them too much more in size... The guidebook I picked up while in the park ("The Plitvice Lakes" - natural history guide/photomonography), which includes a reasonably detailed map, indicates that "At the mouth, where the White and Black river join the Matica, on a peat bog grows sundew (Drosera rotundifolia)". I think I saw a different (newer) guidebook on the lakes more recently that didn't show the roads to the south of the area in the vicinity of these rivers (or to the west of Proscansko jezero...?), although my recollection could be wrong... The book also states: "There is one more, extremely rare carnivorous plant of our flora that grows in the Park area - it is...Urticularia (sic) minor." and: "There is in Croatia, another carnivorous plant of damp area that joins the listed species in the Park...Pinguicula vulgaris" It doesn't specify where the Utricularia or Pinguicula occur, unfortunately. I briefly investigated the area between Proscansko jezero (the most southern lake) and the village of Radlovac - the flood plain (?) of the Matica river. The photo below is taken here (I drove up the road heading north around the west side of the lake until reaching a road block, and then wandered around on foot from there, although I couldn't help thinking about land mines left after the war, even though they say they were all removed...maybe I was just being paranoid, but it stopped me looking too extensively for CPs!): The text states that there is a peat bog where the White (Bijela) and Black (Crna) rivers meet the Matica, and to the south of the road, around where another road heads off round to the east of Proscansko jezero, there was a wet area, but I seem to recall it being quite reedy, or containing willow-like scrub. I probably took photos of this with my film camera, but haven't had time to look for these, unfortunately. Also, to the north of the road heading through Radlovac (sorry, I can't recall whether it was to the east or west of the village), there was this area of open water & a stream (White river?). This could have potential for Utricularia, I guess: Finally, I drove west along the road running along the White river, and stopped a couple of times. This was taken along this river, and shows some marsh marigolds (?), which I've often seen in association with CPs in Slovenia, although I couldn't see any here... I hope you have better luck finding CPs around Plitvice than others here seem to have had! I will probably not check the forum again until the weekend, so good luck if you are leaving before then. Please let us know how you get on! Cheers, Andy.

Hi Valentin, Like Jure, I had a 'quick' look for CPs when there in 2002, and couldn't find any. I believe that they are supposed to be found at the southern end of the lakes which, when I was there, was still looking a in need of some rebuilding after the war. There are some meadows & marshy areas that could potentially have some plants. I have some photos of the general area which I can post, but unfortunately I am really busy at work at the moment, so it may have to wait for a week or so - when are you planning on going there? Andy.

There didn't seem to be many people taking photos there...in fact I don't recall anyone else doing so...perhaps they were actually studying the plants instead! As you say, there were some impressive plants there. I tend to be up quite late anyway, but it also took a while to sort through all the photos that I took to find some decent ones to post...plus I fell asleep for a while at my PC Andy.

Here are some of the plants from Alastair's greenhouse at Reading Uni., taken after the CPS AGM yesterday: Andy.

...and here are a few photos to prove it...though I didn't actually measure the height of these... Andy.

I'm having a bit more luck keeping this one alive after I managed to kill my first one last year... It's even put up a flower spike (a bit of a strange smell though, I think)... Andy.

I guess this could also go in the CP Photos forum, since I basically just wanted to show some images from my new camera...but I also have a question or 2, so I'll leave it here for now I was having a dig around in a few pots the other week (dangerous, I know!) to see where some of my tubers may be. This D erythrorhiza var. imbecilia looked like it was starting to break dormancy when I potted it up the other month, but it doesn't appear to have got any further since then: Its sister (?) tuber, photographed with my new digital SLR emerged a few weeks ago & now looks like this: Is this common in tuberous Drosera? Should I leave it in the water tray, hoping that it may just be a slow starter, or should I assume that it will not do anything this year & start to dry it out again as for normal dormancy? It doesn't look like it is going to rot away at the moment, but I guess that could be a risk. The other plant is a D. peltata var. peltata. This is emerging very slowly - I guess that could just be due to the cool temperatures we get in a British winter. Also taken with my new camera Cheers, Andy.