Megs

I grow hundreds of hardy cacti. Both of these you show can easily take a dry minus 10C or maybe even lower. That is inside the unheated greenhouse. Both could easily die from rot caused by too much rain

You are free to call your plants whatever valid published name they have. Naming are just reflecting different point of views.

Here is a picture of purpurea x courtii in case you are curious. picture from my garden. I could be interested in any of your seedlings later on.

I know that most people keep goldfish and kois in their ponds and then your adviceis correct steve. But in my ponds i keep small species of fish like tanichthys and they do thrive happy with the plants and low pH level.

You can check my post, its just made of pond liner. Soil I used the local sandy (Old heath land) combined with peat. You need full sun and some shelter from wind and then you go. But fix the hole:) http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=46566&hl= Martin

Its important to not know too much about what plants can or cannot tolerate when you want to be the one to find new plants to grow in a cold climate. Otherwise my garden wouldnt be filled with hardy plants from South Africa.... About excessive water, I have Lewisias and Delospermas germinating in the bog, even surviving a winter or two. In wet peat.

Thank you, gardening with carnivores is a good way to deal with the excessive amounts of rain we experience in our partof the world these days. The work with cold testing and selective breeding for both cold tolerance and variety has only just begun.

No realproblems with filiformis. Its the last drosera to reemerge in spring but it has started to spread by seeds in the bog and the old plants grow larger and i take that as a hint that its thriving. It cannot tolerate any shade at all and this year i dont think it willproduce any seeds as out summer has been really cold. Yes, there are somepine barkpieces in there, in fall i cover all plants not growing n moss with betula leafs as even a thin shelter prevents the plants from freeze drying. Martin

Thank you for the kind words. Often during summer, it rains a lot. I mean, too much. But after rain comes the sun and it all looks beautiful. Here a few pics from a day in August.

Some of the hybrids that grows outside:

I keep a thin layer of betula leafs on the plants for the winter as this prevents the rhizomes from freeze drying. The temperature itself is not the problem if you keep them wet. All these plants also have a water lever from five cm below the rhizomes to three cm above the rhizomes when it rains, both summer and winter.

S spv x catesbaei x orophila... Red oreophilas S flava from NC One of the bogs...

S alata x oreophila in bloom. S flava from Florida.... Medio June. Largest pichers today are 65 cm.

Spp and Lobelia cardinalis, both from Ontario S x catesbei medio June S x popei S courtii x Sp S alata x oreophila Spp from Ontario

Growing Sarracenias outside in Denmark with no extra summer heating requires a lot of patience and the right plants. Often they dont start to grow until medio May and this year it was end May. We have had the coldest June in 20 years so its first now end June, that they have started to have matured pitchers. In winter, in my area we saw temperatures on serverel occations down to minus 24C and for half an hour even minus 30C. On live on the edge of old heath land and simply use the garden soil for growing the plants in. In this first message I will show some of the plants, later on the bog and the kindergarden. Spp heterophylla S oreophila - 65 cm S flava maximia from Virginia Most likely S catesbaei x Spp - this specimen and the next is found in a naturalised population in Denmark.

I have plenty of narthecium ossifragum in my bog. If you have anything to trade with I can send you some. Martin

In my experience, nothing beats the color of plants grown outside... Martin

Mine are at 2-7C during winter. In summer around 18-25C at day and betwin 4-12C at night. Martin

There is no growth in mine yet, only a few flowerbuds among my SPP plants. They wont grow until May. We are not pass the last frost here yet. Only CPs growing now are the Pings and some of the sundews. Martin

Here in Denmark I grow all my Sarracenias outside, unprotected. One clone is taller than 60 cm. The rest barely reach 50 cm. Its not the most northern strains that grows the best. I think they have much better color outside than in the greenhouse but they never get as tall as in the greenhouse. Its fine by me. The bog as a whole still attracks both visitors and insects and has a pure wow effect :) And I dont have to fight winter fungus among by CPs. Martin

Ceadi, I have similar low temperatures here in Z6 Denmark and from your list I think you could grow catesbaei x purpurea, readii, mitchelliana outside if you have a warm corner of the garden. I also grow Darlingtonias outside despite they were below minus 24C last winter. I believe southern Finland is warmer than Denmark during the summer? I can send you some flava types and oreophilas that would also suit your conditions. Maybe also x popei. Martin

The key is to keep the rhizomes wet. When plants are growing in a deep layer of compact Sphagnum moss that covers the rhizomes there is usually less problems. An alternative is to cover them with betula leafs which also gives better survival. Snow is also an excellent material and even water is good. Most of my sarracenia are at some point covered with water above the rhizomes in winter. In fact mild winters can be more devastating for your plants as fungus can kill more than frost usually does. Martin

Hi Alex, you can sure keep them in the unheated greenhouse. The problem is not our low winter temps (though my garden faced minus 24C and below but thats not typical) its our cool summers, cool spring etc that are the problem. Many of the species you mention have a longer growth periode than our outside summer can provide them. But in the greenhouse its another matter. I grow some of the species you mention in hybrids which work well but I also only grow CPs outside unprotected and not in the greenhouse. Martin