Blocky71

Is it like a slimy coating coating ?, if so I'd bet they were basil seeds.....

Nice one Jorge! , I will try something like that.....

They do look great mate, I love unpackaging new plants !, HCP did a good job of packaging by the looks of it !. Can I ask how the drosera was packaged ?, I have some spares I want to sell on but I can't think of a way to package them where they won't end up in a sticky clump.... If you get a fairly deep tray or window box type container then your plants shouldn't blow over unless there's some serious wind... I would stake the pitchers on your sarracenia though, it doesn't take a huge amount of wind to fold them over and ruin the look of the plant... The purp will be bomb proof but I'd try and shelter the vft from heavy down pours as the rain tends to trigger the traps wasting a lot of the plants energy over extended periods...... P.s I have several drosera that are all happily living outside, the ones I have under protection do tend to look a bit ' showier ' though...

You're a long way north mate, challenging conditions I can imagine.... Good luck with the wee bog garden !

Hi and welcome jorgeGF74 Great plants and photos, how do you get on with watering your plants in such a climate ?. I'm guessing rainwater isn't easy to collect for much of the year?!

Loads on the bay of e mate e.g 6 x 5.5cm pots of different named LITHOPS. Living Stone succulent. 30+ plants! https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F293042882943

I'm not sure if it was a repeat or what side it was on as I was supposedly " working" but there was a section on it today where they added some sarras, vft's and drosera to a garden they were renovating. The advice was pretty poor on their upkeep e.g bringing the vft's and drosera inside for the winter on a warm window ledge but still nice to see the plants getting a mention at least.... Whats happened to Charlie ?, she looks like she's just come out of hibernation too !

P.s Does a " blog " garden mean you'll have to post updates about it regularly on social media ?

Whistables a nice place, or at least it was, it's been a few years since I've been there! The majority of carnivorous plants can live outside all year round, most of mine do but if you can give them protection in particularly cold times then that's a bonus. Nepenthes and some of the more tropical sundews will need to be kept above freezing though.. The main issue with growing outdoors is the damage caused by nature, wind and heavy rain can see your prize pitchers snapped in half or all slumped along the ground. Look into some of the smaller / shorter growing sarras as they are more robust outside, chuck in a purpurea or two, couple of fly traps and drosera and a ping or two and you'll be away mate ! . Avoid dressing the top with moss though, pretty as it looks the birds will rob it for nesting and usually nick a plant or two at the same time ! Good luck with your project Kev chris

Hi Kev Welcome aboard, always nice to see a local grower. where in Kent are you?, I'm between Chatham and gillingham. cheers chris

I'm not sure what the issue is Rhys, maybe it's worth asking admin ? I grew some some vft's from seed early 2017, there was far less monitoring though on my part !. For the most part they're still doing ok but are still very small and beginning to get overgrown by moss. They seem to grow for me 'naturally' at about the same rate as cephalotus from seed . It's painfully slow for the first couple of years. . I know people have managed to double the growth rate by skipping dormancy in the first couple of years and growing under artificial lights etc. https://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/58837-a-winter-window-ledge-trial/&tab=comments#comment-391182

Hi Rhys unfortunately I can't open any of the attachments?, I've added a picture of the error I get , this is on my iPad? cheers blocky71

We have a slightly less dramatic approach here in the U.K. Kirkgaddy... Mozzies will lay their eggs in any standing water available so it's inevitable some will end up in the plants reservoirs, especially if kept outdoors. Leaving the trays to dry out for a day will pretty much kill anything residing in the water... Personally I remove the 'rafts' of eggs that can be seen floating on the surface and move them into a jam jar of rainwater to hatch. Once hatched they go into my fish tank as a much lovedtreat for my fish !