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All of the sites I've seen in Covington Co, AL are seepage slope bogs: water from uphill slowly percolates into an open field, and the area that stays consistently saturated is filled with Sarracenia. After visiting countless sites, one major observation was made: S. flava var. rugelii seems to be more tolerant of water-logged habitat in comparison to S. leucophylla. Perhaps the yellow trumpet pitcher plant has a different root system by which it can tolerate slightly lower levels of oxygen, but who knows. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule: anytime you have moving water, even if it's really mucky and boggy, S. lecuophylla can grow there. With all that in mind,the first photo below is an overview of a population of mainly S. flava var. rugelii. In the foreground, there's a dried up creek filled with tulip trees...it's too bad we didn't get to see them in bloom because those flowers are amazing! In the background, you can see a dense population of yellow trumpet pitcher plants. There's 2-3 main seeps that feed this bog: And as you can see, this site is dominated by S. flava var. rugelii: Homies in situ. I suppose on the other side of the pond, one would call them "mates" in situ: And here you can see how the plants grow from the water source. What you can't really tell from the photo is that almost every plant here is gigantic: Some huge lids: Same trap with my hand to sort-of show scale. My hand isn't as fat as it used to be, haha: This spot is really beautiful, although it was hard to find because it occurs in the middle of a forest that doesn't seem like it would be conducive of this habitat: A few beauties, although they were past their prime: S. leucophylla was also at this site, although they hadn't yet produced fall pitchers: And a S. x moorei just popped open: This one had an alien eye: WE found the very rare S. flava var. maxima here, and I'll post pics shortly once they're uploaded.

Rightfully so, there's a lot of hype behind S. flava x leuco crosses (S. x moorei), but there seems to be less interest and focus on alata x leucophylla crosses, which can be equally astonishing in my opinion. Hopefully, after seeing some of these photos, this might raise a few eyebrows out there and encourage growers to take a look at alata x leuco hybrids. Let me add a disclaimer: I've seen some absolutely UGLY alataxleuco hybrids in the wild! When breeding, think about using only your best clones to breed with. At the site we visited in Jackson Co, MS, there were pure S. alatas, S. psittacina, and S. alata x leucos, but no pure leucos. Some of these amazing hybrids were likely the result of complex hybridization. All photos below were taken 9/5/13: This is what I mean by amazing alata x leuco hybrids! Another shot: And in case that one wasn't too impressive, how about this one? Top view of the same clone: Now for some mostly pure alatas: Beautiful bronzy clone: Another shot: The variation was endless, and these fields seem to go on for many square miles. We only saw a little piece of it: