Which do you prefer, lighter and multicolor stripes, or dark and chocolate-red?
Both are sibling Nepenthes (veitchii x burbidgeae) x stenophylla I got as freebies a while back, that just got a much-needed pot upgrade.
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Comparison of pitchers on Nepenthes ventricosa x sibuyanensis clone B, and A. While the differences have become more slight for some reason, clone B tends to produce more hourglass pitchers and darker peristomes (once fully aged) contrasting a lighter body while A has more fat cylindrical traps and red color. Both have vined immensely before but still can’t quite seem to convince them to bloom…
Clone A is currently still available in the Shop, though as soon as they’re repotted both are likely to have vines chopped and propagated as they have multiples
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New video out!
This week's mid-week plant spotlight is...the King of Pitchers! Nepenthes rajah holds a special place among carnivorous plant circles, and for good reason: gigantic, enigmatic to grow, and spectacular to look at.
Find the video here: https://youtu.be/WElgaDAxGto

#nepenthes #nepenthesrajah #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #carnivorousplants #species #strangeplants #educational #rareplants #conservation #plants #botany #horticulture #botanical #gardening #carltoncarnivores

New video out!
The mid-week extra plant highlight is here, with a new tropical pitcher...not species, but natural hybrid, Nepenthes x trusmadiensis! While mine is small I've luckily gotten to take some shots of larger ones at @jeremiahsplants place so those are used to help highlight just how weird this thing is when it's fully grown.
Find the video here: https://youtu.be/SBn7ElqUOnM

#nepenthes #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #carnivorousplants #strangeplants #educational #rareplants #nature #plants #botany #horticulture #gardening #carltoncarnivores

New plant spotlight video up on YouTube!
The first of a complex of plants that I hope to eventually get more of, but arguably one of the most spectacular: Nepenthes ulukaliana! A chubby, strangely hairy plant from Malaysia, it's a slow and steady grower that can eventually become quite a showstopper!
Find the video here: https://youtu.be/SF7jrtt5gi0

#nepenthes #nepenthesulukaliana #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #carnivorousplants #educational #strangeplants #rareplants #botany #plants #horticulture #gardening #nature #carltoncarnivores

Finally, it has arrived: a full upper pitcher on this seed-grown Nepenthes platychila! I imagine further uppers will continue to get better, but the main traits are here. Broad funnel shape, almost no wings, wide flat very stripey peristome that will darken considerably (see last pic of the prior pitcher).
The transition from lower to uppers in this species is quite dramatic, as lowers have very prominent spikes wings and are very thin, nearly cylindric. The peristome is stripey, smooth, and somewhat flattened out, but it is nowhere near as broad and flamboyant. The commonality of hybrids with close relatives (likely zakriana or dactylifera) even in the wild means pure examples that display this unfolded, very broad lip are harder to come by, but luckily looks like there’s at least one more (and as it also has a basal shoot already, fingers crossed it blooms soon and propagation may begin).
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Honestly this cross hardly needs intro anymore. Nepenthes rajah x robcantleyi is a bombshell cross between dark giants and, if it keeps at the rate it’s going presently, almost certainly will have some of the largest traps in the collection when it matures. It just got a soil rinse and add-in, so will probably sulk a couple weeks, but as hardy and relatively fast growing as it is I imagine it’ll bounce back before March.
Leaves are just as broad as you would expect, and pitchers are a clear and perfect intermediate between the two. It’s only a little more than a foot across presently, and should more than quadruple that by the time it’s an adult. Pitchers, similarly, I expect will more than quadruple volume, and the peristome just keeps getting wider.
#nepenthes #carnivorousplants #pitcherplant #plants #botany #tropicalpitcherplant #strangeplants #horticulture #gardening

New vs. old, Nepenthes hamata x burbidgeae.
Yeah, this cross has grown on me. Despite it more or less losing all of burbidgeae’s extreme color and chunkiness, and just about all of hamata’s teeth, the end result is somehow still very attractive, like a more heavily patterned tentaculata. And despite the soft texture of hamata being fairly obvious in the traps, they last FOREVER. The oldest fully alive one I think right now developed at least 6 months ago.

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Lower or upper, what’s your preference?
Nepenthes x briggsiana was once a rare and highly sought after hybrid, and for good reason: it’s colorful, it’s vigorous, the wild pitchers are reminiscent heavily of its lowii parentage without the lowii slowness or cold condition requirement. Some clones out there still are, like ‘Peter D’Amato’, “Hortus Botanicus,” or ‘The Succubus’ that are only propagated via cuttings and have very distinctive appearances. But with the tissue culture introduction of this “red” clone into mass market, weird and wild now is relatively accessible and affordable to most. And what a beginner plant it is, capable of holding onto a half dozen good traps at a time, for months at a time, impressive but not so massive that it requires a huge space to keep it, and should you get a main vine and a basal going at the same time…you can see both trap types simultaneously. I love the much deeper color and more pronounced hairs of the lowers, but the shape of the uppers is hard to beat.

#nepenthes #nepenthesbriggsiana #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #hybrid #carnivorousplants #red #strangeplants #tropical #plants #botany #exotic #indoorplants #horticulture #botanical #gardening #carltoncarnivores

Late night shot of Nepenthes chang, a species that still is not common in cultivation (despite as far as I can tell being fairly easy…if a bit slower to climb or flower without supports). It stands out on the “Indochinese” shelf with its red leaves too.

#nepenthes #nepentheschang #tropicalpitcherplant #carnivorousplants #nature #strangeplants #botany #rareplants #plants #horticulture #botanical #gardening