TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
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Is it your first exposure to the genus Aristolochia? There are a lot of really amazing species, grandiflora, gigantea, peruviana... ebay is a good source but mainly in spring/summer.
Aristos are perennial tropical vines who grow in moist well drained soil (1/2 peat 1/2 shredded cypress mulch) and love to rapidly climb and twine and generally grow everywhere. Once established they bloom pretty continuous during warm weather. In winter you have to chop them back and bring them inside cos they won't survive the cold. Their sort-of Nepenthes shaped flowers (some up to 12" in size on the big species) trap insects overnight to effect pollination then they are released in the morning unharmed but coated in pollen. Orchids LTD in MN has a gigantic A. grandiflora growing throughout the retail greenhouse which is so old it's become covered in bark. It puts out large Nepenthes shaped flowers with a dinner plate sized floppy speckled bag on the front of it. A real looker!
Oh yes. A tropical greenhouse here has a Aristolochia gigantea. It's a very big plant. And those flowers are amazing. They looked like big stomachs. Very exotic.
Aristos are perennial tropical vines who grow in moist well drained soil (1/2 peat 1/2 shredded cypress mulch) and love to rapidly climb and twine and generally grow everywhere. Once established they bloom pretty continuous during warm weather. In winter you have to chop them back and bring them inside cos they won't survive the cold.
FYI, there are also a number of temperate species in the group. I grow one off of my deck & up / over our pergola as a foodplant for the Pipevine Swallowtail. The temperate species tend to have small blooms that are present for a short time - not large & showy as the tropicals.
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