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When is best time of year to start sarracenias

I have two pots of sarracenia purpurea coming at the end of this week. I can't put them in their final growing space until next spring. After talking to the seller, I'm planning on leaving them in their pots and letting them spend the winter dormancy in my refrigerator.

I want to try some more sarracenias that won't be hardy in my location. Since most are sold as bareroot plants, should I go ahead and buy them now and let them get a head start by having them grow in pots all winter WITHOUT a dormancy?

What is best? I've never bought cps bareroot before that need a dormant period.
 
Are you getting purpurea ssp. purpurea or ssp. venosa? Ssp. purpurea is fully hardy and can take anything you can through at it.

Do you have a porch or cold room you could give your plants a light dormancy this winter? Lack of light is more important than lack of warmth.
 
S.flava withstood a fairly cold Southern Ontario winter beautifully for me- you may not have to do as much work as you might think....
all you need is a foot deep or so of pine needles and you're golden- I am going to throw caution to the wind and leave ALL my sarrs outside this winter and see what I get- other than the S.flava everything I have are hybrid cultivars so I imagine they should all be safe
 
My first plants are s. purpurea (not the different forms).  I am interested in finding some hybrids with s. purpurea in it.  These plants MUST be in a container due to townehouse rules.  I KNOW they couldn't take overwintering in the flowerbox (about 5 feet off the ground) but I have had many perennials overwinter easily in the container.  I posted a picture of it earlier.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Do you have a porch or cold room you could give your plants a light dormancy this winter? Lack of light is more important than lack of warmth.

No, I live in a tiny one bedroom townehouse with no suitable porches or even a basement. I'm going to use my refrigerator crisper this winter for the venus flytraps and sarracenias.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]I have had many perennials overwinter easily in the container.

Sarras are tough and I would bet they'd survive there with a bit of mulching. Otherwise, usw the fridge but look out for fungus.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]My first plants are s. purpurea (not the different forms)
There are two main types of purpurea - ssp. purpurea has smaller hoods and is waxy to the touch. This plant can take extremely low temperatures happily.
 
I want to purchase additional sarracenias. How can I select them from the sale lists and be able to reasonably expect them to survive with plenty of mulching? I'm not sure what to look for?

Example: If it is one of the varieties of the purple pitcher plant, is it likely to survive Michigan winters?
 
Hi,
there is no such thing as a 'pure' S.purpurea, it will be either subspecies purpurea or subspecies venosa.
venosa is hardy and will survive climates where temperatures dont go down more then a few degrees centigrade(note that i said centigrade not fahrenheit), but I highly doubt that it will survive Michigan winters.
subspecies purpurea can take anything you put it through, cold is not the problem for it. It will also resist strong winds
 
what happens if you get seeds from the two plants. How would that be written? S. purpurea ssp. venosa x ssp purpurea?
 
mabuon, I would like to hear more of your successes with Southern Sarracenia in Ontario, as you know I'm near the Canadian border in Alexandria Bay, and would like to keep my plants outside year-round as well, knowing they would all survive.
 
  • #10
Tony - yes.
smile.gif
 
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