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

New video out!
This mid-week extra vid is on Nepenthes graciliflora, a species with a troublesome taxonomic history and which is still bogged down in the middle of the horticultural mess that the taxonomy created. It's a variable and easy beginner species to grow though, and attractive once established.
Find the video here: https://youtu.be/uEg3yLhfcSY

#nepenthes #nepenthesgraciliflora #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #carnivorousplants #educational #strangeplants #tropical #plants #botany #horticulture #gardening #botanical #nature #carltoncarnivores

My Nepenthes 'Aichi' has decided it's time to bloom again! Nepenthes flowers appear on long spikes and while they're not as showy as the pitchers, they're fascinating in their own right. The small flowers are typically dioecious, meaning male and female flowers grow on separate plants. Flowering can be quite energy-intensive for the plant, but it's always exciting to see this natural process unfold. A sign of a happy, thriving plant! 🌿

Mijn Nepenthes 'Aichi' heeft beslist dat het weer tijd is om te bloeien! Nepenthes bloemen verschijnen op lange bloemstengels en hoewel ze niet zo opvallend zijn als de bekers, zijn ze op zich fascinerend. De kleine bloemen zijn typisch tweehuizig, wat betekent dat mannelijke en vrouwelijke bloemen op aparte planten groeien. Bloeien kan behoorlijk energie-intensief zijn voor de plant, maar het is altijd spannend om dit natuurlijke proces te zien ontvouwen. Een teken van een gelukkige, gezonde plant! 🌿

#Nepenthes
#NepenthesAichi
#PitcherPlant
#TropicalPitcherPlant
#CarnivorousPlants
#VleesetendePlanten
#Insecteneters
#bloei
#bloom
#PlantCollection
#plantenverzameling
#natuur
#nature
#tuin
#garden
#DorgaldirsGarden
#Dorgaldirs_Garden

My Nepenthes (maxima x northiana) is showing off with this stunning pitcher! This hybrid combines the best traits of both parent species - the robust size and bold striping from N. maxima, and the intense red coloration from N. northiana. The dramatic vertical stripes and deep burgundy peristome make each pitcher a work of art. These hybrids are particularly vigorous growers and produce consistently beautiful pitchers. Always impressive to see the intricate patterns nature creates! 🌿

Mijn Nepenthes (maxima x northiana) pronkt met deze prachtige beker! Deze hybride combineert de beste eigenschappen van beide oudersoorten - de robuuste grootte en opvallende strepen van N. maxima, en de intense rode kleuring van N. northiana. De dramatische verticale strepen en dieprode peristoom maken elke beker tot een kunstwerk. Deze hybriden zijn bijzonder sterke groeiers en produceren consistent mooie bekers. Altijd indrukwekkend om de ingewikkelde patronen te zien die de natuur creëert! 🌿

#Nepenthes
#NepenthesMaxima
#NepenthesNorthiana
#PitcherPlant
#TropicalPitcherPlant
#CarnivorousPlants
#VleesetendePlanten
#Insecteneters
#NepenthesHybrid
#PlantCollection
#plantenverzameling
#natuur
#nature
#tuin
#garden
#DorgaldirsGarden
#Dorgaldirs_Garden

Nepenthes hamata x attenboroughii.
I don’t think much more really needs saying; this small plant already looks amazing both newly opened and aged to black, and is almost certainly going to become a toothy giant in a few years. Definitely likes cooler weather tho, it’s gaining size only after fall has moved in.

#nepenthes #nepenthesattenboroughii #nepentheshamata #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #hybrid #carnivorousplants #plantswithteeth #strangeplants #colorful #rareplants #tropical #plants #botany #plantsmakepeoplehappy #horticulture #botanical #gardening #carltoncarnivores

My Nepenthes hookeriana is producing beautiful new pitchers again! Still a young plant, so the pitchers are relatively small, but already showing the characteristic red-brown speckled pattern this Bornean species is known for. The elegant shape and striking coloration are clearly visible even at this size. Native to the highland forests of Borneo, this species thrives in cooler conditions compared to many other tropical pitcher plants. Excited to watch this one grow and produce even larger pitchers in the future! 🌿

Mijn Nepenthes hookeriana maakt weer prachtige nieuwe bekers! Nog een jonge plant, dus de bekers zijn relatief klein, maar tonen al duidelijk het karakteristieke roodbruine gespikkelde patroon waar deze soort uit Borneo om bekend staat. De elegante vorm en opvallende kleur zijn al goed zichtbaar, zelfs op deze grootte. Afkomstig uit de hooglandbossen van Borneo gedijt deze soort in koelere omstandigheden in vergelijking met veel andere tropische bekerplanten. Benieuwd om deze plant te zien groeien en in de toekomst nog grotere bekers te produceren! 🌿

#Nepenthes
#NepenthesHookeriana
#PitcherPlant
#TropicalPitcherPlant
#CarnivorousPlants
#VleesetendePlanten
#Insecteneters
#Borneo
#HighlandNepenthes
#PlantCollection
#plantenverzameling
#natuur
#nature
#tuin
#garden
#DorgaldirsGarden
#Dorgaldirs_Garden

New video!
A mid-week extra plant spotlight, highlighting a strange little (or not so little) outlier Nepenthes, N. vieillardii!
Find the vid here: https://youtu.be/LjoDWauw18w

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

Nepenthes “Gentle- mixta type.”
So many issues behind the name and parentage of this plant. “Gentle” is an unofficial grex that was originally distributed as fusca x maxima…before fusca was even rediscovered and brought into cultivation. So the real parent is probably zakriana, maybe dactylifera but I’d bet the former. And, the original Gentle are fairly dark plants with obvious maxima parentage…but then this guy comes into the mix. It’s definitely still got the slender neck and oblong leaves of zakriana as one parent, but otherwise its coloration and indumentum scream x mixta, with northiana dominating the genes. Thus, my conclusion that this might have been made or at least named at the same time as the true “Gentle” grex, but it was made as a zakriana x mixta hybrid instead.
Whatever it is though, its slender build, very tall neck, and bright crimson colors make it stand out, and it’s a pretty fertile male whose offspring also tend to inherit that comically elongated mouth and crimson hues.

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

Nepenthes 'Rebecca Soper' produces two distinctly different pitcher types: lower pitchers close to the ground and upper pitchers on climbing stems. The lower pitchers are more robust with wider peristomes and display a much deeper red coloration, designed to catch crawling insects. Upper pitchers are often more elongated, lighter in color, and adapted for catching flying prey like flies and wasps. Both pitcher types have their own specialized hunting strategy! 🪰

Nepenthes 'Rebecca Soper' maakt twee duidelijk verschillende bekervormen: lage bekers dicht bij de grond en hoge bekers aan klimmende stengels. De lage bekers zijn robuuster met bredere randen en tonen een veel donkerder rode kleur, ontworpen om kruipende insecten te vangen. Hoge bekers zijn vaak meer langwerpig, lichter van kleur en aangepast om vliegende prooien zoals vliegen en wespen te vangen. Beide bekertypen hebben hun eigen gespecialiseerde jachtstrategie! 🪰

#Nepenthes
#NepenthesRebeccaSoper
#PitcherPlant
#TropicalPitcherPlant
#CarnivorousPlants
#VleesetendePlanten
#Insecteneters
#PlantCollection
#plantenverzameling
#natuur
#nature
#tuin
#garden
#DorgaldirsGarden
#Dorgaldirs_Garden

Definitely a cross you’re more likely to become enamored with in person, and o e that’s grown on me a lot: Nepenthes hamata x platychila. Lower pitchers are spectacular, flat out, but the uppers here took a while to get me to love them. They do combine parental traits really well though, and I think they have huge hybrid potential (already working on a couple that look like they’ve taken too; it’s a male, and I have a couple pollen packs left). You could go for enhancing the teeth but getting broader flare with it, or enhancing the peristome flare but keeping a little texture (spathulata x jacquelineae currently testing for that). Or, do neither and go for pitcher pattern as I did by putting it on my deep purple boschiana…

#nepenthes #nepentheshamata #nepenthesplatychila #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #hybrid #carnivorousplants #strangeplants #tropical #rareplants #exotic #plants #botany #horticulture #botanical #gardening #carltoncarnivores

Nepenthes maxima ‘Lake Poso’ x “Rebecca Soper.”
In general I usually tell people that Nepenthes are not miniature plants, and the few exceptions are usually a pain in the butt to grow (cough cough campanulata cough). However at least among hybrids, there are some true exceptions. This is one of them, for which the vines on the biggest never got much more than 2 feet before either dying back in favor of basals or I just decided to trim them because they took forever to get that long. The rosettes also remain usually under 16 inches in diameter, and though the pitchers here (clones A, B, and C respectively with D not shown) are very small, under strong light they actually gain decent dimensions at up to 5 inches in height. They may overall not be very colorful, but they are shapely, sticky and cylindric with sharply crimped peristome rims.
Thanks to their smaller size, hybrid nature that lends to them being highly adaptable to various humidity and temperature levels, and usually pitcher-heavy habits, once these settle after their repotting and get propagated again they will be among the first things I would recommend to beginners.

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

Much-needed pot upgrade for Nepenthes (maxima “miniature” x “Miranda”) x clipeata, HC D. This is currently my favorite of the four clones I kept, because of its ridiculously slender traps and very pale, sparsely mottled exterior contrasting with a fairly starkly striped peristome and mottled interior. Jury’s still out on whether these will remain small like their miniaturized parent seems to trend toward in its offspring, or if the clipeata influence will overtake and make giant oblong leaves. So far even the biggest one though remains under a foot across, if only just.

#nepenthes #nepenthesclipeata #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #seedgrown #carnivorousplants #hybrid #strangeplants #tropical #rareplants #exotic #plants #botany #indoorplants #savagegarden #plantsathome #horticulture #botanical #gardening #carltoncarnivores

Getting a much-needed repot, Nepenthes x splendiana x mixta clone D.
This cross resulted in some extremely divergent plants, with one mimicking Ruby Alice (if you’re familiar with that Leilani plant you know…), another of similar color but a stockier hunchbacked profile, one extremely slender and pastel-hued individual, and then this plant which looks mostly like x mixta with strong northiana traits shining through, except also distinctly not just that parent showing traits in it. It produces some of the broadest, toughest leaves in the grex too, but has been rootbound and shaded for so long that it’s never gotten to really take off. Hopefully that changes now, and I can get it to vine and bloom before cutting one of the two rosette tips it’s got.

#nepenthes #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #hybrid #carnivorousplants #seedgrown #strangeplants #colorful #rareplants #tropical #plants #exotic #indoorplants #plantphotography #botany #plantsathome #horticulture #botanical #gardening #carltoncarnivores

Embron helping get an unwieldy mess cleaned up: Nepenthes ventricosa x tiveyi HC A
This is probably the flashiest of the four clones with lower pitchers having rich candy red mottling and stripes against dark goldenrod background, and the uppers are paler but still sport heavy striping, broad flaring mouths and sharp crenellation of the peristome. Even better: it’s one of the two clones I’ve gotten flowering so far and it’s a fertile female.
While the coyote was having trouble working around the 7 foot main vine, we can’t cut it quite yet, because it’s got a flower coming in that we’re hoping doesn’t abort after repotting. I’ve only managed a couple seedlings from the last time I crossed it with anything and would like to pair it with more.

#nepenthes #nepenthestiveyi #nepentheventricosa #tropicalpitcherplant #furry #pitcherplant #carnivorousplants #hybrid #strangeplants #botany #plants #horticulture #botanical #gardening #carltoncarnivores

New arrival!
Probably the most common clone of Nepenthes sanguinea in cultivation right now is the “orange” one, a sturdy and very easy grower however not very reflective of the species name. This one however (BE-4066), is; “sanguinea” more or less translates to “blood colored” in reference to how some of the most common and standout plants in the wild are deep, rich red to purplish. In some cases very dark colors are due to introgression particularly with ramispina, though those plants tend to show other traits from that species too (narrower angular pitchers with more pronounced hips, mottling in the background and bright green peristomes, etc.), but these more saturated reds and purples are pure sanguinea. This is a very small plant right now though the pitcher ratio it’s arrived with is impressive, but eventually it could get to making foot-tall traps.

#nepenthes #nepenthessanguinea #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #carnivorousplants #species #malaysia #strangeplants #tropical #plants #botany #indoorplants #indoorjungle #horticulture #savagegarden #botanical #plantsathome #gardening #bloomscrolling #carltoncarnivores

New pitcher on Nepenthes hirsuta Gunung Serapi; the color on this is quite spectacular for as simple as this species often looks.
There is talk that the particular batch this plant came from may have some hybrid influence with veitchii, since the pitchers are a touch more broad at the top and have a little more peristome flare than usual…however that can also fall within the range of hirsuta variation and the speckly mottled dark pitcher color here is not a veitchii trait either. Whether fully pure or introgressed though it’s a beautiful and not commonly grown plant…and the color is quite similar to my purple hispida too. It’s in need of an upgrade in pot size though as it dries out fast and is getting overshadowed by veitchii and a couple hybrids next to it…

#nepenthes #nepentheshirsuta #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #species #strangeplants #red #rareplants #tropical #plants #indoorplants #botany #plantsathome #horticulture #botanical #gardening #carltoncarnivores

The largest Nepenthes sibuyanensis pitcher so far. The whole plant isn’t particularly big still (its habit of drooping over the bench means it keeps making basals that it shunts growth into after a while) but for current size the pitcher is decent. I’m hoping the next repot and setup of some climbing supports for various plants will help keep it more upright, so that the one stem gets focus and pitchers fatten further.
It’s easy to see why this species is so popular in hybrids though, because just the sheer jug-ness of the traps makes for giant trap potential when heterosis kicks in. Hence why that sib x merrilliana managed to make headlines recently.

#nepenthes #nepenthesmerrilliana #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplants #philippines #carnivorousplants #nature #strangeplants #tropical #rareplants #exotic #plants #botany #plantsathome #horticulture #botanical #gardening #carltoncarnivores

One of the first photo-worthy things I found during the brief check of the greenhouses on my return from a trip: a near-upper finally on my seed-grown CK Nepenthes platychila!
I say near-upper because those remnant wings say it’s not quite done going into full vine stage, but with that being the case that means the pure uppers should be spectacular because the peristome here is already significantly wider than on the lowers. This highly sought-after species is such for good reason, with the perfectly funnel-shaped uppers sporting great mottled pattern and broad, almost perfectly smooth, and gorgeously striped peristomes that are often inherited to some extent in hybrids as well (and enhance the look of other species with broad lips, like veitchii or jacquelineae). In cultivation as in the wilds of north-central Borneo where it lives, it commonly hybridizes with close relatives like zakriana, so often plants aren’t entirely pure. But the broader the peristome, the more likely it is to be true platy.

#nepenthes #nepenthesplatychila #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplants #species #carnivorousplants #borneo #strangeplants #tropical #rareplants #exotic #plants #botany #plantsathome #bloomscrolling #horticulture #botanical #gardening #carltoncarnivores

A strange but attractive habit of this hybrid, or at least this clone (haven’t seen uppers on the others yet…). No, this isn’t variegated, not truly; rather, Nepenthes ventricosa “K” EP x alba AW clone A just makes pitchers like this. Lowers are deep purple throughout, leaves are also deep green with red flushing, but when the uppers arrive they become much lighter and speckled, with peristomes that look like they should be solid red but instead sport broad bands of cherry and pink.
I’m hoping this plant flowers again before I have to cut it back when repotting, because it’s not only a known female…but also impressively fertile especially considering the seeds it makes are tiny little things. Several hybrids were made with it and all of them sport dark colors even at their current small size.

#nepenthes #nepenthesalba #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #seedgrown #carnivorousplants #hybrid #strangeplants #tropical #rareplants #exotic #plants #botany #plantsathome #horticulture #botanical #gardening #carltoncarnivores

While I’m crashing from being sick, the mascot seems to be doing just fine, so we let him take over this showcase again. Embron is showing off the sole survivor here of a cross made many years ago, Nepenthes x splendiana x vogelii. N. vogelii tends to have extremely dominant influence in its crosses and this one is no exception, sporting the very slim build, extreme high contrast mottling, and at least when newly opened fairly strong peristome striping that the species is known for. Over time, the peristome darkens to solid deep cherry. Upper pitchers are not much different from the lowers, still slim and mottled though generally a bit paler and a little more expansion just under the mouth.
We’ve never seen flowers on this plant yet, but I hope the repot it just got might trigger that big main growth point to vine and bloom.

#nepenthes #nepenthesvogelii #tropicalpitcherplant #pitcherplant #hybrid #carnivorousplants #seedgrown #strangeplants #furry #rareplants #botany #plants #tropical #indoorplants #horticulture #plantsathome #botanical #gardening #carltoncarnivores