N.C.Botanic Garden/Green Swamp

Ruth A. Salomon (RS6111A@american.edu)
Fri, 06 May 94 21:13:28 EDT

Hello All. Just got back from visiting the folks in SC and stopped in
NC to see the local CP. Went to the NC Botanical Gardens, which was
really quite nice. They had some gorgeous S. oreo. doing well beside
all the other Sarracen ia. I know some people have a tough time with
this species. Also, in the greenhouse, they had a beautiful S. minor
Oke Giant-one of the largest I've seen. There was also a large S.
jonesii, antho-free that was a quite extra- ordinary specimen. Lastly,
there was a plant labeled S. sp. with almost white flowers. The
pitchers weren't opened yet, but I would bet it has some. alata.

I also had the good fortune of being able to visit the Green Swamp
briefly. I explored an area around Supply near an old borrow pit that
was supposed to have several species. All I noted were S.flava and D.
capillaris. If there were any VFTs there, as my book suggested, they
were long gone(Maybe Carolina Biolog ical Supply got to them:( .

Anyhow, to end on a question... Since burning occurs in so many CP habitats
and seems beneficial, some have suggested the benefit is derived from elimin-
ation of competitors while others claim the ash is leached into the soil making
it more acidic and providing some nutrition. Has anyone experimented with
using ashes to augment your compost for VFTs/Sarracenia??
-alex
(Alexander E. Salomon)