I took a trip this weekend up to California Carnivores near
Healdsburg, CA. It was located at a winery, so you can do
a little wine tasting there. In back of the winery, there is
a single large greenhouse with a high ceiling. The frame is made
out of wood with decaying white paint and the covering is standard
frosted filon corrugated fiberglass.
Inside, they have an impressive CP collection. One person there
claimed it was the largest CP collection in the world...but I took
the statement with a grain of salt.
They have a large selection of Sarracenias, some very tall with white
tips on the opening of the trumpets. They had a bunch of pings,
a lot of drosera, some VFTs, Darlingtonia and...my favorite...a terrific
collection of Nepenthes. The cooler growing species of Nepenthes were growing
in the greenhouse. The warmer species of of Nepenthes were located in
a mini-hothouse that you are invited to walk into. It's basically a
frame covered by plastic bubble wrap inside the main greenhouse.
Inside, the mini-hothouse, it's wonderful.
They had quite a collection of *large* Nepenthes plants. One plant
in particular was a granddaddy, with a pitcher the size of a
tea kettle...and I'm not kidding. You could drop a softball into
the thing with no problem.
Surprisingly, they had very few Nepenthes for sale. And prices started
at $25 a plant for the ones they were selling. They also have a collection
of tillansia and some other bromeliads.
They kept humidity up by have a long pipe dripping water in the back of the
greenhouse that, I guess, recycled the water or sent it out by a drain.
In addition, they cut down on the sunlight with a net screen over the
exterior top of the greenhouse. Anyway, I had fun.
I also stopped at Bamboo Sourcery just a few miles away. Bamboo Sourcery
is a beautiful place in the redwoods and has a large diverse collection
of bamboo in 1, 5, and 15 gallon plastic containers. A great place for
clumping, running, ornamental, and timber bamboo.
---Steve