> however ... just when does one bring their plants outside in DC?
The North American species can survive very cold winters buried
outdoors, as long as you mulch them heavily. I won't
dig up my pots of Dionaea and Droserae until late March, though.
My Nepenthes won't be put outside until all danger of frost
has past, and night time temperatures don't go below
50 F. This usually means late April. Even then, we often
have winds out of the NW that bring dry air and that makes
the plants unhappy.
Come to think of it, it's pretty asinine of me to grow
these things without a greenhouse! Yeah, they survive
but they don't flourish. I had one N. alata with 14 pitchers
on it last Spring. It had been growing under lights in
a plastic bag all winter. I put it outside last Spring;
at about the same time the humidity dropped for a week and
all 14 pitchers dried up. A spectacular plant changed into
a rather ordinary plant in short order. And, FORGET
about N. mirabilis! The clones I have won't do squat
unless they get 70 humidity ALL THE TIME! I haven't had
one N. mirabilis pitcher for me yet.
Watch this space in the future for a 'nepenthes clearance
giveaway' :-) I might decide to part with all
Nepenthes clones that aren't doing well in the (harsh)
conditions I provide.
Perry