Now to the details. After an interesting flight I arrived in
Atlanta late on the 6th of April. I met Ron Gagliardo at the Atlanta
Botanical Gardens. We went to his house where I was to stay for the
week end. For any one interested in Dendrobates, you should see his
collection as well as the incredible terrariums that are devoted to
these frogs. Like slices of tropical jungle they even fool the frogs
who actually are breeding in there. I saw many different kinds of
frogs, more then I can remember the names of, and was assured that this
was nothing. He is in the middle of moving so the majority of the
collection is at a friends.
Sunday we went to the Gardens where I was shown around the
conservatory, tissue culture lab and the greenhouses. Then I was
allowed to walk around taking photos and notes of what ever I fancied.
It is truely hard to describe the number and quality of the plants I
saw. I am not just referring to the CP either. There were rows after
rows of Nepenthes grown out and in bloom. N. bicalcarata with fist
sized traps, four foot diameters and stems like broom handles. N.
truncata in similar size except with traps like beer mugs. I saw so
many different Nepenthes in fact that I gave up trying to photograph
individuals and got pictures of the rows instead. Dazzling array
really.
I also encountered the bizarre forms of Dionaea like "clam
shell" where the two halves of the trap are joined at the ends and look
like a little cup with teeth. "Bear trap" where the jaws are serrated.
And of course the fine toothed, comb toothed forms where the teeth are
fused near the base and there are many more of them giving the edge a
bristly look.
There were also bench after bench of orchids and other plants.
Paphiopedalums in bloom as well as other orchids, really making for
interesting display. It is truely a great place to visit.
I left Georgia to begin the second phase of the trip. I wanted
to explore the Florida panhandle to see the various Sarracenia, Drosera,
Pinguicula and Utricularia that I have been growing for years, in the
wild. I wanted to visit the sites to see for my self the soil
composition, water table, other companion plants and perhaps other life
that makes up a cp bog. Boy was I in for a surprise.
As I had no idea really where the sites where I left all of the
planning to Bruce. I didn't really grasp in the beginning how far apart
the sites were, nor exactly what he had in mind as far as a schedule.
We began the trip with snake hunting and plant finding in the gulf area
in Liberty/Franklin counties. (I will not be giving out any more
precise location data then county for obvious reasons, if you don't like
that...flame me...) In this area I caught my first wild king snake. We
also saw P. ionantha and D. capillaris in quantity. I was to see that
Drosera every where. The soil there was composed chiefly of very fine
sand and little else. Grasses and other short herbaceous plants grew
moderately abundantly around with many pine trees and things around the
clearings. The CP where in the clearings. For moisture, I assume that
rain was the main source as I could find no water anywhere and the soil
though moist was hardly what I would consider a bog.
We continued along the coast heading west, Bruce pointing out
plants of interest and me not seeing them. Pulling over I had actually
to walk right over and stand in them to see the blatantly obvious D.
filiformis that were abundant along ditch edges that bordered the roads.
I am not short sighted or anything, just so used to, and expecting to
see plants like those I have in my collection that I wasn't tuned in
properly. For one thing, I would continually look in the place I
expected to see plants. Usually this would be wrong. D. filiformis was
found not on the edge of the ditches but further back up the slope a
little. It was also so abundant in places that it was hard not to miss
it for grass as we drove by.
We arrived at a site in Franklin Co. that was very wet. Here
in mostly muck with fine sand in were Ss. leucophylla, psittacina, flava
in several forms, the catesbei hybrid and a single S. purpurea venosa.
Also were Dd. filiformis tracyii and capillaris in two sizes. Those D.
capillaris that were growing in the water were huge, almost three inches
tall and at least that wide. Those found on the dryer banks were
'normal' sized and there was a progression in size that was noticed.
In the ponds I noticed bass, what kind I am not sure but I
wished I had brought my fishing rod in order to find out. We also encountered
the tiny little bullets known as chorus frogs. Less then an inch long
they are extremely fast and very hard to catch. They have a call that
can be heard during the day as well as at night that sounds like two
glass marbles being tapped together.
Moving on we stopped at a place that Bruce called a plea
savannah. There we encountered the red tubed S. flava, though only
small ones were showing really.
We stopped at another site where we finally started to see what
I had come to expect from the literature to be what Sarracenia grow in. A
spot ringed on one edge with cyprus trees, the other with grass. There
was abundant standing water and sphagnum moss grew around the base of
the trees. In this grew some of the largest S. flava I have seen.
There were traps that would top three feet, and these were still early
spring growth. I also saw there P. planifolia and S. psittacina, also
growing in the water. I neglected to note the soil here but I think it
was more of the muck and sand mix, mostly muck.
Exploring more in Liberty co., we stopped at a site where the
total population of S. purpurea venosa 'Chipola' grows. S. flava also grows
there as do a few hybrids. I was lucky to see these purps in bloom.
The pink flower being quite a sight. Unfortunately there are not very
many of them, and it was quite the search to come up with suitable
numbers to photograph. The soil here was more sandy clay type with muck
mixed in.
Further along we came across S. psittacina. There were two
sizes here. Some were very large in all proportions, really giant plants, and
along side where large clumps of regular sized plants. No explanation
for the size differences. Also found where lots of S. purpurea venosa
'Chipola' in bloom, a couple of S. flava as well as the catesbei hybrid.
D. capillaris and D. filiformis tracyii also were abundant.
Bruce next took me to see the site where many years ago some one
naturalized Dionaea. It was in very sandy soil, with abundant water.
Even as early as we were, there were still lots to see as well as many
S. leucophylla and D. capillaris. Also more chorus frogs, as fast as
before.
Our next encounter was with P. pumilla and more of the
ubiquitous D. capillaris. Here the soil was sand. Not much else really.
We continued on to see P. lutea and S. psittacina "anthocyanin
free" as well as S. flava. We searched for the S. psittacina and even
though a brush hog had recently cleared the site, we did actually see a
few small ones.
This was all we could cram into one day. We began day two in
Crestview where I am saddened to report that the site known as the
Crestview tower site has been considerably reduced. Bruce estimates it
to be only about 1/8th its original size and this is entirely due to a
new Arbies restaurant and associated parking lot through the centre of
where it used to be. A lake is also there where there shouldn't have
been and the tower is gone. We squidged around in what was left for a
while, to see that there were still a few S. psittacina, some S.
leucophylla and S. flava as well as D. capillaris and intermedia.
We continued our explorations of Okaloosa and Santa Rosa
counties. We stopped at a site where there grew the giant form of S. rubra
gulfensis as well as the normal form. S. leucophylla and S. flava were
also abundant as were hybrids of the three. D. intermedia as well as D.
capillaris were abundant. They were growing in sandy clay type soil
that was very wet and subject to seasonal flooding as could be observed
by the lines of debris left by receding waters.
We continued westward into Alabama where we stopped at the famed
Perdido site. Here are stands of S. leucophylla as far as I could see
in all directions. Patches of trees interrupted the view in places but
the Sarracenia just kept on going. There were not many that were up as
early as it was but enough showed to give an idea of what there was.
Here the soil was clay, much to my amazement. No moss or anything. I
even saw Sarracenia growing up out of trash that had been dumped along
side of the road. We also found in places S. psittacina and S. rubra,
as well as a few S. purpurea venosa and a couple of S. flava. The most
obvious vegetation though was the grass. there was a lot of it growing
up out of the almost dry clay. This was that farthest thing from a bog
that I could think of and yet there they were in abundance.
Our exploration continued north and westward to include sites
for the yellow flowered S. rubra wherryii that were in bloom at the time.
interestingly enough we saw very few normal wherryii in bloom but the
yellow, orange and pink forms were up in abundance. It was truely a
sight to see. We also spotted a few of the giant form of wherryi,
perhaps an alabamensis form really, who knows?
We started heading south again and encountered a site where
there grew S. alata and P. primuliflora in abundance. We also saw S. purpurea
'Louis Burke'. The soil here was muck over hard red clay. Also growing
were many S. leucophylla and some very large S. psittacina as well as
some not so large. The water level here was nearly flooded to actually
flooded on the plants.
From there we made a dead run back into and across Florida to
the Okefenokee Swamp. We stopped in at one site to see some P. carulea as
well as S. minor, and S. psittacina. There were abundant hybrids of
these two, in fact it was hard to find pure plants of either. P. lutea
was also abundant, though I noticed that they did not grow side by side.
One of the highlights of the trip was going into the Okefenokee
Swamp. We went in through the entrance on the S.E side near Folkstone.
In there I saw what I had expected to see in all of the other sites but
hadn't. Lots of floating sphagnum with channels cut in them by the
alligators. On some of these islets were the giant forms of S. minor
and S. psittacina. I saw one S. psittacina that was at least as wide
across as a garbage can lid. Some of the S. minor were topping three
feet. I also saw alligators, turtles and green anoles. The last are a
small lizard that scurries up and down the trees over much of the south
east.
Leaving the lush swamps of the Okefenokee, we dashed as fast as
we could for Cliff Dodds house. This was one of the highlights of the
trip I was really looking forward to. We arrived to find out however
that he had been called away due to an emergency and wouldn't be back
for a while. He was nice enough to leave a key for us so that we could
look through his greenhouses. This we proceeded to do, and once again I
found myself agog at the number of species and the quality of his
plants. He has two greenhouses, one for the lowlanders and the other
divided for his intermediates and highlanders. Beautiful N. bicalcarata
and N. truncata in bloom. Very large N. lowii and the only N.
burbidgeae I have ever seen. Lots of Nepenthes that I had never seen or
had seen only at Atlanta. The air conditioned atmosphere and good light
bringing out the colours beautifully. Well done Cliff! By far the best
private collection I have ever seen. It is definitely worth the visit,
but first contact Cliff. He is a busy man and I know I wouldn't like
drop in visitors, no matter the distance traveled to drop in.
From there it was but a rather long run back to Bruces house,
through traffic jams similar to those of Seattle.
This was for me in many ways an eye opening trip. Florida
doesn't look all that big on the map but it is considerably larger when driving
all over the place. I hit the high lights in the above account,
omitting the long hours of driving. Be aware though if you are planning
such a trip. It is a lot of driving. Fortunately everything is buffet
style there so as far as eating, it is possible to spend less then
$10.00 per day and still gorge on practically any food type you care to
eat. This is a trip I highly recommend if you are interested in seeing
Sarracenia/Pinguicula habitat. I don't know how Bruce would take to
guiding all over Florida all the time. Probably not well as it is one
long drive, but we did joke about starting a guiding service. Also, be
sure before you go, to forget what you expect to see and just let your
eyes see what actually is there. It is quite different then what you
would expect if you are used to the book descriptions and cultivated
plants.
Hope you enjoyed this narrative, and please understand my
reasons
for not giving more precise directions. Some of the sites are so small
that any collecting would be to much.
Good growing Andrew