The Pinguicula Project

I am not worthy. 

Yet, during an April visit to Little Prince of Oregon, I was given several Pinguicula (butterworts) and a few Heliamphora. These are not plants I've been able to keep alive in the past. To add to my worry, the butterworts came unpotted and I was on day one of a 4-day garden visiting marathon and didn't have the time to do more than just lay them this tray of chunky mix, water them, leave them and hope for the best.

The Heliamphora were potted, but I know these plants are finicky and I wasn't able to do anything special to care for them either. At least not right away... 

...or actually for two months. Ya, it took me eight weeks to get around to planting both of these carnivorous treasures. But they were all still alive, so there's that.

I knew I wanted to put some of the Pinguicula in this hanging pot. A popular way to grow them is tucked into small holes in a porous rock... so I found a good chunk, tried it out in the pot, and there it stayed for about a month until I got around to doing the planting.

Which I finally did at the end of May. I waited a few weeks to write about the project because I wanted to see how they performed, the good news is they still look great. The bad news is I didn't manage to take any process photos...

I have three of the pots, there are Pyrrosia lingua in the other two.

I really love how this planting turned out.

I filled the spaces around the rock with a mix of peat moss and black pumice—both of which I had on hand. This whole thing turned out to be a "buy nothing" project, using materials I already had.

Yes, there are already small flying insects stuck on the leaves.

After reading that the roots of Heliamphora like to stay cool I worked one of the plants into this hand cast stone pot, figuring its extremely thick walls would do just that.

It's tucked into the carnivorous corner (which includes a couple Aeoniums and potted Pseudopanax ferox and P. crassifolius).

After completing the hanging Pinguicula pot I still had a few plants left, so I decided to work them, and the remaining Heliamphora, (as well as a couple Nepenthes) into a metal container. Here's what I pulled together for the project, although I didn't end up using the small metal round on the right, because I was concerned it might rust and I didn't know how these sensitive plants would react to that.

Again, no process shots, but here's the finished project...

As before the rock was mixed with a little peat and sphagnum moss. There's a small hole in the bottom of the metal cap, so it's not completely water-tight.

When I finished the planting and went to take pictures the sun was hitting the patio table just right for nice photos. I had a hard time knowing when to quit. I got a little carried away...

Eventually I might move the container back to the table, but for now it's parked on a bench. Wish me luck! I still feel like I'm living on borrowed time with these, as though they're going to realize I have no idea what I'm doing.

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All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.