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Temperate or Tropical


Question
I live in the Portland Metro area and with most of my plants I know exactly whether they need to be inside all the time or just the winter, I have a couple that I'm unsure of including one I purchased from your nursery, so I'll start with that.

It's a drosera multifada extrema, I've had it outdoors since around April (I purchased it in January). It still looks to be doing really well but I wasn't sure if I needed to be taking it indoors soon or not.

The others are a Sarracenia Minor Okee, which I understand is a lot pickier about cold weather than my others. And a Drosera Filliformis hybrid called 'Dreamsicle', I can't find the exact plants that go into it so I don't know if it has the Florida variety in it or not, the leaves have been dying back and if it's going dormant great, I just don't want to be poking at it in the spring wondering why it's not bouncing back.

Answer
Hi Jesse,

D. multifida extrema would be considered a Zone 9 plant.  It can handle a light frost, but won't take a heavy freeze.  I've overwintered them just fine in our coldframe greenhouses.  I've not had them survive out in the Sarracenia pools.

Sarracenia minor "Okee Giant" spends the winter outside with all the other Sarracenia.  I've not found them to be any more tender than the other Gulf Coast plants.  You have to take the basic precautions when a hard freeze is predicted.  Many plants, including Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea would die if left in a pot totally exposed during a spell of temperatures in the teens.  Plants need to be covered or brought into an unheated shelter like a garage for those conditions.  When the weather warms back to regular rain, then right back outside they go, or uncover them.  

Here's a special note on protecting plants in the PNW.  Many folks want to take the shortcut of letting plants spend the whole winter in the garage.  That is more dangerous for the plants, and takes consistent monitoring.  Plants are very subject to Botrytis mold when inside without the washing effect of the rain and UV light.  Too many a plant owner has had the sad experience of loosing plants this way.  I lost my first S. x "Adrian Slack" when I kept it in our glass greenhouse because I wanted to "protect" it.  By the time I noticed it had Botrytis it was too late.  It had been sprayed with a fungicide early in the winter too.  I've lost far more Sarracenia to mold in a greenhouse than to freezing outside when properly covered.  This very much applies to your D. filiformis species too.

Some of the more Southern filiformis are more tender in hard freezes.  D. tracyi and "Florida Giant" can be tender, so "Dreamscicle" could be too.  With them part of the trick is to make sure the pots are not too deep in water during the winter.  Their big hibernacula can be more subject to rotting.  With them our experience has been to shelter them a little more in hard freezes.  Definitely be wary in spring to late frosts.  I lost a big bunch of Florida Giants to a late freeze one year even though they made it through the winter just fine.  They are more cold tolerant when they are fully in their hibernacula stage.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.growcarnivorousplants.com

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