Question
Hi Jeff,

I hope you and Jacob recovered from your cold and are both fine!

spring is here, Pinguicula ist slowly coming out, I guess Sarracenia will do too!!!

I have mature Sarracenia, in big 35 cm pots, now still dormant.

However, the sphagnum top dressing has slightly overgrown some rhizome for some species. The question is, I guess the answer is "YES": Should I trimm the moss around the rhizome a bit to allow more light to reach the rhizome? Or would higher temperatures be enough to trigger new growth and pitchers just grow up, independently from covering moss or not?

And by the way. Is there any Sarracenia species known to you (could be hybrid) with white top/lid as Leucophylla? Leuco don磘 produce enough pitchers in my view. I am looking for a kind of rubra or flava with white lids, kind of a white pitchers bouquet! ;-)

Have a great weekend.

Regards,

JP

Thanks a lot for your help, I really appreciate it!

Answer
Hi JP,

Trim the moss if it's really thick, but upright Sarracenia won't be too bothered by it.  Some of the slower growing ground-hugging species such as S. psittacina can get covered if growth is too aggressive, so it helps to keep them trimmed so light can reach the crown.

There are lots of S. leucophylla hybrids that are very nice plants.  A few off of the top of my head that are really beautiful, Judith Hindle, Daina's Delight, most x excellens hybrids, Juthatip Soper (this one should be readily available in Europe), Adrian Slack, to name a few.  If you can get a hold of some Sarracenia leucophylla var. "Tarnok" they are real nice clumping plants.  They are produced here in the U.S. so they might be harder to get in the EU.  

Good Growing!

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