Question
I received these plants about a month ago:
 S. rubra ssp. jonesii  - Mountain Sweet Pitcher
 S. leucophylla var. 'Tarnok' - White Top Pitcher, Tarnok Variety
 Excellens
 Alatamin
I plan to put them in a pond outdoors and wondered about using a fabric planter, such as those made by Aquascape. Are those ok?, or do they keep the plant too wet, even if elevated to keep the crown of the plant above water? I'm in Burlingame, CA.  (PS- do these pitcher plants and sundew actually help much with flies and yellow jackets?)

Answer
Hi Libbie,

The fabric planters should work just fine as long as they hold the soil in.  For a pond setting I do recommend not using perlite in the soil mix (it floats), but instead, pumice or sand.  Definitely try and situate your plants so that the crowns are well above the water line.

As far as insect captures, all of these Sarracenia are good bug catchers.  You'll find that by the end of the summer their pitchers are near full of bugs.  However, a small number of plants will make no significant difference in your fly and Yellow Jacket population.  We have thousands of these plants, and I'd like to think we make a dent in the neighborhood Yellow Jacket population, but we still have plenty.  Generally speaking, carnivorous plants, with some limited exceptions, don't make for good bug control.

Good Growing!

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