Question
QUESTION: so my cape sundews have flowered for the second time this summer, all seemed normal, but one of the flower stalks had a bunch of flowers, and at the top it had 3 "flowers" that looked like a cross between a flower and a sticky cape leaf.  what is the deal with that?  i looked around, but was not able to find anything like that anywhere while researching....   any thoughts or comments on that?

ANSWER: Hi Darren,

I haven't seen this on a Cape sundew, but I've seen something very similar on Venus flytrap flowers.  Along the stalk a flytrap plantlet will start growing.  This usually occurs when the flytrap is forced out of dormancy too early or if the temperature is too warm in spring.

Last summer I had a dewthread produce a plantlet on its flower stalk, so I'm not at all surprised that you see it on your Cape sundew.  I'm not certain what conditions would have caused this that type of growth, but localized mutations occur a lot among fast growing plants.  

Good growing!
Jacob Farin

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: i've had two capes in the same south window for the last 2+ years, this is the first year they flowered... Hmmmm, well i'll keep an eye on it.    so my follow up question... what is an ideal temp that cape seeds need to grow the fastest and most healthy?  i've got a nice big 8 inch pot for the seeds, so i wanna have a bunch of them   i've got a few dozen from the last time they flowered, but they are growing very slow.  any tips or suggestions?

Answer
With Cape sundews and temperature, if you're comfortable, your plants are comfortable.  Even at our nursery we don't pay too much attention to temperature.  We only monitor it to make sure the greenhouses don't get too hot during the summer or too cold during the winter.  Other than that, we don't worry about it.

Seedlings grow very slowly, so you'll need to be amply patient.  For this reason, we don't recommend growing carnivorous plants from seed for first-time grower, children or anyone wanting instant gratification.  It can take up to three years for Cape sundew seedlings to reach flowering maturity.  So my only recommendations is to make yourself a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy your plants.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin