Hi,
as I have looked through the Pinguicula forum I found, that there are hardly any pictures to find that show cold hardy Pinguicula and their gemmae buds in spring.
Cold hardy Pinguicula can propagate from their winter buds as they produce small gemmae during autumn/winter, that can grow to individual plants the next season.
With some species, the gemmae is buried in the soil, with some species the gemmae is developed above the soil, and in many cases it depends on climate, weather, soil and cultivation conditions whether the gemmae is above or below the soil.
So here are some of my plants as of today that show gemmae buds above the soil:
Pinguicula macrocereas ssp. nortensis:
Pinguicula grandiflora:
If the gemmae are growing above ground, heavy rain can cut them loose and toss them a bit around so they find a new place to grow. But most of the gemmae will be overgrown by the mother plant and die, when the big hibernaculum starts to develop its summer leaves.
For best propagation results, you can dig the hibernacula out of their soil, remove the gemmae, then replant hibernaculum and gemmae seperately. If your plants set a lot of gemmae (as those you can see on the pictures above), you can multiply your stock of plants with high propagation rates each year.
Weather here is fine currently, so now I'm going out and dig out some hibernacula and gemmae and replant them.
The advantage of gemmae propagation against propagation by seed is:
1. Small gemmae can grow to flowering size buds within just one season. Propagation by seeds takes much longer until you have plants flowering.
2. Child plants are always the same as their mother plants when propagated from gemmae, no hybrids can occur as it is possible when propagated from seeds and you are cultivating different species in the same garden at the same time.
Good luck with your cold hardy Pinguicula - whoever is keeping some!
as I have looked through the Pinguicula forum I found, that there are hardly any pictures to find that show cold hardy Pinguicula and their gemmae buds in spring.
Cold hardy Pinguicula can propagate from their winter buds as they produce small gemmae during autumn/winter, that can grow to individual plants the next season.
With some species, the gemmae is buried in the soil, with some species the gemmae is developed above the soil, and in many cases it depends on climate, weather, soil and cultivation conditions whether the gemmae is above or below the soil.
So here are some of my plants as of today that show gemmae buds above the soil:
Pinguicula macrocereas ssp. nortensis:
Pinguicula grandiflora:
If the gemmae are growing above ground, heavy rain can cut them loose and toss them a bit around so they find a new place to grow. But most of the gemmae will be overgrown by the mother plant and die, when the big hibernaculum starts to develop its summer leaves.
For best propagation results, you can dig the hibernacula out of their soil, remove the gemmae, then replant hibernaculum and gemmae seperately. If your plants set a lot of gemmae (as those you can see on the pictures above), you can multiply your stock of plants with high propagation rates each year.
Weather here is fine currently, so now I'm going out and dig out some hibernacula and gemmae and replant them.
The advantage of gemmae propagation against propagation by seed is:
1. Small gemmae can grow to flowering size buds within just one season. Propagation by seeds takes much longer until you have plants flowering.
2. Child plants are always the same as their mother plants when propagated from gemmae, no hybrids can occur as it is possible when propagated from seeds and you are cultivating different species in the same garden at the same time.
Good luck with your cold hardy Pinguicula - whoever is keeping some!