We've been getting into the 40s all week, so I decided to take a look at the Sarracenias and other not quite hardy enough plants that spend winters under oak leaves.
Because of the lean-to I rigged up to keep snow off the leaf pile, I could only get a good look at the big S. leucophylla near the edge. It is nice and bright green and red to within an inch or two of the top of the leaves. The pitchers extend a foot or more above the leaf pile. This winter included a gusty -8F night, a combination of cold and wind I don't remember us having since I moved here 13 years ago (from Maine where it wasn't so unusual).
This is the first winter I'ved tried to keep snow off completely and the contrast between the plant's condition this year and the same time last year is striking. The problem with snow is it melts in the sun and the water freezes in the leaf pile, forming a suffocating mass of leafy ice.
Because of the lean-to I rigged up to keep snow off the leaf pile, I could only get a good look at the big S. leucophylla near the edge. It is nice and bright green and red to within an inch or two of the top of the leaves. The pitchers extend a foot or more above the leaf pile. This winter included a gusty -8F night, a combination of cold and wind I don't remember us having since I moved here 13 years ago (from Maine where it wasn't so unusual).
This is the first winter I'ved tried to keep snow off completely and the contrast between the plant's condition this year and the same time last year is striking. The problem with snow is it melts in the sun and the water freezes in the leaf pile, forming a suffocating mass of leafy ice.