Guide to growing garden plants - Darlingtonia (California pitcher plant)
Darlingtonia is a genus of carnivorous plants and is a hardy perennial.
It can grow from 30 to 90 cm in height and carries hooded greeny purple flowers with veins and pits designed to attract insects into the lure.
Darlingtonia usually flowers from spring until the early months of the summer.
Common names for members of Darlingtonia include California pitcher plant and Cobra lily.
How to grow California pitcher plant (Darlingtonia)
Darlingtonia like many carnivorous plants like to grow in swampy conditions, therefore when growing the seeds the media should be kept saturated at all time by standing the pots in water. Seeds should be sown on the surface of sphagnum moss in pots and take from one to three months to germinate; California pitcher plants require constant conditions of about 26 degrees Centigrade and light to grow as seedlings.
Once established they can be transplanted outdoors into a shaded swampy part of the garden at a depth of about 2cm in the water. The soil that they are in should be kept saturated at all times.
Caring for California pitcher plants
It will take about four years until you will first see the California pitcher plant and other Darlingtonia members begin to flower. If you require more plants then they can be propagated by dividing the plants in the spring or autumn.