Sarracenia

Day 251: For two months or more, I've been watching the Sarracenias for signs of new growth. A period of unseasonably cold nights last winter gave me reason to be concerned for their survival, although at the worst of it, I moved them to a moderately warmer location. They are reputed to be hardy in this climate, but I felt that temperatures in the teens and single digits were a bit much to ask them to endure. Indeed, I thought one of the two plants had died off regardless, but it is currently sending up its first few "pitchers" of the year. The other is prospering. Its flower stalk emerged before the foliage and now towers above the young "leaves" by several inches, a walnut-sized bud swelling and almost ready to burst. These two images were taken at the same distance/zoom factor to show the ratio of bud size to six-inch tall pitchers. The pitchers will eventually reach a height of approximately one foot. The flower stalk is 16 inches at its highest point.