FlyTrapCare Forums

So, our entryway has had wooden wine half-barrels in it that we've been using for planters since we moved into our house in 2009. Needless to say, they were starting to rot and were desperately in need of being replaced.

I kept putting it off but finally decided to go "all in" on replacing them with a very attractive (albeit expensive) option: powder-coated galvanized steel tanks!

I got four of them that are 2x2x6, one 2x2x5, and one 2x2x4. The tanks themselves were pretty expensive and getting them powder coated was about the same cost as the tanks themselves. Leah wasn't thrilled with the cost, but she does very much like the end result!

We plan on using 2 of them for annual and perennial flowering plants and the other 4 are for carnivores!! I started filling 3 of them yesterday and made pretty good progress. I'm using mostly Sarracenia but have a little section of flytraps in one planter and plan to add some D. filiformis to another section of one. So I'll have Dionaea, Drosera and Sarracenia out there. I'm also going to put some Darlingtonia in another one.

They already look pretty darn good! I woke up this morning and went to our front door just to look at them!!

This is one side of the entry way with three of the 2x2x6 tanks. The tank in front is mostly Sarracenia, including S. jonesii, S. alabamensis, S. flava, S. lecuophylla (AJ01 and Tarnok), and S x Judith Hindle. I think that's all of them! I plan to add the D. filiformis to the front corner as well. This is the second tank on the same side and it has all the same Sarrs plus some Venus flytraps in front. The tank in front on the other side has all Sarracenia. Same species and varieties listed above, but also S. x catesbaei, S. x (oreophila x leucophylla) and S. x Dixie Lace (thanks @MikeB!). In the foreground, you can also see one of the 4 big pots of Sarracenia that sit on our brick wall guarding the entryway. I'm super excited to have this project mostly complete and have it looking so good, particularly given the fact that we are only in the second week of January! I just need to finish up by bringing in some fresh wood chips.

I can't wait for spring and summer now!!!

Very cool! I have a horse trough that I have been wanting to turn into a bog garden, but never have gotten the chance. It looks very similar to your tanks, just not nearly as fancy!

Benny wrote:I have a horse trough that I have been wanting to turn into a bog garden, but never have gotten the chance. It looks very similar to your tanks, just not nearly as fancy!

You should do it! And to make it look "fancy" just requires a bit of paint!!

Looks nice. Maybe I can talk one of my friends out of an old trough to do something similar.
Then I can try to talk the wife into letting me do this by our front door.
If you ever hand pollinate that Alabamensis, let me know. It'll look good next to my Oreophila.
Just sayin'.

ChefDean wrote:If you ever hand pollinate that Alabamensis, let me know. It'll look good next to my Oreophila.

Will do! Now that you requested it, I'll be sure to do it in the spring. I have a bunch of mature plants and could donate the seed to the seed bank. Also, I'd be happy to send you one or more. Shoot me a PM if you're interested!

Did you see my little S. jonesii in the tanks too? I love those little red guys!!

Matt wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 8:33 pmDid you see my little S. jonesii in the tanks too? I love those little red guys!!

I did see those, them're cute.
But you also mentioned you had some Dixie Lace, some seed was just donated to the seed bank and was almost immediately requested. I was trying to pick those out to see actual plants vs perfectly staged plants on Google. Which ones are those?

ChefDean wrote:But you also mentioned you had some Dixie Lace, some seed was just donated to the seed bank. I was trying to pick those out to see actual plants vs perfectly staged plants on Google. Which ones are those?

Dixie Lace is front and center of the tank in the 3rd photo just to the left of the S. jonesii. That plant came from MikeB.

Matt wrote:

ChefDean wrote:If you ever hand pollinate that Alabamensis, let me know. It'll look good next to my Oreophila.

Will do! Now that you requested it, I'll be sure to do it in the spring. I have a bunch of mature plants and could donate the seed to the seed bank. Also, I'd be happy to send you one or more. Shoot me a PM if you're interested!

Did you see my little S. jonesii in the tanks too? I love those little red guys!!

I would also be interested if you end up with any to spare. Great bog setup man, I'm looking forward to seeing the update.

That Dixie Lace is going to make a nice little cluster once it fills out. Nice choice.

Apollyon wrote:I would also be interested if you end up with any to spare. Great bog setup man, I'm looking forward to seeing the update.

Sure, shoot me a PM with your address! Would be happy to send you a division for all of the help you've given me and others here on this forum!!

ChefDean wrote:That Dixie Lace is going to make a nice little cluster once it fills out. Nice choice.

Agreed! I thought of it last minute but glad I decided to go with it.

@Matt: If you give that 'Dixie Lace' half a chance, it will try to take over the raised bed. It has hybrid vigor out the wazoo.

@ChefDean: Since 'Dixie Lace' is a hybrid, there's no telling what those seedlings will look like. Here is an excerpt from the cultivar's registration:

This specific clone was selected in 1993. It resulted from a 1988 pollination at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (hereafter UNCC) that germinated in 1989 (seed lot 88-14). The female parent was a natural hybrid between Sarracenia leucophylla and S. alabamensis subsp. wherryi (given the unregistered horticultural name "Cotton Patch") collected in Perdido, Alabama in 1985 and grown at the McMillan Greenhouse at UNCC. The pitchers resemble S. leucophylla, although only up to 30 cm (12 inches) tall, and are distinctly pubescent. The male parent was an artificial hybrid of Sarracenia psittacina and an unknown partner, probably S. purpurea, made by Dr. Warren Stoutamire, and given to the North Carolina Botanical Garden (hereafter NCBG) prior to 1985. That hybrid was unofficially called "Snorkle" and continues to be grown in the collections of both institutions.

Carnivorous Plant Newsletter
Volume 27, Number 2
June 1998
https://legacy.carnivorousplants.org/cp ... 38_40.html

Very nice! Inspiration for a future entryway!

That looks nice! You are giving me ideas.

@MikeB,

MikeB wrote:@Matt: If you give that 'Dixie Lace' half a chance, it will try to take over the raised bed. It has hybrid vigor out the wazoo.

I figured! The thing looks like it grows extremely vigorously!!

madrone wrote:Very nice! Inspiration for a future entryway!

oval wrote:That looks nice! You are giving me ideas.

Thanks you two!

Matt wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 5:40 pm So, our entryway has had wooden wine half-barrels in it that we've been using for planters since we moved into our house in 2009. Needless to say, they were starting to rot and were desperately in need of being replaced.

I kept putting it off but finally decided to go "all in" on replacing them with a very attractive (albeit expensive) option: powder-coated galvanized steel tanks!

I got four of them that are 2x2x6, one 2x2x5, and one 2x2x4. The tanks themselves were pretty expensive and getting them powder coated was about the same cost as the tanks themselves. Leah wasn't thrilled with the cost, but she does very much like the end result!

They look awesome! It's a clever solution to powder coat the galvanized tanks, so they don't leach into the soil. There are some really nice examples online of people who have used galvanized troughs and buckets to plant bog plants, but I'd be a bit concerned for the well-being of my plants.

You should get some bog companion plants up in there! Maybe I'll have some seeds of bog companions come this spring to add to the seedbank?