My dear friend,
As we usher in the New Year, I wanted to give you a glimpse of what the near future might look like for Bookhardt Botanicals. 2021 positioned the nursery for organic expansion in a few key ways. This included:
-Securing a semi-permanent grow space in NE Portland for the entire carnivorous plant collection, which had previously been scattered around the area
-Vending to plant enthusiasts in person at a pop up event with my esteemed colleagues
-Selling wholesale to a local florist shop
-Establishing a website and developing brand identity through merchandise
I hope to build on these foundations in 2022, as well as provide better communication to growers.
Current Work - Tall, Early, Colorful
Many of the seed grown plants I have distributed have focused on color saturated, upright, spring dominant Sarracenia. Seed grown plants of this nature will be released in a few months on the website actually! As a Pacific Northwest grower, I have tried to set these apart from other moorei type crosses through integration of Sarracenia oreophila. Oreophila produces excellent early season pitchers here in Portland, and acts as a blank canvas to overlay color and venation on. Some of the best recent crosses I've made use oreophila x Adrian Slack as either the pod or pollen parent, developed by my friend Rob.
Future Direction - Short, Tidy, Colorful, Evergreen
It seems my attention is monopolized one project at a time, rather than having many "irons in the fire" so to speak. However I have a sudden urge to focus on shorter, mitchelliana type plants which would meet these criteria:
short, tidy, colorful, evergreen
We will see what blooms this spring, but I'd like to take some fantastic mid-height primary crosses such as mitchelliana and catesbaei, then backcross to rosea in an effort to get plants with these characteristics. It seems pure purpurea are also in high demand these days, and I have a few nice seedlings coming along. I'm sure when they're available, demand will have moved elsewhere.
Future Direction - Bicolor
The plant featured in the photo here is leucophylla Bicolor, a selection originating from Yellow River, FL. Recent cultivars such as 'Ellie Wang' have pushed the limits of showcasing two dominant colors distinctly, without blending. This contrast of color is underutilized currently, and I hope to use stock plants here such as leucophylla Bicolor, as well as moorei MPF 1 to bring exceptional bicolor plants to growers.
Although my focus here has been Sarracenia, I also intend on continuing to offer giant flytraps such as B52, G16, Low Giant, and my own seed grown selections. Select Nepenthes and Sundews will also be offered this year to help round out the catalog, especially for first time carnivorous plant growers.
Peace be with you,
Sam
Bookhardt Botanicals
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