I first visited Christian Klein’s fantastic carnivorous plant nursery back in 2017. As well as giving me a full tour of his greenhouses, Christian was kind enough to sit and chat about his experiences growing these plants for a feature which I published here on the blog. If you’re not familiar with Christian and his plants, I recommend reading that article first.
Last week I returned to Merzig and took the opportunity to visit Christian again. Despite it being so early in the season, his Nepenthes and other tropical plants were all looking great, as you’ll see below. Species and hybrid names are identified in the captions (including some very exciting crosses Christian has coming up).
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01. The doorway into a tropical paradise 
02. Obligatory selfie with Christian, some N. veitchii visible in the background 
03. This is my favourite form of one of my favourite species. Nepenthes veitchii Candy 
04. Christian explained that last year was very special, since he had both male and female candy striped N. veitchii in spike at the same time. Heres the male 
05. This male plant is also the pollen parent in some of Christian's exciting crosses 
06. and heres the female seed parent, an equally stunning specimen 
07. Christian demonstrated how he pollinates the female plant 
08. Christian has some truly fantastic crosses involving N. veitchii Candy in the pipeline. look out for these in due course 
09. A peek under the benches, which are illuminated by fluorescent tubes. As anyone who has visited Christian will know, he makes very good use of every inch of space 
10. The tops of the benches are similarly filled to the brim 
11. Under the benches I spotted this Nepenthes inermis. Like Christian, I have found this to be one of my fastest growing species 
12. Drosera and Utricularia bisquamata growing alongside the Nepenthes 
13. Christian has hundreds of seedlings for his distributors. While focusing on species seed production, he also creates fantastic hybrids 
14. Exciting crosses on the benches including N. robcantleyi x hamata, N. lowii x veitchii Candy, N. veitchii x trusmadiensis, and several others 
15. I think this was N. edwardsiana x tenuis. Cool plant 
16. This is Andreas Wistubas cross, Nepenthes undulatifolia x hamata 
17. Christian has a number of plants grown from wild seed, and unsurprisingly, not all turn out as expected. I think this was supposed to be N. dubia 
18. Another N. veitchii 
19. A nice N. veitchii with flared, copper-coloured peristome .%20Difficult%20to%20capture%20how%20stunning%20this%20plant%20is.DXqV3oTY_2sVyiT.webp)
20. Christian's famous Nepenthes hurrelliana (or Nepenthes mollis, rather, as of just several days ago). Difficult to capture how stunning this plant is 
21. Nepenthes mollis peristome detail 
22. A pitcher on a different Nepenthes mollis specimen, this one with a fantastic elongated neck 
23. Nepenthes spathulata x edwardsiana, an interesting cross 
24. The unmistakable Nepenthes robcantleyi 
25. Nepenthes robcantleyi peristome detail 
26. The beautiful Nepenthes burbidgeae 
27. I love the cream and red peristome striping on this species, such a nice plant 
28. Nepenthes trusmadiensis x truncata from Exotica 
29. Nepenthes reinwardtiana. I really like Neps with this kind of pale green interior, like some forms of N. lingulata, N. ramispina, N. mikei, etc 
30. Another Nepenthes veitchii 
31. Nepenthes campanulata x lowii 
32. I spotted this N. rajah hybrid growing amongst several others, but could not guess the other parent. Turns out its N. rajah x mira. Nice plant 
33. N. rajah x mira again. lovely pitcher shape 
34. A spectacular pitcher on Nepenthes lowii x ephippiata 
35. Nepenthes lowii x ephippiata again. Christian told me this plant is noticeably faster than either parent 
36. Nepenthes veitchii x hurrelliana. I love this hybrid, and ended up buying a young plant from Christian before I left 
37. A toothy Nepenthes x trusmadiensis with great colour 
38. The fearsome mouth of N. x trusmadiensis 
39. An upper pitcher of Nepenthes lowii 
40. Another N. lowii upper. I really like this species, its pitchers are so tough they almost feel like wood 
41. A developing Nepenthes naga pitcher 
42. N. naga, old and new 
43. The distinctive hairy stem of Nepenthes glandulifera 
44. Christian had a number of younger N. glandulifera too, and was hoping for a breeding pair 
45. Nepenthes peltata. I should have got a photo of the tendril insertion and dark red underside of the leaves, but could easily have spent all day in Christian's greenhouse 
46. Nepenthes eymae, which had recently bloomed 
47. This is the plant Christian calls Nepenthes spec. Murud, and which has been the subject of much debate lately 
48. A close-up of the pitcher on Nepenthes spec. Murud. I can certainly see the N. vogelii in it, but I am no taxonomist 
49. Nepenthes sibuyanensis 
50. A lower pitcher of Nepenthes hamata. These were growing right down by the ground and seemed to be growing happily with very little light 
51. A very large N. hamata upper pitcher 
52. Christian told me this was the first Nepenthes he ever grew. I believe he said it was N. alata var. boschiana 
53. Lovely shape and that pale interior-throat which I really like 
54. This was the only plant which Christian ordered from the latest Exotica Plants import. N. veitchii x burbidgeae. I also got a specimen from this cross. its a beautiful plant 
55. Nepenthes platychila upper pitcher 
56. Nepenthes adrianii 
57. Under the benches growing under lights, this was Nepenthes burkei. Great shape 
58. Nepenthes dubia 
59. A young plant of the magnificient Nepenthes klossii from the recent Borneo Exotics release 
60. This is Andreas Wistubas hugely popular cross, Nepenthes hamata x edwardsiana. As you can see, its pretty stunning. I have one coming in my Spring order, cant wait 
61. Nepenthes edwardsiana, another of my favourite species 
62. A larger pitcher on Nepenthes edwardsiana 
63. Nepenthes boschiana 
64. Nepenthes boschiana. Lovely elongated pitchers 
65. I think this was Nepenthes tentaculata x campanulata 
66. Nepenthes truncata 
67. In the lowland area, I spotted this tricolor form of Nepenthes ampullaria 
68. Clumps of Nepenthes ampullaria tricolor growing on the thick stem Christian was kind enough to show us round his temperate nursery too. Enormous in comparison to his tropical nursery, this is where Christian grows his Sarracenia, Dionaea, Cephalotus, temperate Drosera and Pinguicula, along with various other genera. Most plants here were still dormant, although that very morning, Christian had spotted the first flower buds emerging from his Sarracenia.
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01. Christian's tropical greenhouse is next to his house, but his main nursery is down the road. Here he grows temperate carnivores in polytunnels, and also runs his primary business as a landscape gardener 
02. The first of Christian's polytunnels, absolutely filled with Dionaea, Sarracenia, temperate Pinguicula, Cephalotus, and more 
03. Freshly repotted Dionaea. Christian has literally hundreds of Venus flytrap cultivars 
04. A Sarracenia leucophylla which had held its pitchers throughout winter 
05. Carnivorous cabbages. the Sarracenia purpurea bench 
06. Some nice Sarracenia purpurea varieties 
07. Hepatica japonica, one of Christian's non-carnivorous plants 
08. Pots of Cephalotus follicularis, the Albany pitcher plant 
09. Cephalotus cultivars. This one had particularly large pitchers, and lacked any markings on the underside of the lid 
10. This Cephalotus had pitchers around 2 inches in size, probably the biggest I have ever seen in person 
11. Me and Christian looking over his Sarracenia benches Huge thanks to Christian for showing me round his collection.
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Thanks for reading, and happy growing!