Gallery: Returning to Chris Klein's nursery
Published 26 August 2022, updated
For the first time since the pandemic, I’ve been able to travel to Germany to see family! While I was here, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pay Chris another visit in Merzig - it’s been 3 years since my last trip. You can see photos from my previous visits in 2017 and 2019 right here on my blog.
Much like here in the UK, Germany has suffered extreme heatwaves and drought over the summer. The water butts were empty and a few plants were showing signs of heat stress, but overall I was amazed at how great his Nepenthes looked. Chris’s greenhouse doesn’t have an evaporative cooler, and - like me - he uses shade cloth and misting/fogging to keep the temperatures down. When the mercury hits 40°C (104°F), it’s enough to test any greenhouse cooling system, but master grower Chris has managed to keep his plants looking great despite the sweltering heat.
If I were to make one observation, though, it would be that it’s time to take some cuttings! I remember thinking it was crowded last time, but man. The place is a jungle. I’m sure plenty of growers here in the UK would happily help Chris re-home any spare cuttings…
One last thing before I get to the photos - this is the first time I’ve toured a greenhouse with a toddler in tow. Compared to previous visits it wasn’t so easy to take photos and geek out for hours at a time about carnivorous plants, so you’ll have to forgive me if a couple of plants remain unidentified.
Enjoy - it feels great to be blogging again!
Article continues below.
'It's a bit crowded in here... I need to get better at taking cuttings.' Yes, Chris. I can help.
The big one in the foreground in N. veitchii x campanulata.
Nepenthes seedlings and Helis under lights beneath every bench. Chris repots and fertilises seedlings regularly. We've both found seedlings can 'stall' without this.
Even so, growth rates vary hugely, even within a grex - these are N. veitchii 'striped' x 'Yamada' and N. veitchii 'Candy' x trusmadiensis.
Nepenthes truncata, highland form.
Nepenthes undulatifolia.
This was a green pitchered form of N. undulatifolia.
I think this was Heliamphora ionasi.
One of Chris's many Nepenthes veitchii, this one with squat pitchers with striped peristome.
This male was working on two inflorescences.
Another N. veitchii. Unlike on previous visits, I didn't note down his breeding designations. Many past greges are now flowering, making it harder to keep track!
Another N. veitchii, this one needing a repot!
Moving under the benches, this N. veitchii is from his popular 'Candy' x 'Candy' grex. Heliamphora grow alongside, under the lights.
Not so squat but fantastic body colouration.
A more elongated N. veitchii.
I believe this one was N. veitchii 'Bareo' x 'Yamada'.
And this may have been the male parent, N. veitchii 'Yamada'.
A very lovely N. veitchii 'Candy' x 'Candy'.
Every plant from the 'Candy' x 'Candy' grex I saw had excellent colour. Many were elongated, more so than the 'Candy' x 'Yamada' and 'Bareo' x 'Yamada' crosses, which tended towards a more squat shape.
A basal pitcher on N. x trusmadiensis.
Nepenthes tenuis.
An aging upper pitcher on Nepenthes lowii.
Nepenthes nigra.
Nepenthes glandulifera. We talked about how this species has produced some extremely tolerant hybrids, including N. glandulifera x veitchii.
Nepenthes glandulifera again. This one was due another flower.
Nepenthes naga.
Nepenthes naga is named for the forked appendage under its lid ('naga' being the Indonesian word for dragon).
Note the wider leaf shape on N. naga compared to N. bongso.
Nepenthes lowii x ephippiata. If anyone has a cutting going spare, I will sell you a kidney. Chris remarked that these used to be sold for €30 each!
Nepenthes lowii x ephippiata pitcher starting to produce exudiate.
Nepenthes eymae.
Nepenthes veitchii 'Candy' x 'Yamada', I believe.
Nepenthes lowii x truncata, a regular mouse-catcher in Chris's greenhouse.
Pretty sure this was Nepenthes deaniana, from the Philippines.
Nepenthes ovata.
An upper pitcher on Nepenthes hamata. Chris grows this one directly in the ground!
Tricky to photograph, but here are the lower N. hamata pitchers in the undergrowth.
Nepenthes jacquelineae hybrid (x flava?).
Nepenthes veitchii x burbidgeae. These are gloriously striped when they first open.
A spectacular N. x tiveyi. I hope to remake this cross between N. veitchii and N. maxima with my own plants one day.
Another form N. veitchii x maxima, or the reverse.
Nepenthes ventricosa x trusmadiensis.
Nepenthes spectabilis.
Under the benches, some very exciting hybrids growing up: N. platychila x trusmadiensis, N. veitchii x boschiana, and more.
Nepenthes nebularum (supposedly...)
An upper pitcher on a very light form of N. boschiana.
A fantastic hybrid, Nepenthes burbidgeae x lowii.
Nepenthes mollis, one of my favourites.
Nepenthes veitchii 'Candy' x 'Yamada'.
Nepenthes maxima x tenuis - an awesome cross! I'd like to grow this one myself one day.
Nepenthes maxima x tenuis again. Many crosses with N. tenuis seem to produce great hybrids.
A highland form of Nepenthes truncata.
Another form of N. truncata.
Not carnivorous, but incredible all the same - blue flowers on Myrmecodia, an ant plant.
An entirely new grex of N. truncata in cultivation, this one from Malimumu, Philippines. Look at those red leaves.
Looking back through the highland house.
Next, we enter the lowland room. Here's N. ampullaria - these were old plants, and many of the stems were thicker than my fingers.
A lovely Nepenthes ampullaria.
Nepenthes rafflesiana.
Nepenthes rafflesiana
Nepenthes insignis, I believe.
A bit later on in the day, we visited Chris's new wooden greenhouse - imported from the UK and entirely for his personal collection, this was his latest hobby project.
Brick beds held a lovely bog garden.
Sarracenia x moorei.
A lovely Sarracenia purpurea.
Sarracenia flava.
A mixture of Sarracenia hybrids were thriving alonside Drosera...
Cephalotus...
Utricularia...
...and Dionaea cultivars.
As always, thanks to Chris for showing me round his fantastic collection. I always come away feeling like I’ve learned so much.
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Thanks for reading, and happy growing!
I've been growing carnivorous plants for over 2 decades, having been fascinated by these plants since I got my first Venus flytrap at age 10. I now have a large greenhouse to house my collection and am an avid breeder of Nepenthes pitcher plants.
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