A visit to Jeremiah Harris, by David Görg

15 March 2020 - Guest Post

Today I’m very happy to be welcoming David to the blog. If you’re an active part of the CP scene on Instagram, you might’ve seen David’s photos of his impressive collection of Nepenthes (@davidsplants). A plant biotechnology student from Germany, David recently visited fellow grower Jeremiah Harris in Colorado. He was kind enough to put together this short blog post and photo gallery from his trip.

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish my readers and customers around the world the very best in these uncertain and unsettling times. Stay safe everyone.

If you enjoy David’s article as much as I did, please do share it with your friends and fellow growers, and consider subscribing to Tom’s Carnivores. Thanks for reading!

In November 2019 I got the chance to visit my friend Jeremiah Harris, whom I first meet at the European Exhibition and Exchange (EEE) 2018 in Bonn, Germany.

I enjoy all kinds of carnivorous plants but I’m personally focused on Nepenthes, and so these are the focus of my gallery.

Jeremiah lives in Colorado Springs and was kind enough to host me at his place and show me around his greenhouses and Colorado. He grows a wide range of carnivorous plants in three greenhouses. Dionaea and Sarracenia grow in his temperate greenhouse. In a small tropical greenhouse he grows some Nepenthes. The absolute highlight was, of course, his big tropical greenhouse. I was amazed by the fact that Jeremiah grows Cephalotus, Darlingtonia, Dionaea, Drosera, Nepenthes, Sarracenia and Utricularia all in his big tropical greenhouse. He told me that the shorter days and slightly cooler temperatures are sufficient for the temperate plants to go dormant over winter, even though they do of course get a longer dormancy period in the temperate greenhouse.

In the big greenhouse Jeremiah has set up a chamber that is kept very warm, he uses to grow lowland Nepenthes like N. bicalcarata and N. ampullaria. The big rest of the greenhouse is dedicated to highland/intermediate Nepenthes and a variety of temperate CPs. It was also quite interesting seeing plants that are around my age!

Jeremiah has also flowered several rare Nepenthes, such as a female N. rajah, which he has used to make crosses like the stunning ‘Leviathan’ = (N. rajah x peltata). Unfortunately the winter of 2018/2019 was very cold in Colorado, which led to some plants being set back a bit. The main growth point of the N. rajah died off due to the cold, so this plant didn’t have any huge pitchers at the time of my visit. Luckily the plant did survive and has produced some basal growth, which is already making nice pitchers. That being said, I would not have suspected that the previous winter was particularly bad, as all the plants just looked so happy.

But best just have a look yourself:

Jeremiah's tropical greenhouse. Nepenthes bicalcarata. Nepenthes bongso. Nepenthes edwardsiana (female). Nepenthes lowii. Nepenthes mollis x veitchii. Nepenthes rajah, basal pitcher. Nepenthes rajah x peltata ('Leviathan'). Nepenthes robcantleyi x hamata (aka 'Robmata'). Nepenthes singalana x hamata. Nepenthes veitchii 'HL' x burbidgeae (EP). Nepenthes ventricosa 'k' (EP). Nepenthes x trusmadiensis (N. lowii x macrophylla). Nepenthes clipeata. Nepenthes hamata. Nepenthes hamata. Nepenthes mollis (hurreliana). Nepenthes undulatifolia upper pitcher. Nepenthes rigidifolia x spectabilis. Nepenthes villosa. Nepenthes villosa. Nepenthes villosa. Utricularia humboltii x alpina. Nepenthes singalana x 'Red Hairy Hamata', lower pitcher. Nepenthes singalana x 'Red Hairy Hamata', upper pitcher. Nepenthes undulatifolia. Nepenthes undulatifolia, lower pitcher. Jeremiah and me!

Jeremiah told me that the temperate plants did not look their best anymore, as they were transitioning to dormancy, but some of them were still quite impressive if you ask me!

Jeremiah's temperate greenhouse. Drosera 'Alien'. Sarracenia flava var rugelii. Sarracenia 'Mega Mouth'. Sarracenia in the temperate house. Sarracenia in the temperate house.

Many thanks to David for taking the time to write this post and share photos from his trip, and to Jeremiah for giving permission for these photos of his collection to be shared.

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