Ten years ago, I visited my friend Cédric Azais at his former nursery in southern France. Regular followers of this blog might remember the posts I made back then. As a reminder, here are links to each of them, all feast to the eye:
(Click on the links below)
-Part 1 A sublime Nepenthes collection, part 1;
-Part 2: A sublime Nepenthes collection, part 2;
-Part 3: Heliamphora, Cephalotus, Sarracenia and Drosera, part 3.
Sadly, the place was heavily damaged by floods and a few years ago Cédric has relocated his house and nursery into a new, bigger place, with a lots of projects in mind. I had followed his progress on social media for a few years and was in awe of the work and dedication he and his wife Emilie Azais, put in the installation of new propagating greenhouses, sale greenhouse and other peat bogs. Because at the time, I was living in Northern France (we were actually on opposites sides of the territory), it was a really long drive for me to visit Cédric (according to French standards- granted, France is not Australia or the USA when it comes to territory size) so I never had the chance or took the time to pay him a visit. I live in Normandy now and am three hours drive closer. Still, because of a heavily packed agenda, I never found the time to pay my old friend a visit. I clearly had to fix this: Cédric has one of the biggest carnivorous plant collections in Europe and I consider him to be master grower, a title I do not grant to a lot of people.
Incidentally, about 10 days ago, I was visiting some family in southern France and it just occurred to me that Cédric was in the area (I almost didn't realize). I quickly checked: 55 minutes drive only. Of course I had to go! The problem was I only had one spot in my schedule: Sunday, between 10 and 12am. I reached out to Cédric and he said he would make himself available. You can see how a lovely chap he is. I was over the moon: I would at last see the newCédric Carnivore'snursery!
To make our moment even sweeter, we were joined on that day by another friend and also master grower:Michael Negrini from Elfika Botanics. Michael runs this nursery specialized in rare tropical plants (especially Begonia) and we have been friend for many years now. He knew I was in southern France, invited me to visit him but sadly, I couldn't find the time. No problem he said, he would drop at Cédric's place since he and Cédric are also friends so that we could have a great time. And a great time it was!
Here are the three happy people on that Sunday morning: Cédric on the left and Michael on the right:
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The nursery entrance sign:
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Sadly, as my time was limited, I focused on Nepenthes and Heliamphora, my two favorite genera as I had a few observations to make in the course of my taxonomic and artistic work.I quickly pass through the enormous Sarracenia and Drosera greenhouse and deeply regretted the too little time I spent there. I know I will come back in the foreseeable future so I'll make another field trip account then, I promise. ;-)
I very quickly realized that two hours would certainly not be enough to see all the plants, especially since I had a lot to discuss with Cédric and Michael. Plants were everywhere, clearly thriving.
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While some plants were quite young, others were old specimens that I had seen ten years ago such as this wonderful Nepenthes hamata. I always love it when lower and upper pitchers are produced at the same time on a specimen. So didactic (I'm a teacher and lecturer, remember? ^^ ).
Another table quickly caught my attention; there was a gorgeous specimen of one of my favorite species displaying numerous pitchers:
Nepenthes burbidgeae
With Michael here, for scale.
Michael is a fantastic grower which skill is only matched by his versatility.He also is one of the very best growers I know and his talent can be seen from the
Nepenthes he grows to his superb
Begonia (from which he has created loads of exquisite hybrids), to, among other plants,
Platcycerium,
Drosera,
Heliamphora or
Emblemantha, a
genus of little jewels notably found in Sumatra.
I spent whole minutes looking at these N. burbidgeae upper pitchers. I wish my little seed grown specimens at home would look like that!
Surprisingly, as my two friends were busied tackling various subjects related to carnivorous plants, my attention got caught by a couple of wonderful hybrids:Nepenthes mira x veitchii.
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My friends well know that I am a species guy and that I get bored very easily with hybrids. Cédric likes to tease me about that. Most of the time, I think hybrids are less interesting than either of the parents and at best, they provide me with some amusement when I try to guess their parentage. Of course, I don't want to dismiss the great effort put into hybridization and I also well aware that I am being very unfair and snobbish on that point. That being said, these particular hybrids were spellbinding and I could almost purchase one of them. Almost. ;-)
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Of course, Cédric grows some classical hybrids such as this humongousNepenthes truncata x lowii(Boring. Ok, I will stop being naughty. ;-) )
I'm not sure about the identification of the following hybrids and I forgot to check their tags. Any suggestions is welcome. ;-)
Enough of the hybrids ^^, back to the species! Here is a lovely Nepenthes truncata:
A wonderful Nepenthes veitchii
(Like some of you, I could grow a whole greenhouse of these)
Another one great Nepenthes veitchii:
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A promising Nepenthes edwardsiana. Michael, in the background was showing (off 😜) the size of his biggest Nepenthes rajah. Knowing the animal, I'm pretty sure he is not exaggerating and, surely, a visit must be planned on my side in the very foreseeable future. ;-) My last visit at this place, 4 years ago (I know, I haven't posted anything here on the blog about it-maybe one day), had left me in awe and apparently his plants look even better now. Michael is, among other feats, by far, the best N. attenboroughii and N . palawanensis I know.
A wonderful Nepenthes glandulifera. This species is very underrated to me and I was delighted to admire such a well grown specimen.
Then my eyes laid down on a familiar plant: a taxon once known as Nepenthes macfarlanei from Genting Highlands): the newly described Nepenthes ulukaliana:
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To those of you who haven't found about it yet, Nepenthes macfarlanei is a name which has been originally coined for a taxon growing on Gunung Bubu in Peninsular Malaysia. Over more than a century, the concept of N. macfarlanei has been expanded by various taxonomists to include other plants from Peninsular Malaysia which had given the idea for the last decades that N. macfarlanei was very variable, with hairs under the lid of various lengths, texture and distribution. Recent field and herbarium studies had shown that only the plants from Gunung Bubu fit with the original types specimen and concept of N. macfarlanei and that later puzzling descriptions actually represented a mix of various separated taxa, now all described. If you want to know more about the subject, please start with this (lengthy) paper. You can also reach out directly to me as I am one of the researchers involved. ;-)
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Have a look at N. ulukaliania diagnostic short lid hairs (so different from the true
N. macfarlanei). It was sweet to see a healthy specimen of this species. In my experience, it is rare to encounter these in cultivation.
Another species which I have studied a lot these last years and also a classic: Nepenthes sanguinea. This is a plant that looks like those found on Gunung Ulu Kali in Genting Highlands.
An here is an old friend: Nepenthes bokorensis.
Nepenthes bokorensis is the very first species I have described (2009) as a taxonomist and therefore it is always a special feeling for me to see adult plants in collection. Cédric has always been very successful with this (granted, easy) species.
I was amused to see seedlings growing directly in the geotextile layer on which the plant grows. N. bokorensis flowers on a regular basis for Cédric and this female plant has released some seeds in the pot vicinity. Of couse, with some other species flowering at the same time, who knows what these seedlings can actually be!
And here is a favorite of mine, a plant I don't grow, a plant I am looking for (hint, hint) and a species I have observed in the wild some years ago: the very endangered (and very poached) Nepenthes rigidifolia. I knew Cédric had a nice specimen and it didn't disappoint. I so hope talented growers like Cédric or Michael can produce seed of this species one day.
Let's finish the Nepenthes tour with a few other species (there were so many others): Nepenthes ovata:
lower pitcher and...
upper pitcher.
And the last one will beNepenthes gymnamphora. This is a species that I have seen almost by the hundreds in Sumatra a few years ago. It is also clearly underrated to me.
I had to eventually leave from the Nepenthes area in order to have some time with the Heliamphora, my second favorite genus and one that will keep me busy for the next years as a researcher and as an artist (more about that soon...). I remember Cédric's gorgeous Heliamphora collection ten years ago and, apparently, the plants look as good as ever.
Lets start with a classic:Heliamphora glabra x nutans
(aka H. "nutans giant").
Some happyHeliamphora exappendiculatawith the bizarre plants from Amuri tepuy on the right.
Another view of H. exappendiculata:
The majesticHeliamphora neblinae from Avispa, one of the few Heliamphora I am still looking for my own collection:
A general view of the marsh pitchers area (with my partner Amandine in the back maybe starting to wonder how long I would actually stay there... 😅)
A beautiful Heliamphora purpurascenswith a huge lid.
A stunningHeliamphora parvapot. This is certainly a favorite species for a lots of Heliamphora grower, me included.
Another view of the Heliamphora table with some nice Heliamphora folliculata on the front:
On this table, I was particularly interested to examine thisHeliamphora tatei from Cerro Duida. As some of you may know if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, I am currently painting this very plant (the Duida "variant") and I wanted to confront my informations on this plant with a live specimen (I don't grow this plant) in order to create a painting as accurate as possible.
My heart sank a bit when I saw this gorgeousHeliamphora'Cyclops' (H. neblinae x H. folliculata), a cultivar created and registered by my late friend and Heliamphora expert grower, Andy Smith. This will arguably be the one of the only Heliamphora hybrids I will include in my collection one day.
To complete my visit I had a glance at Cédric's Nepenthes lowland chamber where he keeps a very nice selection of plants. I will have a deeper look at this particular setup when I will be back. My time was unfortunately running out.
Let's finish this private tour with a picture of me and the Master.
Thank you so much Cédric for the visit.Hats off to the immense work you, your wife Emilie and your two children have achieved! It was inspiring. I will certainly be back and it won't be after ten years this time. ;-)
