Olive Garden in the Desert

Recently we went to Coober Pedy for a holiday.  Coober Pedy is a town in outback South Australia, it is located in the largest desert in Australia - the Great Victoria Desert.  

In Coober Pedy many houses have been dug underground, they do this as the climate is too hot and hostile above ground.  Not surprisingly, there are not many gardens out that way.  

While we were in Coober Pedy we went and had a look at the Serbian Orthodox Church.  Out front of the church was a garden.  The garden consisted of a few olive trees and fig trees.  

Look at this garden, isn't it incredible!

Olive Garden in Coober Pedy

The picture above is taken when I was standing in the desert.  The fence marks the edge of the garden.  The garden is noticeably different to the surrounding landscape. 

The picture below was taken when I was standing in their garden.  It clearly gets more water, and has different soil, to the land outside of the fence.  I really wish there had been someone there who I could ask a few questions, as this type of garden is very foreign to me.

Their garden was remarkable.  

Coober Pedy Olive Garden

It is difficult to judge tone in a written blog post so I will be clear.  I am not being sarcastic, I truly found this garden to be remarkable.  I wish I could have learned more about it.  

Most of the olive trees were barely surviving, they were struggling even though they were well established and even with the extra water that they were given.  The locals kept stressing that this had been a very 'wet' year and everything was 'much more green than usual'.  Even so, these olive trees were doing it tough.  

I regret not being able to take cuttings and be able to grow a Coober Pedy olive tree at home, it would be cool to grow a Coober Pedy olive tree.  Sadly there was no one from the church around for me to ask and I didn't want to just take cuttings without asking someone first.  

Olives are well known for thriving under incredibly harsh conditions.  As olive trees and figs barely survive there with supplemental water, it really highlighted how extremely harsh the desert climate must be.  Even though these trees were barely hanging on, and most had died back, I was told that they produce fruit in season.  There was an old olive grove on the edge of town, its trees were not looking as good as the ones near the church.  

To give a little perspective on how harsh it is out there, look at the photo below.  The sign in the distance is next to a road.  It is warning drivers that there are no fences, and to beware of wandering stock.  There have been bores sunk so the stock have enough water to survive.  This was a very 'wet' and 'green' year, yet there is not a single grass growing out there.  The stock survive by eating the native shrubs that exist in that part of the desert.  Interestingly these animals are not fed grains or concentrates, they find enough food to survive in the desert, but that is a story for another time.  

Unfenced farm near Coober Pedy

Interestingly, there were very few dugouts with succulents or cacti growing out the front.  The few that did have anything growing appeared to be under cover and were provided with shade.  

I asked someone about this, and was told it is too hot and dry for succulents to survive unless they were under shelter and were provided with extra water.  This person gave me some cuttings from their string of beans succulent (Senecio radians) that they kept partially shaded and watered often.  This cutting has grown very fast since being planted back at home.  

Serbian Orthodox Church in Coober Pedy

The Serbian Orthodox church, the members of which had tended the garden, had been dug into the side of a hill.  Underground the temperature was far more stable and bearable.  This church was very interesting.  

Dug Out Church tunnel leading down

The Coober Pedy Serbian Orthodox Church is dedicated to Elijah.  For that reason the story of Elijah (from 2 Kings) is depicted on the walls.  

Some of the story is carved into the rock that the church has been excavated from, and some is depicted in paintings.  I am no photographer, so these pictures do not do justice to its beauty.  

Ornate carvings behind glass to protect them

Like any Orthodox church, there are no pews.  

This church had had the smell of an orthodox church (from the incense that is used), mixed with a curious salty, rocky smell of the earth.  

It was interesting seeing a dug out Orthodox church.  I would have loved to have been able to attend a service, but we were not there on the right times/days.  

It was fascinating seeing a desert garden.  It was interesting to see a garden survive (and produce fruit) in an area so arid and harsh that cacti and succulents do not survive without protection and being provided with extra water.  While I found it interesting, I am glad that I do not have to garden under such harsh conditions.  

Milk bottle waterer

Recently we went away for a few weeks.  I was worried that my carnivorous plants would dry out and die.  These are swamp plants, and need constant water, and I didn't know what to do.  

My carnivorous plants are growing in trays that normally hold a low level of water, and I try to keep the water at a constant (yet low) level.  I filled the trays to the top with water, but knew that it would not last until we returned.  I was worried that things would dry out and die before we returned.  

The day before we left I had an idea.  

I got some empty milk bottles and filled them with water.  I punched two holes in each of them, one slightly higher than the other.  These milk bottles should act as a waterer, and fill up the tray when water dropped below the higher hole.  I expected this to work in the same way as the waterer that I use for my chickens.  This sounded good in theory and I hoped that it would work.  

I put a milk bottle waterer in each of my trays except for one.  I would have put one in each, except I didn't have enough bottles.  Having one without the waterer would be good for comparison.  

When we left, everything looked great.  I hoped that this would work.  

Milk Bottle Waterer and trays filled 

Milk Bottle Holiday Waterers

When we returned home, all of the trays with milk bottles still had water in them, the tray without a bottle was dry.  This means they worked!

I expected air to enter the bottles through their highest hole when the water level dropped, and for them to be largely filled with air when I returned home, but this was not what happened.  

As you can see from the pictures below, water certainly left the bottles, but no air entered them.  The bottles were sucked in and crushed.  The water level of the trays is at the highest hole.  I put the higher hole at this level as it is the level I usually keep the water at.  

Bottle waterer crushed

Milk Bottle Holiday Waterers

Strangely enough, there were some tiny water beetles and other aquatic insects swimming inside some of the bottles.  Presumably they live in my trays and had entered through the holes in the milk bottles.  

Next year when I take leave if we go anywhere I will have to remember to do this again.  Even though I don't understand why the bottles were crushed, it was cheap, it worked well, and it kept my carnivorous plants watered for over two weeks.  

'DCXL' vft and 'Wally' vft growth rate comparison

I wrote a previous blog post comparing different Venus flytrap clones.  I did my best to provide the best comparison that I could by using similar age plants grown side by side under the same conditions for one year.  

In that post I compared several different Venus flytrap varieties to 'Wally' as this is my standard as it is a very vigorous clone that I had a number of plants at various ages and sizes. 

At that time I also had a new DCXL Venus fly trap, but it was a poor comparison because the plants were not grown under the same conditions as anything else I had.  

I have decided to do a better comparison of these two varieties as they are both vigorous an excellent choices for new carnivorous plant growers.  One is low growing, the other gets tall leaves, they both get decent colouration, and both are pretty forgiving of less than ideal conditions.  

I took flower stalk cuttings of 'DCXL' and 'Wally' late in the year 2021, and grew them over winter side by side in the same pot.  After winter I repotted them on the same day into the same sized pots, in the same growth media.  I grew them in separate pots, side by side, in the same tray of water.  This is a good comparison as everything other than their genetics was exactly the same.  

Similar sized flower stalk cuttings were taken from both plants late 2021.  The flower stalk cuttings were planted into live sphagnum moss on the same day and kept in the same pot to grow a little.  The plantlets survived a very mild winter, and were repotted into damp sphagnum peatmoss mixed with sand on 11 September 2022.  Being in Australia, September is the start of Spring.  

The photos below show comparison of growth between the two clones.  I tried to take photos in the first week of each month to demonstrate the speed at which they were growing. 

Early September 2022 (September is the start of spring in Australia)

It is a little difficult to see in the photo below, but the two sets of tiny Venus flytrap plants are already very different to each other.  Below is a comparison photo, and a closer photo of each.  

Comparison: Wally vft on left, DCXL vft on right

Wally produced a lot more plants from the flower stalk cutting than DCXL did.  Each Wally plant has less leaves than DCXL, and at this stage has slightly smaller traps.  At this small stage the Wally flytraps look quite delicate.  While I was tempted to divide the little Wally flytraps I decided that the comparison would be better if I left them to grow as they were.  

Wally clones from flower stalk cutting 

DCXL flower stalk cutting produced fewer plants, but each has more leaves per plant and slightly larger traps at this stage.  At this tiny stage the DCXL flytraps appear small but robust.  At this point in time DCXL has more colour in the traps than Wally.

DCXL clones from flower stalk cutting 

From here they grew in these separate identical pots, side by side, in the same tray of water, and I tried to take a photo of them in the first week of each month.  

Early October 2022 

The traps of DCXL vft are now noticeably larger than those of Wally vft.  Wally is gaining more colour on all parts of the plant.  The leaves of DCXL are not yet what I would consider to be upright growth, but it is less prostrate that Wally.

I only took one photo in October as they had not done anything too incredible since the previous month.

Venus Flytrap Wally and DCXL vft - October 2022 

Early November 2022

While plants in both pots are still very small, DCXL now has considerably larger traps than Wally.  DCXL is also starting to put out some upright growth, while Wally is staying close to the ground.  Wally has more colour on pretty much every part of the plant, but both plants are colouring up quite nicely.

You can't tell by the photos, but there are a lot more Wally plants than DCXL plants in these pots.  Each DCXL plant is larger so from a distance it looks like there are more of them.  The DCXL plants are big beefy plants with many leaves and large traps.

It's clear even at this small size that both of these flytrap clones are very impressive varieties!  If I were only to grow two varieties of Venus flytrap then these two would probably be it.

DCXL Venus flytrap - November 2022

Wally Venus flytrap - November 2022

Wally and DCXL growing side by side 

Wally Venus fly trap 

DCXL Venus fly trap 

Wally on left, DCXL on right

Now that these Venus flytraps are out of dormancy and actively growing they should really take off.  I can hardly wait to see what they do over the next month.

Early December 2022 (December is the start of Summer in Australia)

The weather has been strange, and most of my venus flytraps are either not coming out of dormancy, or are growing flower stalks and non carnivorous leaves.  Some of my other varieties of venus flytraps are declining and some of the weak varieties look like they may die this year.  

These two little ones are not going as well as I would have expected, and Wally appears to be struggling a little.  They are still growing side by side, in the same tray of water, and conditions as as close to identical as I could make them.

Wally is getting a lot more colour, and is staying low to the ground as always.  DCXL is growing into an impressive looking plant with some nice upright growth, decent colouration of trap interior, and some decent trap sizes for such a young plant.  

Wally and DCXL comparison

DCXL vft December 2022

Wally vft December 2022

DCXL Venus flytrap 

Wally Venus flytrap 

Early January 2023

The weather has been all over the place.  A lot of my little plants have been suffering and burning off.  Some of my typical venus flytraps have died.  

Wally continues to push through, and DCXL continues to grow larger.  Clearly these are both excellent varieties for new growers. 

Wally on the left, DCXL on the right

DCXL

Wally

DCXL Venus Flytrap

Wally and DCXL Venus Flytrap comparison

Wally Venus Flytrap

Early February 2023

After six months these have not grown as much as I would have expected.  That being said, they are both larger and healthier than many of my other Venus Flytrap cultivars.

DCXL has far larger traps, and longer leaves, than Wally.  Both plants have decent colouration.  

Some of the smaller Wally plants appear to have died off, while it appears all of the DCXL plants are still alive.

The weather has been all over the place here.  One day will be sunny, hot, and 35C, the next cold, windy, and 19C.  As well as the temperature fluctuating rather dramatically form day to day, it has been really dry here for the past few months.  This isn't a huge issue as I grow these in a tray of water.  I was watering using bore water for some time and there was some salt build up as we didn't have any rain to flush it away, I am back to using rain water and they are looking better.

I think my little plants are getting ready for dormancy as DCXL has stopped producing any upright growth.

DCXL flytrap

Wally flytrap

Wally on left, DCXL on right

DCXL VFT February

Wally VFT February

Early March 2023 (March is the start of Autumn in Australia)

No more upright growth.  Both of these pots would have grown better had I divided them instead of leaving them together.  

We had very strange weather this year so lots of plants are already entering dormancy.  Things will probably look run down from here until Spring.

Wally

DCXL

Wally plants from flower stalk cutting

DCXL plants from flower stalk cutting

Wally on left, DXCL on right

The difference between these clones is incredible

Early May 2023

Winter is just around the corner, so dormancy isn't too far off.  Neither clone looks great while dormant, but that is ok.  Moss is growing more than I would like, but I won't try to do anything about that until closer to Spring.

Wally VFT going into winter

DCXL VFT going into winter

Early June 2023 (June is the start of winter in Australia)

Venus Flytrap Comparison - Wally and DCXL

Wally VFT start of winter

DCXL VFT start of winter

Early July 2023

Being winter, all of my Venus flytraps look dreadful as they are mostly dormant.  Other than the moss, everything is as it should be.  I plan to repot these late winter/early spring and when I do I will remove as much moss as possible.

Early August 2023 

As you can see, the plants are dormant and look horrible.  This is normal and healthy for Venus Flytraps over winter here.  Spring is around the corner, once the weather warms and there is more sunlight I expect these plants to grow and look good once again.  

Dormant VFTs, Wally on left, DCXL on right

Wally VFT late winter

DCXL VFT late winter

Wally and DCXL flytraps over winter

12 month Comparison

Here they are repotted, and ready for spring growth.  Side by side, Wally VFT on the left and DCXL vft on the right.  Below is the initial phot, as well as photos of where they are now.  

Ideally I would have divided them a year ago, but I wanted to show what they would do if left as is.  

September 2022: Wally vft on left, DCXL vft on right

August 2023: Wally vft on left, some of the DCXL vft on right

August 2023

From the Wally flower stalk cutting I ended up with four healthy plants and a couple of tiny ones that could be divided once they start growing in warmer weather.  Four of them should be flowering size perhaps this year but probably next year.  This past year the growing conditions were not good, and the crowding only made things worse and many of the smallest plants died.  Had I divided these earlier I would have ended up with many more plants.  

From the DCXL flower stalk cutting I ended up with six healthy plants.  Each should reach flowering size this year or at the latest next year.  Even though the weather was not great the past year, they did not suffer as much from crowding as they started with less plantlets.  

This past year the weather was not ideal for flytraps.  Both of these varieties fared much better than any of the other varieties, named or unnamed, that I am growing.

Venus Flytraps: Wally on left, DCXL on the right

DCXL flyraps ready for spring

Wally flytraps ready for spring growth

DCXL Venus Flytraps largely dormant

While venus flytraps are all the same species, there are many different varieties, each of which grows differently, looks different, and performs best under slightly different conditions.  Wally stays low to the ground and divides well, and gets a lot more colouration with more light intensity.  DCXL has tall summer growth, large summer traps, and produce big beefy plants.  Both varieties produce decent sized traps.  Both varieties are great for beginners as they are forgiving of difficult growing conditions.  

From here these plants will break dormancy, and put on some active growth.  I will probably leave some as they are, and I may attempt to divide others.  

When they send up flower stalks I will probably try to take more cuttings.  I may allow them to flower and attempt to gather seed from them, but I tend to have low success having flytraps produce viable seed.  Growing Venus Flytraps from see is fun as every seed grown plant is unique, it also takes years to get a decent sized plant.  

Venus flytraps handle bare rooted postage well.  If you are in Australia and would like to swap some varieties with me, my contact detail can be found on my for sale page.

Hopefully this comparison is useful for someone wanting to grow Venus Flytraps.