Sarracenia 'Judith Hindle' with pollinated flowers. Note tags indicating pollen parent.

Some people may argue that nature produced a limited number of pure forms and we shouldn't mess with them. But visit any Sarracenia bog with more than one species present and you will likely find hybrids--nature messing with pure forms. Many of these hybrids are quite spectacular. Horticultural hybrids can also be quite spectacular and many are easier to grow than pure species.

Sarracenia species are found in diverse habitats and each species has unique pitchering, flowering, and growing characteristics. Simple hybrids may or may not show characters intermediately between the parents. So it is difficult to give general rules about growing hybrids because you never know exactly what you will get. This is good.

It is both exciting and useful when growing hybrids to never quite know what you will get and how the plants will do. In general you don't have to be as careful growing hybrids from seed. You can select for plants that look nice and grow well under your conditions. By select I mean throw out the ones that don't do well and keep the ones that do. Don't waste your time and growing space on runts. Save the most healthy, beautiful ones. You never know, you may produce the next Sarracenia 'Judith Hindle'.

For making crosses and growing hybrids from seed, you may use the general guidelines for growing Sarracenia from seed. Within reason use soils and techniques that are convenient for you.

But what plants to cross? Or what to expect in a general way from hybrid seeds your receive? There are some general rules. For one they will be pitcher plants, although some hybrids are doubtful about even that. Imagine a plant with no true pitchers, only long phyllodia (pitcherless leaves) with a wicked yellow claw at the end. Hybrids can be like that. Other potentially beautiful pitchers just can't exist. You won't find plants that have areoles (white cells) with red veins the whole length of the pitcher. The plant wouldn't have enough photosynthetic cells to survive. But you could find something like Sarracenia 'Ladies in Waiting' that has the top quarter of the pitcher with areoles and red veins and the rest of the leaf can be red if it gets enough light.

Three sibling Sarracenia (purpurea x flava) x leucophylla hybrids. Note the extreme variation among them.

How much variability should you expect between individual of the same cross? Quite a bit. The more complex the cross the more variability. The three plants pictured above are the results of a cross Sarracenia (purpurea x flava) x leucophylla. Notice the different pitcher shapes, colors, veining, hood shape and ruffles. Compare the Sarracenia (psittacina x purpurea) x leucophylla plants below. The hoods are very different but the coloration is similar.

Are there some general rules? Actually yes. Think of each Sarracenia species and hybrid as being a member of your creative palette:

Sarracenia alata is great if you like green pitchers. There are some nice S. alata x minor hybrids such as Sarracenia 'Imhotep'. The red tube and heavily veined S. alata may also be interesting in various crosses. And this species can be more tolerant of temperature extremes than the other species.

Sarracenia hybrids with S. rubra by John Hummer. On the left is Sarracenia 'Hummer's Hammerhead', a hybrid involving S. psittacina and on the right is one involving S. minor.

Two more of John Hummer's Sarracenia rubra hybrids, Sarracenia 'Golden Red Jubilee' and Sarracenia 'John's Autumnal Splendor'. Bob Hanrahan's Sarracenia 'Adrian Slack' on the far right is a complex hybrid involving S. flava and S. leucophylla.

A very nice Sarracenia leucophylla X minor cross.

A complex Sarracenia flava X leucophylla cross. At first glance, it could be confused with a pure S. flava.

Sarracenia flava has some lovely varieties that are sufficiently spectacular that you may have trouble envisioning more. But Sarracenia 'Adrian Slack', a complex hybrid with S. leucophylla, is more! S. flava is used for the yellow coloration in the hood of some varieties, the red tube or the red at the throat. S. flava has the disadvantage that this species tends to only produce pitchers in the spring. The hybrids between S. flava and species that pitcher all season or spring and fall will have a tendency to pitcher over a longer period.

Sarracenia leucophylla is arguably the most popular species for hybridizing. The pitchers are like flowers in themselves which is how they attract their prey. You can get the areoles into your hybrids from this species or from S. psittacina. This species tends to pitcher in the spring and fall.

Sarracenia minor makes very nice hybrids. A popular one is with S. leucophylla.

Sarracenia oreophila can be used in hybridization to get oranges, yellows, and other colors into pitchers. The hybrids may also be more vigorous and can tolerate more extreme conditions. The downside with this species is it only produces nice pitchers in the spring. In the fall it produces recurved phyllodia that may carry through to the hybrids.

Sarracenia psittacina is very popular with hybridizers because it can have many large areoles and some varieties respond to strong sun with intense colors. The pitchers of hybrids are somewhat recumbent but quite often not as much as might be expected. This species has it best pitchers in the fall.

Sarracenia purpurea has short, squat pitchers that can be red or green, may have a wavy hood, and the plants from the northern USA and Canada are very cold tolerant. This species is used to get deep red, ruffled hoods, and heavy veining into hybrids. Hybrids with the very tall species, S. flava, can be very nice. It tends to have its best pitchers in the fall.

Sarracenia rubra is useful in producing hybrids with a short stature and/or a long droopy hood. Some S. rubra varieties are heavily veined or all red.