BOWL FOR MEXICAN PINGUICULA

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My maybe least-maintenance and most forgiving setup is my little bowl for Mexican Pinguicula, running well over a decade now on a minimum of care. Decide yourself if you find it aesthetic ;)

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What did the trick for me was to use an airy, completely inorganic soil that Eric Partrat suggests on Pinguicula.org. He prefers a mix of "2 perlite, 2 vermiculite, 1 pouzzolane (lava rock), 1 aqualite (can be replaced by one more unit of pouzzolane), 1 fine sand, 1 coarse sand, 1 calcareous clay. All well mixed."

I found a simplified version of equal amounts of perlite, vermiculite, lava and sand working sufficiently for me, and by far better than any peat-containing soils: it holds the water very well without bringing stagnant conditions, and it keeps the fungus gnats away. So I get along with watering once a month, sometimes even less freqent. I use tap water, as these plants even need some lime, and found many different light situations working well. 

 

There are many lovely dwarfs among the group (P. esseriana to be named first here; in the image top right with its mauve flowers). A small bowl will keep a whole collection, and can even house a nice collection of pretty rocks! And it is much fun to go searching for even more new little miniatures - many of those will be quite forgiving.

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In the above bowl (30cm in diameter) is growing (clockwise) P. esseriana, gracilis (white little flowers), cyclosecta, spec ?, nivalis, reticulata (striped violet flower) and ehlersiae (big white flower). I never replaced the soil, only did some surface work from time to time.