Every spring Venus flytraps show up in garden centers and next to checkouts. Sometimes there’ll be a pitcher plant—one of the North American Sarracenia varieties, not the South American Heliamphora or the Asian Nepenthes, or the Australian Cephalotus, although those are pretty cool too.
I always wonder if I should rescue one of those plants but I’ve had experience growing them. At one point I had a collection of more than a hundred different carnivorous plants. It also included sundews, butterworts, and bladderworts, which you’ll almost never find in your garden variety garden center. Some were really easy to grow. As popular as Venus flytraps are, though, they weren’t among the easy ones. Venus flytraps like it sunny, humid, and very wet. Their water also has to be very pure. Because they suck up so much water any chemicals tend to build up. I could provide the water and the humidity, but short of sticking the plants on the roof of our house I couldn’t give them the all-day sun they needed.
A few rows down from the Venus flytraps I found some succulents for sale, including lithops—the living stone plants. I’ve tried growing those too. Also not an easy plant. Lithops like it sunny and extremely dry. Most come from places where the annual rainfall is less than thirteen inches per year. Short of sticking them next to a dehumidifier under a sun lamp there was no way I could give them the conditions they needed.
For some people the challenge of growing these plants at home is part of the fun. I knew a guy who grew Darlingtonia, another kind of pitcher plant I forgot to mention earlier, which is found in the Pacific Northwest. It grows in places where cold water flows over its roots. He built an elaborate system with a cooler and plastic tubing and added a regular supply of ice.
That someone would go to those lengths always makes me think of an idea that every unusual plant grower I’ve ever known has thought: these plants evolved to grow in very special environments. Maybe they also figured out a way to trick humans into recreating those environments so they could thrive far from their place of origin.
Some humans, anyway. After most of my collection was wiped out by a double attack of whiteflies and aphids I lost interest in growing the plants. The challenge was too much for me.
I admit that I know nothing about plants, especially carnivorous ones, but wouldn’t the Venus Fly Trap and others like it eat its attackers? Adding more to my list of things I don’t know….
In all seriousness that’s a good question–why wouldn’t carnivorous plants eat their attackers? And the answer is that not all parts of the plant capture and eat bugs. A Venus Fly Trap has a long leaf but only the very tip of it is made for capturing prey, and very small insects–like aphids–can pass through even those parts without being caught. And they can go after the stems, the roots, and even the flowers.
I believe in the philosophy of attending to only those plants who thrive on neglect. Never mess with a philosophy that works. 🙂
M.L. James recently posted…Take This Job and Shove It!
Fortunately there’s a whole range of plants that thrive on neglect, and, in fact, most of them seem to thrive on neglect. I just heard a garden guy on the radio who said the best thing you can do for your plants is leave ’em alone. And then there was the great Mitch Hedberg who said, “My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.”
Yeah, the fly-traps are fickle. I think every kid wanted a Little Shop of Horrors-grade Audrey II, but ended up with a pile of mushy plant matter.
We don’t currently have any live plants in the house. That may change. Some day.
It can be hard to have live plants alongside pets, and the semi-aquatic nature of some carnivorous plants attracted mosquitoes who, ironically, were not all eaten by the plants, and who can carry heartworm. Add that to the list of reasons why carnivorous plants aren’t always the best choice for home cultivation.
I’m just glad that this site gives you the conditions you need to blog, Chris.
I think we all have fertile imaginations and I appreciate you helping mine grow.