Spiral Perspective

I’ve started cultivating carnivorous plants. I’ve been a fan of flytraps for a long time, but it wasn’t until recently that I’ve decided to get some other plants and grow my collection. These plants can be hard to keep if you don’t know what you’re doing. You cannot water canivorous plants with tap water. The chlorine and fluoride will kill them. Rain or lake water is best. I collect bottles of water from a nearby stream but obviously you need to check the area for signs of contamination before deciding to use it. Also, they need a lot of sunlight and should be kept moist at all times. Some plants, flytraps especially, require a period of dormancy in the winter where they all but die off. But that’s a subject for another time.

The biggest plus side I’ve found to keeping these plants is that they tackle the fruit fly problems I get from keeping African Land Snails. The fermenting fruit isn’t usually an issue, but can attract these harmless, but annoying flies in the spring/summer. These plants are pretty AND practical!

I have two flytraps, Dionaea muscipula, growing at the moment. One is an adult I picked up recently and the other (far left) is one that is regrowing after a period of winter dormancy. I’m hoping to get some prettier pots for these soon but all the ones I’ve seen in the local garden centers are boring. Any suggestions of where to find interesting pots is appreciated!

Here is my recently acquired pitcher plant, Nepenthes alata, which is growing really fast at the moment. I’m hoping to get a cute hanging pot for it to sit in so the traps won’t rest on my windowsill.

The terrible phrasing on this label amused me. “Try to keep the plant in a moisty environment”. So, they can write the latin name of the plant on the label but they don’t think people will understand what humid means?

My collection is really small at the moment but I’m hoping to get a few more soon. There are two plants at the top of my wish list; the rather beautiful pitcher plant Heliamphora chimantensis, and Drosera capensis, commonly known as the Cape sundew.