traps!

I went to a garden show with my sister yesterday. It was actually a home and garden show, so there seemed to be more booths about finishing basements and weatherizing windows than about plants, but I still managed to see lots of beautiful growing things, and couldn't resist picking up a few for myself.

First I bought two carnivorous plants. I find these so intriguing. Not to mention my backyard is always full of mosquitoes in summer, and the Sundew is a native Maryland plant (where the show was held) and can survive the winter- it just goes dormant. I didn't know. It remains a low-growing plant that forms a mat across the ground, so I don't imagine it becoming a feature in my garden but I do want to find a spot for it and hope it helps a little with the insect control.

I also got a Venus Flytrap. This will be the third time I've had a flytrap. The others died. I forgot to water them every day and they dried out. Plus I don't know if they got enough sun. This time I have a better strategy for watering properly: keep it in a tray that's always got water sitting in it. Also, both these plants can't use tapwater but must have gentle rainwater or distilled water. (Another reason to get a rain barrel). I'm thinking of planting both of these outside eventually...

Incidentally, although it's fun to drop struggling insects into the traps and watch them close up, the flyer I got at the booth says you're only supposed to feed them once a month, and it's really better to just put there where they can catch prey naturally, on their own. I probably overfed the ones I had before, too.