Venus Flytrap...

In Spring or Summer of 2oo8 I bought a Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). They are native to North Carolina, although not the area of North Carolina in which I live. I planted it in its own terra-cotta pot within the bog garden because, although they need a period of cold - you know, like Winter, - I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it for Winter. I ended up leaving the plant in my bog garden to see how it would fare. It didn't make it.




So, last Summer, I bought another Venus Fly Trap and again planted it in the terra-cotta pot. When Winter came around, I put the plant into my greenhouse. This time, even though it looked a little sad, it did make it through the Winter and I was very pleased.




As the weather began to warm up, I put it back out into the bog garden. It started growing again. And then a few weeks ago, I realized that it was starting to send up a flower stalk! You can see it in the above picture.



My Venus FlyTrap is now blooming. I am just thrilled. First the success of helping it through the Winter and now the reward of flowers. What more could I ask of it?!




As you can tell by my pictures, it forms a cluster of buds. The one bloom open has been open for a couple of days now.




I checked to see if the flowers might be fragrant, but I couldn't detect any scent. There is a tiny spider web thread along the top of the petals. If you click on the above picture, it will enlarge and you can see the web thread.



It is a small flower - just less that half an inch across - but the detail in it is absolutely amazing. And it might reseed itself. How awesome would that be!


Have a beautiful day!