Y is for YES INDEED I'll pick out plants!

My mom assigned me with the task of plant shopping, as evidenced by this sideways picture. There were a few parameters:

-Don't be too ambitious. It all has to be planted within a week.

-Stay under $50.

-Don't buy too many exotic things.


That last one was a serious concern. I have a particular affinity for carnivorous plants. And by "affinity," I mean that I buy them and watch them in awe until their inevitable demise, and I know more than the average human being about them. For example, the three types of carnivorous plants you'll typically hear about are the Venus Flytrap, the Pitcher Plant, and the Sundew. From what I've seen, VFTs are the most common in stores that sell plants, then Pitcher Plants. I've owned both in the past, so I always wanted to own a Sundew as well, but never came across them. For sale, anyway. I saw an exhibit all about carnivorous plants last summer. So cool.

But I went through the plant nursery sticking to the rules rather well, estimating totals in my head and picking out a good mix of annuals and perennials that didn't look terrible next to each other. It was a nice day, and I had a lot of fun going up and down the aisles, even if I did have to cart-dodge the elderly like a peculiar game of Mario Kart.

And I was juuuuust about to check out, when I saw...

THE GREENHOUSE

*Cart swerve*

I got to THE GREENHOUSE by traveling back indoors, past the collection of iron garden statues, and then through a different set of doors. So yeah, it was kind of like Wonderland. Bamboo trees and all.

And I thought... This is it. This is where they'd be.

Carnivorous plaaaaaaaaaaaants!

This isn't as surprising as I'm making it sound. This same facility once carried HUGE pitcher plants, and I saw little Venus Flytraps right inside the door of THE GREENHOUSE. But what I wasn't expecting was a whole collection of SUNDEWS.

I went all Edvard Munch when I saw them. I'm pretty sure the guy standing nearby was not making eye contact on purpose.

Pictured: My face (artist's renditon). Sorry for your nightmares.

Now, a year ago at the exhibit, I learned that even though all of the pictures of Sundews in plant books look like this...



...they are all up-close photos. Not up close, the Sundew looks like this:

Except now imagine some leaves half-withered and all of them covered in some amount of soil.

The first time I realized how small they were, I was severely disappointed. But I've gotten over that pretty well, and seeing a Sundew with a price tag... well, I had to have it.

 

When my dad saw it later, the conversation went:

Dad: What's this?
Tome: A sundew.
Dad: What's a sundew?
Tome: Well--
Dad: HEATS THE EARTH! Haaaaaaaaa

I'm pretty sure my dad was Court Jester in a past life.

My Sundew now sits in a pretty sunny area, chillin' with some cacti. If I see any flies, I might grab the Sundew and run around the house with my arms outstretched trying to catch the bug in the Sundew's sticky beads. It might be comical.

Successful day!

Tome