Darlingtonia californica

Well, we just got back from a little R&R - I like to refer to it as "the tour" since we drove from Seattle to San Francisco and back. It's amazing what a different experience a road trip is now that I'm - shall we say - more mature... It was actually alot of fun and we saw some pretty cool things - like deer, elk, quail, surfers, redwood trees, and of course Darlingtonia californica. Now you ask yourself, what?

Darlingtonia californica is the only carnivorous plant that grows anywhere near Washington state. It is also known as the Cobra Lily. It's a pitcher plant, so the insects fall into the "pitcher" where they are phisically trapped from getting out (there are small hairs inside the pitcher that point down and therefore are too slippery to climb up). Also, the lid of this particular pitcher has little thin "windows" in it allowing light in, but the bug can't get out through them. There are some enzymes secreted by the plant into the pitcher to digest the bugs that are trapped. The other thing that amazes is me, is that in the 21st century (167 years after it was discovered), we still do not know what pollinates the flowers...hmm, can you say PhD thesis? And fyi, the pitchers in the photo are about 2 1/2 - 3 feet tall and growing in a bog.

The Darlingtonia Wayside on the Oregon coast (near Florence) is a great place to stop and see these plants in "action". Ok, there actually isn't any action to be seen, unless you are really patient and hang around long enough to see some unfortunate fly get trapped, but you get my drift. Next time you are driving down 101, check it out!

Good Morning Fushia!

Fuschias are definitely a favorite of mine - especially the hardy ones! This one comes back in my garden every year, even if we have a heavy frost over the winter. It seems to me if I was a hummingbird, this would be the ideal place to stop for a snack, but I've never seen a hummingbird near it. I wonder if the nectar has been bred out of it to make room for color or resistance (hate it when that happens to plants, especially roses - whose main goal in life should be to smell pretty, but few do these days).

Good Morning - Poppy!

So it's a sunny weekend and I am off at the Mill Creek festival - I just wanted to share with you the pink poppies that are blooming in my garden. For those of you who have visited my garden in the summer, this is probably nothing new. For everyone else, let's just say for 2 months out of the year I have a garden that would make the Wicked Witch of the West proud - poppies have taken over despite my efforts to remove seed pods and pull out plants. I have 2 different varieties of red annual poppies, 2 different varieties of Oriental poppies (those are the perennial type), these pink ones and of course some California poppies. If anyone wants poppy seeds, let me know...