You Grow Girl™

Big excitment! I finally got to see carnivorous plants growing in the wild!! It was the closest thing to a religious experience I'll ever have. I'm still high from the thrill of it!

Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)

Over the weekend we went on a trip up north to visit Davin's dad in rural Ontario. A long time ago Beate mentioned that there were some little pockets of carnivorous plants growing in the Saugeen region. I mentioned this to Davin's dad and he said he thought he knew where we could find some. So on Saturday afternoon we drove out to Singing Sands a conservation area about 10-20 minutes outside of Tobermory.

When we arrived I was so excited my heart was racing. I knew there were carnivores in Ontario, but to actually see such exotic things growing out there is something else. I immediately headed over to the boardwalk that goes over the fen to see if I could find anything. The sun was going down at that point so there really wasn't much time. Sure enough on first glance I couldn't see much but a lot of dry grassland and some flowers. But as my eyes adjusted I spotted my first pitcher plants (Sarracenia purpurea). It was a large, plump plant with seed pods. I thought they were flowers but some research has indicated that they were actually spent flowers lacking petals. Apparently the pitchers remain closed until the plant is finished flowering. That way it can avoid eating its pollinators!

Once I spotted the first pitcher plant it was easy to see more. They were everywhere! Plants growing in full sun were a darker purple or green with purple veining while plants growing in shadier spots were greener with some purple colouration and plumper, larger pitchers. As I walked to the end of the boardwalk I became concerned that I hadn't spotted any sundews (Drosera). I knew they had to be there... but they're such tiny plants. However in a patchy area where the grass was thin, I found my first Drosera linearis. It was a pretty large plant with dried seed pods and long, thin pads. I truly could have spent hours laying on the boardwalk and staring at it. Really beautiful.

Sundew (Drosera linearis)

Needless to say we had a great time running around on the boardwalk pointing at plants, wondering aloud what they could be, and anxiously taking photos before the sun completely disappeared. I was riding on such a high I gave some tourists an impromptu mini tour pointing out the various plants and slinging facts at them that I'm sure they could have cared less about. They were all "Well what do ya know? Isn't that interesting. Honey, would ya look at that?"

Sundew (Drosera linearis)

In addition to the carnivores (which ruled the trip) I also saw some neat frogs, indian paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea), boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), Grass-of-Parnassus (Parnassia glauca), nodding ladies' tresses (Spiranthes cernua) an orchid!, and other plants I can't identify. Sadly I did not find any other carnivores yet I'm certain there could have been more.

Field of Carnivores on the Fen

If you're in this area Singing Sands is well worth checking out. It's a beautiful place with unusual plants and orchids. I'm hoping to get back there at another time with a full day to hike around and see more.

Oh ya. On Friday I went to the community plot and picked some nice ripe tomatoes. But who cares... I saw carnivorous plants!