I’m brand new to the world of carnivorous plants. Someone gave me this tiny Venus fly trap (VFT) plant and I’m learning. It’s just a baby; the whole pot is only two inches wide. I put it outside for sun and bugs and was so surprised that it captured a big spider! I thought a mosquito or fruit fly was more its size.

Overachiever VFT

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The cotoneaster berries are super red this year. Birds and photographers love their winter redness. Note: this plant has an extremely weird pronunciation. You might think it was “cotton Easter,” but no. It’s actually pronounced cuh-tone-ee-AST-er. Isn’t that something?

Brilliant red cotoneaster berries from above

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I adore my little carnivorous plant, a Cape sundew. It eats fruit flies and soil gnats! A few short months ago I transplanted the three little plants that were in a 2″ pot into a 4″ pot, filled with sphagnum moss. They are so happy—I need a bigger pot already! One just bloomed and now the second one is getting a flower.

Care tips: 1) Must sit in an outer pot kept filled with water about halfway up. 2) NEVER give it fertilizer. The bugs feed it. Learned this the hard way.

Tiny droplets attract fruit flies and soil gnats on the Drosera capensis, commonly known as the Cape sundew

Also on Through My Lens Monday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Our World Tuesday, Tuesday’s Wordless Wednesday, Tuesday Treasures, Wordless Wednesday, My Corner of the World Wednesday 1, Little Things Thursday, Friday Bliss, Pink Saturday, Garden Affair Saturday, and All Seasons Sunday1. Thanks so much for visiting here and hope to see you again soon. Please sign up at upper right for notifications of new posts.

I love my little sundew plant. It’s a carnivorous plant that eats fruit flies and soil gnats. A bog plant, so likes to sit in water in the outer pot, and you must never fertilize as the little bugs is all the food it wants. Can you see a speck or two of bugs it’s feasting on right now? When it gets warmer there will be more fruit flies for it.

Sundew drosera capensis very happy after being repotted.

Also posting this on Through My Lens Monday1, Macro Monday, Our World Tuesday, Tuesday’s Wordless Wednesday, Tuesday Treasures, Wordless Wednesday, My Corner of the World Wednesday 1, Little Things Thursday, Friday Bliss, Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and All Seasons Sunday1. Thanks so much for visiting here and hope to see you again soon. Please sign up at upper right for notifications of new posts.

I call this the Dr. Seuss plant because it looks so wacky. Checking google images, I see it is sometimes called paintbrush lily. The flower is about 1.5 or 2 inches. It is a bulb related to amaryllis. Notice the tiny leaves in the dirt. Last year it set a few seeds, and I got one to grow!

Adorable houseplant haemanthus-albiflos blooms early in the year

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The Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle has been having some illumination art fundraisers. This is a lit-up carnivorous plant sculpture from last night’s Lusio Lights art event. You just don’t see something like this every day.

Large light art sculpture of a Venus fly trap. The light colors kept shifting.

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This is my little carniverous Cape Sundew (drosera capensis) plant that I got to help with fruit flies in my kitchen. The plant is about as wide as my hand, and the flower stem is almost a foot tall! I don’t know that it traps all that many fruit flies, but it’s cute, and I was thrilled when it recently began to flower. As instructed, I keep the saucer half filled with water, in part sun, and it seems to be happy. Bonus: TWO photos this post!

Cape Sundew (drosera capensis) on my windowsill with a few tiny fruit flies in its feathery leaves. The flower stem is at upper right.

Tiny pink Cape Sundew flowers, each less than half an inch (1 cm) on a stem about 12″ tall.  Only one flower blooms at a time.

Linking to Our World Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Macro Monday, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Pink Saturday, My Romantic Home, and Saturday Show Off. Thanks for visiting and please come back soon.

I’ve been saving these photos since I took them in September at a local garden because I knew I wanted to show them at Christmastime. The common name is Doll’s Eyes, and the real name is Actaea pachypoda plant. I just think they are so cool. Of course, any white berry is probably poisonous, so don’t plant them around kids, but I just love them, and especially their highly descriptive name. Happy Holiday to you, and happy Ruby Tuesday also.

Tomorrow is the last day: PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for this photoblog before Dec. 15 and leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much! Photoblog Awards 2009.

I think this plant may be a descendant of my original spider plant from the ’60s or ’70s. Yes, I had a macrame plant hanger then. Spider plants just keep having babies, and I feel like a murderer if I don’t make other plants from them eventually. Who knows how many have been given away, but I always keep one or two. Some bright light but not too much sun, a little plant food, and they are happy, living their little plant lives.

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