Science Lesson #2: 2 Free Venus Fly-Trap Viewings + 4 Other Botanical Gardens

Meat-eating plants!  Oh my!  Plants eating ants, flies, spiders, and other insects sound like a bizarre science-fiction film, but you and your kids can see the process in action.  Visit a fly-trap farm or botanical center with venus fly traps, pitcher plants, bladderworts, and sundews.  

 

How does a plant capture an insect?  The venus fly-trap emits a fruity scent that attracts insects.  Tiny bristles within the leaf trigger the plant to close when an insect brushes against it.  Once the insect gets captured inside, the plant has a "green stomach", producing digestive enzymes and transporters to take up nutrients.  It can take several days to digest the insect.  

The venus fly-trap is native to Cape Fear, North Carolina.  The loss of habitat has led to 95% of the original plants to disappear.  There's now less than 30,000 plants in the wild.  However, farmers grow the plants and sell them at their nursery or online.

We visited the largest botanical collection of carnivorous plants on display to the public in the US.  Located 45 minute north of San Francisco in Sebastopol, CA, California Carnivores is open Thur. to Mon. 10AM-4PM to the public.  The owner has grown carnivorous plants for nearly 50 years, wrote the book The Savage Garden:  Cultivating Carnivorous Plants, and featured on Martha Stewart Living.  Unfortunately the plane transportation meant we couldn't buy plants onsite.  However, it inspired us to visit our local home improvement stores and we easily found a kit to buy.

 Another way to see the plants for free - visit The United States Botanic Garden Savage Gardens in Washington D.C. from 10AM to 5PM.  Here's four other botanical gardens featuring meat-eating plants:

1.  MOSI Museum of Science & Industry Coleman-Lienhart Savage Garden, Tampa, FL, adults $27, child $21

2.  Frederick Meijer Garden Kenneth E. Nelson Carnivorous Plant House, Grand Rapids, MI, adults $15, children under age 13 for $7, over 150 acres

3.  Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden The Carnivorous Plant Bogs located in Rory Meyers Children's Adventure Garden, adult $15, child under age 12 for $10

4.  Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Garden Savage Gardens, Columbus, OH; $14 adults, $7 child under age 17, plants and sculptures