As we wound up Erik and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, on the way back from Washington D.C. I persuaded Ted to take a slight detour (ok it was more than slight) to a carnivorous plant nursery in Smithsburg, MD, called coincidentally Carnivorous Plant Nursery where we met Michael Szesze, the owner and propagator. We went there to pick up the carnivorous plants that I will be installing at Ann’s Place with a corporate group later this week. I also purchased a few samples for myself as the Venus fly traps and sundews (Droseras) that were part of my carnivorous garden at home had died last year. Time to replant.
To get to Michael’s nursery it was a good thing that Ted had his iPhone with a great GPS program in it as the trip was really an over-the-river-and-through-the-woods type of experience. But is was worth it as our tour through the many farms and rolling hills was a perfect way to start our trip home from our long ride. After many twists and turns, we arrived at Michael’s place, which upon entering looked like a tiny and unassuming building. Once inside, however, it was anything but that. There were rows upon rows of young plants that Michael was growing. And then we went outside.
Outside there are dozens of partially raised beds filled with flowering pitcher plants and other carnivorous brethren. Each one looked more lovely than the prior. We lingered for a while looking at all the varieties and the different sizes of plants that Michael was selling. I then looked at the boxes of plants that Michael had potted up, and was pleased as I felt that we received a good representation of the type of stock he had. Ted was amazed as he had never seen such a large collection of carnivorous plants like that in his life. “I thought I had seen everything,” he said.
We loaded up our plants into the van and started our way home.
The advantage of picking up plants in this fashion is that when you pick them up, they are potted rather than sent bare root and thus you get lots of hangers on e.g. extra plants for free. I noticed that in the pots of the plants for Ann’s Place that were loaded up with many extra babies.
I waited a day before getting my plants into the ground and soon realized my good fortune. I probably got twice the number of Venus fly traps I ordered and half as many extra sundews, a favorite plant of Charles Darwin who wrote a book about it. They nicely filled in the spaces in my bog. I guess it was time to get off the bike.
