Boston Flora

Tag: Carnivorous Plants

  • Monday, November 4, 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm Eastern – The World of Carnivorous Plants, Online

    Smithsonian Associates presents an online lecture on carnivorous plants on November 4 with Steve Nicholls. Be careful when you next go into your garden: It’s full of killers. You may be familiar with carnivorous plants such as the Venus flytrap, sundew, or pitcher plant, but a surprising number of plants could be classified as carnivorous—including your geraniums and potentillas.

    Many true carnivorous plants have surprisingly good relationships with insects. Some pitcher plants feed ants and give them a secure home, others are complete miniature ecosystems, homes for creatures ranging from mosquitoes to frogs. A few have even turned vegetarian and eat leaves or, even stranger, serve as rest rooms for tree shrews and subsist on their droppings. Once you delve deep enough, nothing in the world of carnivorous plants is quite what it seems.

    Steve Nicholls, a wildlife filmmaker with a lifelong interest in botany and horticulture who has produced and directed several films on carnivorous plants, examines this amazing natural world in intimate detail. $20 for Smithsonian members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/programs/world-of-carnivorous-plants

  • Saturday, October 3, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – The Colorful & Curious World of Carnivorous Plants

    Berkshire Botanical Garden will sponsor an introduction to the colorful and curious world of gardening with the carnivorous plants of North America, on October 3 from 10 – 4. Topics will include noteworthy genus and species such as Pitcher Plants, Sundews, and Venus Flytraps, how to effectively use them in design, an introduction to bog-making and propagation.

    Matthew Turnbull, Director of Horticulture at Berkshire Botanical Garden, is a graduate of the Professional Gardener Program at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Prior to taking the position to lead the horticulture team at BBG, he served as Assistant Director of Horticulture at Wave Hill and as the National Heritage Garden Manager at the South Carolina Botanical Garden.

    Advance Registration Required. $30 for BBG members, $35 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/colorful-curious-world-carnivorous-plants

    Pitcher Plant ( Sacacemia oreophilia )

  • Thursday, April 9, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Caring for Carnivorous Plants – CANCELLED

    Are you interested in pitcher plants, Venus fly traps, and sundews, but unsure how to care for one at home? Come to Tower Hill Botanic Garden on April 9 at 6:30 pm and learn carnivorous plant care techniques from Dave Sackett, the President of the New England Carnivorous Plant Society.

    The NECPS was founded in 2003 by John Phillip Jr. and their first meeting was held in Providence, RI. Since then the group has met monthly to talk about a shared passion for carnivorous plants. Tower Hill members $15, nonmembers $20. Register at www.towerhillbg.org

  • Friday, August 3 – Friday, August 10 – International Carnivorous Plant Society Conference 2018 – Save the Date

    The 2018 International Carnivorous Plant Society Conference will be hosted by the Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society (BACPS), the oldest carnivorous plant society in the United States, in partnership with the world renowned carnivorous plant nursery California Carnivores. The main conference will take place August 3 – 5, with scheduled field trips August 7 – 10. The venue is the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Inn, located in downtown Santa Rosa, California, and attendees will enjoy the BACPS Annual Plant Show & Sale, Lecturers, Conference Dinner, and Field Trips. Complete registration details may be found at https://www.icpscon2018.com/

  • Wednesday, August 17, 7:00 pm – Nepenthes 101

    Nepenthes, or tropical pitcher plants, are beautiful carnivorous plants with specific growing requirements. Instructor Dave Sackett cover how to grow them successfully and will feature some examples on display. The talk will include time for questions and answers. This Tower Hill Botanic Garden program on Wednesday, August 17 will begin at 7 pm and is free with admission to the garden. Sign up at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—nepenthes-101 Image from www.hantsflytrap.com.

  • Sunday, April 26, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – How to Grow Carnivorous Plants

    On Sunday, April 26, from 1 – 2 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, learn how to grow carnivorous plants in an indoor terrarium or an outdoor bog. Dave Sackett, President of the New England Carnivorous Plant Society, will identify which plants are suited for each environment and the benefits and challenges of both.

    Dave has spent 16 years growing carnivorous plants! Dave is the current President of the New England Carnivorous Plant Society and enjoys helping people learn to grow these amazing plants. Dave has two giant terrariums in his office that he tends to on a daily basis. He maintains hundreds of exotic plants, mostly carnivorous, but also orchids, ant plants, fruit trees, etc. between his home and work without a greenhouse! Free with admission to the Garden. Register online at https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/EventDetail.asp?cguid=C7E2C131-AD0F-49AA-B073-5B92F8300A37&eid=51373&sid=4CCC2B7E-358F-4DB1-8117-BB2EE691A199. Image from www.boingboing.net.

  • Saturday, November 8, 12:30 pm – Preparing Plants for Dormancy

    The November meeting of the New England Carnivorous Plant Society will be held Saturday, November 8 at 12:30 pm at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center in Providence, Rhode Island.  John Lombardi will speak on Preparing Plants for Dormancy, and there will, in addition, be a talk on Propogating Cephalotus Follicularis  (pictured, courtesy of www.collectorscorner.com.au) by Jeff Matteson.  The meeting is free and open to the public.  For more information visit www.necps.org.

  • Saturday, April 12, 12:30 pm – Orchids That Grow With Carnivorous Plants

    The April meeting of the New England Carnivorous Plant Society will take place Saturday, April 12 beginning at 12:30 pm at Roger Williams Park Botanical Center in Providence, Rhode Island.  Frank Meglio will give a presentation entitled Orchids That Grow With Carnivorous Plants, sure to inform both carnivorous plant and orchid enthusiasts.  For directions and information visit www.necps.org.

    Photo of yellow fringed orchid with hooded pitcher plant from www.fs.fed.us.

    http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/regions/southern/ConiferRoadLoop/images/FM_Ricky_Wrenn_Yellow_fringed-orchid_hooded_pitcher_plants_lg.jpg

  • Sunday, October 21, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Spooky Plants

    Once a month, the Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens host a free program for families to discover, through art, culture and science, just how fantastic plants can be.  Drop in any time between 1 – 4.  On Sunday, October 21, explore Spooky Plants.  We all know animals eat plants – but some spooky plants eat animals!  Meet the carnivorous plants, learn spooky tales of other strange plants, and plant a spider plant to take home.  For more information, call 781-283-3094, or visit www.wellesley.edu/wcbgfriends.

  • Monday, October 3, 7:00 pm – The Little Shop of Horrors, With a Twist

    The Coolidge Corner Theatre kicks off a new season of its popular Science on Screen series on Monday, October 3 with a special showing of B-movie maestro Roger Corman’s 1960 horticultural cult classic The Little Shop of Horrors paired with a pre-screening talk on carnivorous plants by Aaron Ellison, Senior Research Fellow in Ecology at Harvard Forest. The program begins at 7:00 pm.

    The Little Shop of Horrors tells the tale of a hapless plant-shop clerk who breeds a new species of plant named Audrey Junior that not only talks, but also needs a special kind of food to survive: humans. Famous for having the shortest shooting schedule on record – two days and a night – this hilarious black comedy helped establish director Corman as an underground legend. Starring Jonathan Haze, Mel Welles, and Jackie Joseph, the film also features an iconic cameo by a young Jack Nicholson as a gleefully masochistic dental patient (possibly not a stretch theatrically.)

    Unlike Audrey Junior, carnivorous plants in nature don’t actually devour people – or bellow “Feed Me!” But because these plants grow in habitats where soil nutrients are in short supply, they must rely on animal prey for sustenance. They catch their dinner using a variety of strategies, from snapping their leaves shut on unsuspecting insects to snagging snacks with sticky tentacles to sucking in their prey like a vacuum cleaner.

    Before the film, Dr. Ellison sheds light on the curious world of carnivorous plants and on how these fabulously complex plants can further our understanding of how a complete, functioning natural ecosystem works.

    At Harvard Forest, Harvard University’s 3,500-acre outdoor classroom and ecological research laboratory in Petersham, Mass., Dr. Ellison studies the evolutionary ecology of carnivorous plants, food web dynamics and community ecology of wetlands and forests, and other phenomena. He has received the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Faculty Fellow award for excellence in research and teaching.

    Science on Screen is co-presented by The Museum of Science, Boston and made possible by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Tickets are $9.75 general admission, $7.75 for students, seniors, and Museum of Science members, and free for Coolidge Corner Theatre members. For more information and to purchase tickets online, visit www.coolidge.org/science. Tickets are also available at the Coolidge Corner Theatre box office, located at 290 Harvard Street in Brookline. Phone: 617/734-2500.