One of my favourite little carnivores is waking up 💜
My common butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris) is pushing out fresh leaves in the bog garden, nestled between wet sphagnum moss exactly as it would be in the wild. Those flat, star-shaped rosette leaves are covered in tiny sticky glands — invisible here but deadly effective for catching small insects and springtails. Butterworts are found naturally in wet, nutrient-poor habitats like bogs, mountain springs, and rocky seeps across Europe and North America. Because they get their nutrients from prey rather than the soil, they thrive where almost nothing else can grow.

Een van mijn favoriete kleine vleeseters wordt wakker 💜
Mijn vetblad (Pinguicula vulgaris) duwt verse blaadjes naar buiten in de moerasbak, genesteld tussen nat veenmos precies zoals het in het wild zou groeien. Die platte, stervormige rozet bladeren zijn bedekt met kleine kleverige kliertjes — hier onzichtbaar maar dodelijk effectief voor het vangen van kleine insecten en springstaarten. Vetblad komt van nature voor in natte, voedselarme biotopen zoals veengebieden, bergbronnen en rotsige kwelplekken in Europa en Noord-Amerika. Omdat ze hun voedingsstoffen uit prooi halen in plaats van uit de bodem, gedijen ze op plekken waar bijna niets anders kan groeien.

#pinguicula
#pinguiculavulgaris
#vetblad
#butterwort
#carnivorousplants
#vleesetendeplanten
#insecteneters
#bogplants
#moerasplanten
#BogGarden
#moerasbak
#sphagnum
#veenmos
#voorjaar
#spring
#PlantCollection
#plantenverzameling
#DorgaldirsGarden
#Dorgaldirs_Garden

It looks like most of the carnivorous plants survived over-wintering on the balcony in Germany, Zone 7b. I am now prepping soil for divisions and repotting. There are three generations of Venus Flytraps with a small fourth generation seeding to start soon (I have a lot of seeds from last year's harvest and need to test a few).

#CarnivorousPlants #plants #gardening #florespondence #plants #Mosstodon #zone7b #BogPlants

Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) leaf, with dew-laden "tentacles". (They're really stalked glands.) New blog post: https://wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/06/mosquito-eaters.html #VancouverIsland #Plants #CarnivorousPlants #Nature #BogPlants
Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) leaf, with dew-laden "tentacles". (They're really stalked glands.) New blog post: https://wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/06/mosquito-eaters.html #VancouverIsland #Plants #CarnivorousPlants #Nature #BogPlants

A friend send me this photo from Northern Saskatchewan, in the Boreal Forest. It is a bog laurel, Kalmia polifolia. It can grow up to 2 ft tall, and thrives, as the name suggests, on boggy environments there. Up there it grows in USDA Zone 2, ie it can endure temperatures as low as -45°C.

#wildflowers #bogplants #nativeplants #Saskatchewan #boreal #borealplants

@friesen5000 @ClimateJenny

5/n (should be the last!)

They should be protected during the winter, especially when growing zone-marginal plants. Setting them in a larger container packed with dry leaves will insulate the roots, closer to what they would live through naturally.

I don't do this. The strongest, and most regionally appropriate, survive me. Hence the cranberry takeover.

#BogPlanters #BogPlants #NativePlants #Gardening #PlantingTips #ContainerGardening

@friesen5000 @ClimateJenny

4/n

They *should* get rainwater. Water from a rain barrel is ideal. If that's not available, "atmospheric" water, e.g.: from a dehumidifer or AC, is suitable. I use regular water from the garden hose, but let it sit overnight to outgas.

Since there's no groundwater to replenish them, they need to be watered once a day during the summer. (A task I don't always do.)

#BogPlanters #BogPlants #NativePlants #Gardening #PlantingTips #ContainerGardening

@friesen5000 @ClimateJenny

3/n

I keep mine in saucers to hold the overflow, and let some of it absorb back up through the hole. You can see both of them in situ in this photo of the entrance to my backyard, taken 10 days ago.

https://flic.kr/p/2oAYPZ3

#BogPlanters #BogPlants #NativePlants

Backyard Entrance, May 2023

Flickr

@friesen5000 @ClimateJenny

2/n

The container must have a hole in the bottom for drainage, but it doesn't have to drain quickly. A single hole in the bottom of a medium plastic tub should do.

In this photo, the soil knife with the orange handle has a 6" blade. So these planters are about 12" across.

https://flic.kr/p/db5SSN

#BogPlanters #BogPlants #NativePlants

Bog Containers Planted, Rarefind Nursery, Ocean County, NJ, September 2012

Flickr

@friesen5000 @ClimateJenny @darwin

Nothing but sphagnum moss (*not* peat moss). You can find it in garden centers as an orchid growing medium. (At the nursery where I made the containers, they had barrels of it.)

#BogPlanters #BogPlants #NativePlants #Gardening #PlantingTips #ContainerGardening

1/n