This definitely fits it’s category title! This U-Haul truck is an on-road advertisement for Venus flytrap preservation in North Carolina. The U-Haul website has a bunch of information relating to the saving of Venus flytraps in the wild on their website. It’s nice to see a big company getting behind the preservation of such a wonderful piece of nature.
Photo courtesy of Lori (lordog).
Many of the experts claim that growing Venus flytraps in shaded, dry indoor areas is difficult/impossible. So here at flytrapgrowing.info we are going to conduct some experiments to demonstrate what effects poor conditions have on Venus flytraps. Many complete novices report having their flytraps survive torturous conditions, out of the sun, tap water, dead bugs and occasionally letting their plant dry up and yet still their plants survive and grow big red healthy looking traps.
We are going to purchase two brand new Venus flytraps from a garden center. The plants will placed in our high tech new Venus flytrap growing facility. The facility (my bedroom) is on the third floor of an inner-city apartment block and looks out onto a wonderful concrete building which blocks all direct sunlight bar the occasional smidgen in the morning. The plants will be kept at the perimeter of the building behind a pane of glass (my window sill). Neither of the plants will be stored in terrariums, but will be left to fend for themselves in their mildly dry environment.
Specimen A will be watered with distilled water whereas Specimen B will be watered with tap water. The tap water supply here in Dunedin is treated with both fluoride and chlorine and contains large amounts of dissolved solids. It is a relatively soft water supply however, hence doesn’t contain many of the dangerous cations such as calcium and magnesium which are known to negatively affect Venus flytraps. As a control test, we have purchased a third plant (specimen C) which will be kept in a sunny location inside a glass enclosure and will be watered using distilled water.
Reports on the progress of the three plants will be posted here regularly over the next year - assuming they don’t die before hand!
The Little Shop of Horrors film was re-release in 1986. The film was directed by Frank Oz (puppeteer for Yoda and Miss Piggy). The movie was shot in England with a budget of US$30 million. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song for “Mean Green Mother from Outer Space”. It caused a small controversy because it was the first Oscar-nominated song to contain profanity and thus had to be censored for the show.
A nerdy young florist’s assistant named Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis) discovers a mysterious new plant that came from outer space during a solar eclipse. He names the plant “Audrey II,” because he secretly has a crush on his co-worker Audrey (Ellen Greene). The plant improves business at Mister Mushnik’s (Vincent Gardenia) failing skid-row flower shop, and Seymour becomes a local celebrity. However, late at night when the shop is deserted, Seymour accidentally cuts open his fingers and discovers that the only way to make Audrey II grow is to feed it with human blood.
Text content for this page was courtesy of Wikipedia.
I’ve always been told that the Venus flytrap got it’s name due to the shear white beauty of it’s flowers, just like the goddess/planet Venus. The flytrap part is obviously from it’s twisted fly eating ways.
Barry Rice has an interesting article on the real reason for the name Venus flytrap.
Barry claims that the name is due to the “dirty minds of the kooky naturalists and nurserymen” and that “they saw in its amazing behavior and attractive form” … “something that reminded them of female genitalia of their own species.”
Jeepers, that’s a heck of a statement. But Barry can backup his claims …
Visit his website to learn more about where the name “Venus Flytrap” came from … Barry’s website.
The painting is “The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli.