Archives for November 18, 2008

I just brought my kids in from outdoors. It was time. These below-thirties temperatures have been enough to give them a proper chilling. In fact, they”re pretty well frozen stiff, which is about what you”d expect, considering that none of them has been wearing a stitch of clothing. Hey, it”s dark and cold out, and none of the neighbors ever notice.\r\n\r\nI figured, though, that the kids have finally had enough. Tonight they can sleep inside. So I brought them in and stuck them in the refrigerator, where I plan to keep them for the next few months.\r\n\r\nOkay, I guess I”ve carried that about as far as I can before the cops come knocking on my door. Now that I”ve thoroughly horrified you, let me explain that “the kids” are my collection of carnivorous plants. Did you think storm chasing was my only eccentricity? Heck no. About the same time I became enamored with tornadoes as a kid, I also got into carnivorous plants. And like tornadoes, the plants have been hardwired into my personality ever since.\r\n\r\nA few years ago, I decided to resurrect my boyhood hobby, so I ordered a few of the United States natives and got my collection started. It has been going great guns ever since. Of course I”ve got Venus flytraps–that goes without saying. I started with four plants; I now have, at my best estimate, a billion. The things are prolific beyond anything I ever imagined. The first year, the bulbs divided and I wound up with maybe twice as many plants. I gave a few of them away, kept the rest, cross pollinated them, and then scattered the seeds on a couple trays full of wet peat, hoping that a few of them would sprout. In that hope I was not disappointed. I wound up with several hundred baby flytraps. This year I repeated the process, from bulb division to seed germination. I am now the Flytrap King of Caledonia, Michigan.\r\n\r\nMoving on from the Venus flytraps, I also own six of the eight native pitcher plants. Strangely, one of the two species I don”t own is the one that grows right here in Michigan, the northern pitcher plant. It”s by far the most common and widespread of all the US species. Harvesting one from the wild would be fairly easy, and it”s the one species with which I”d feel okay about doing so. The rest, all southern plants, are uncommon to nearly extinct due to the steady loss of habitat, and collecting them from the wild is illegal. I obtained all of mine, including my rare Sarracenia oreophila, through a reputable mail-order nursery that sells only cultivated plants.\r\n\r\nMy roundleaf sundew, on the other hand, just showed up one day. I don”t know where it came from, but I have no objections. As for my Pinguicula vulgaris, I obtained that from the Upper Peninsula, keeping it in its native marl, and it has done well for me over the last few years.\r\n\r\nWhat”s all this got to do with either jazz or storm chasing? Nothing at all. It”s just another side of me. We all have multiple sides, hopefully enough to round us out as individuals. When I was younger, I was so deeply immersed in jazz that I had a sort of tunnel vision. I couldn”t see anything of life beyond the narrow periphery of music. I was focused, but I was also boring, self-absorbed, and ill-equipped to deal with life at large and relationships in particular.\r\n\r\nBut that kind of focus gets old. There”s so much more to life, and embracing that truth doesn”t steal the thunder from storm chasing or the energy from jazz. No, it enhances those pursuits.\r\n\r\nI”m sure my kids will agree. By the way, letting them get cold helps punt them into dormancy. All North American carnivorous plants require a few dormant months, just like you and I require a good night”s sleep. Like a lot of hobby growers, I simply stick my plants in the fridge. Unlike a lot of hobbyists, I leave them in their pots. Last year that worked pretty well, but this year…well, I”ve added a few more plants, and you”d be amazed how much refrigerator space my collection is taking up.\r\n\r\nSomewhere in there, I suppose I need to make room for food. I”m not sure where, though. Maybe I”ll just keep my food out on the deck where my plants were.