Savage Gardens

Today we ventured out to see the Savage Gardens at the Franklin Park Conservatory. The exhibit is a blend of art, sculpture and carnivorous plants that are scattered throughout the conservatory. Connor was very excited to see plants that could eat bugs. I don't know if he had ever even heard of such a thing before this morning.




The Venus Flytrap sculpture was a moving model, with buttons that you could push to make the traps snap shut. Connor loved it.



We even watched a live demonstration where the horticulturist fed a dead bug to a Venus Fly Trap. Connor had a front row seat, and a magnifying glass, the better to see the action.

I'm a sucker for a gift shop, so we brought home our very own Venus Fly Trap (and a magnifying glass). And, when we got home, I noticed a dead fly on the windowsill above the kitchen sink that hadn't been there that morning. It was an act of divine providence, so we fed our own Venus Fly Trap at home this afternoon.

This pitcher plant sculpture was really neat, because you could step inside and really get a feel for the plant from the poor bug's perspective.



Here, Connor is explaining to Lex how the plant traps the bugs inside to eat them. I can't believe how excited he got about these plants. It must be a boy thing.


P.S. I've already got my calendar marked for the next thing I want to see at the Franklin Park Conservatory: the 4th Annual Gingerbread House Competition. What gingerbread has to do with plants, I don't know. But I'm fine with that. We may even enter something into the competition.