As Halloween draws near, it seems fitting to highlight a group of bloodthirsty plants that lure, capture and devour insects (and sometimes even small mammals) in order to survive in the nutrient-poor soils of their native habitats.</p>These carnivorous plants can be found growing around the world. The trapping mechanisms they use to capture their prey can be divided into three main categories: active, passive and sticky “flypaper” traps.</p>In this series of blog posts, we will take a look at predatory plants that exhibit each of these types of traps along with where they grow in the wild and where you can find them in the gardens.</p>Active Traps</strong></h3>Carnivorous plants that use active “snap” traps to capture their prey include Venus fly traps (Dionaea muscipula</em>) and waterwheel (Aldrovanda</em> vesiculosa</em>).</p>Venus flytraps are the most easily recognizable predatory plants. Their native habitat is limited to a stretch of coastal plains in North Carolina and South Carolina. Trigger hairs are located inside each trap, which lies open waiting for an insect to crawl in. The sweet scent of nectar produced by the plant helps to draw in its unsuspecting prey. Once triggered, the trap closes and digestive enzymes are released to break the insect down into nutrients the plant can use to grow. Once digestion is complete the trap reopens, revealing the remaining exoskeleton of its prey.</p>A waterwheel plant has a trap that is very similar to those of flytraps, but they are submerged in water, much smaller in size and faster in action. They consist of a single species that is distributed around the world in parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Its common name is derived from the way the traps are arranged in whorls around a central stem. Tiny aquatic insects trigger the traps to quickly snap shut when they brush against the trigger hairs.</p>Another variation of the active trap is the “suction” mechanism used by the traps of Utricularia</em> species - commonly known as bladderworts. These remarkable carnivorous plants can be found in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats around the world. In terrestrial species, the tiny traps are located in the soil around the plant. These traps have trigger hairs located at the mouth of each trap which are activated when an insect brushes against them. Aquatic species also have traps which are activated when insects swim by and brush the trigger hairs. Bladderworts are the fastest acting of any carnivorous plants, taking less than a millisecond to suck in their prey.</p>Venus flytraps</strong> can be found in a large terrarium located at the east end of the Orangery. Be sure to stop by to take a peek at them as you visit our Fiendish Flora</em> exhibit in the Orangery, which features natural and manmade plant mutations.</li>Terrestrial and aquatic bladderworts</strong> can be viewed on some Free Days at the Carnivorous Plant Education table.</li>We hope to add waterwheel</strong> to our plant collections in the near future!</li></ul>In the next blog post of this series</a>, we will explore carnivorous plant species that use passive traps to lure, capture and devour their creepy, crawly victims.</p>
</p> With only a few days to go before Glow at the Gardens</a>™, we are eagerly awaiting the nights that our pumpkin sculptures will come to life. And we’re not the only ones: jack-o-lantern events are becoming increasingly popular, popping up in more and more cities all over the country. Most of these events, however, share one common trait: their elaborate sculptures are created using fake pumpkins, or “funkins.” But not Denver Botanic Gardens! For each night of the event, every pumpkin we use is the real deal. We’re proud of our pumpkin realness, but we must admit, they do present us with some interesting challenges.</p> Where Do We Get Them?</strong></p> It’s harder than you may think to find 3,000 pumpkins that are about the same size, are fully ripe at the same time, and can be delivered to the middle of Denver during peak pumpkin harvest season. Each year of Glow at the Gardens, we’ve worked with local growers to stake our claim on pumpkins early in the summer. Then we just cross our fingers and hope that hail storms, insects, bears and drought will let them reach maturity by the time we need them!</p> Where Do We Put Them? </strong></p> Once the pumpkins arrive onsite, we work quickly to store them in areas that offer them some protection against the weather. Since October in Colorado can feature wild swings in temperature and precipitation, we want to be ready for anything. However, even if weather wasn’t a factor, finding places to store 75 pallets of pumpkins is no small feat during what has become one of the busiest seasons at the Gardens.</p> Carving on a Clock</strong></p> While funkins can be carved weeks, months, even years in advance and stored for future use, carving real pumpkins is a different ballgame. To make sure the pumpkins will still be in good condition for two nights of the event, our team only has two and a half days to get all the pumpkins washed, gutted, carved and displayed.</p> Variation – Not Necessarily Helpful</strong></p> Harvesting fresh pumpkins means you never quite know what you’re going to get. If pumpkins are too green, they are too hard to cut; if they are too ripe, they turn to mush as soon as they are carved. Also, designing armatures to hold pumpkins can be challenging when you don’t know exactly what shape will show up on delivery day.</p> Pumpkins are Heavy!</strong></p> Because real pumpkins are far heavier than foam ones, we must carefully think through the structural integrity of the armatures that form the base of each sculpture. The last thing we want to see is a sculpture with pumpkins tumbling off of it!</p> Squirrels</strong></p> Those little creatures just love October at York Street. It seems that there is nothing more enticing to our squirrels than the exposed flesh of freshly carved jack-o-lanterns! We frequently have to replace jack-o-lanterns just hours after they have been displayed because, well, the squirrels gnaw and nibble through their faces.</p> Ephemeral Art</strong></p> Like a bouquet of fresh flowers, a pumpkin sculpture is at its prime for just a couple of days before nature takes its toll. As the jack-o-lanterns begin to shrivel and decay, the designs that have been carved into them morph and fade.</p> Our goal for Glow at the Gardens is not only to provide an incredible Halloween experience, but also to push the very boundaries of pumpkin carving. Could we have more displays if we used funkins? Sure. Would we be able to carve them farther in advance and reduce the hustle and bustle of the days leading up to the event? Absolutely. But the Gardens’ mission is to connect people with plants: what better way to do so than by designing and carving the fruit of the most popular plant of the season? </p> Glow at the Gardens is open October 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25. Tickets are extremely limited and are expected to sell out. </strong>Purchase tickets online</strong></a> or at the Bonfils-Stanton Visitor Center at 1007 York Street. </strong></p>
