i drove down to providence, rhode island today to meet up with hsu wen (from costa rica) to see the second annual new england carnivorous plant show at the roger williams park greenhouse. it took a bit of effort to find the park, and once we got there, we drove around inside until we came to the greenhouse.

those who know me know that i am very sparing with my praises; but this show was just amazing. i saw plants there that i couldn't even imagine existed in my wildest imagination. i could've spent the entire day there just taking photos of the myriad variations of carnivorous plants, all shapes, all sizes, all colors, from around the world, sundews, venus flytraps, temperate and tropical pitcher plants, butterworts, bladderworts, and some in-between species that defied categorization. every so often there'd be an announcement to come and watch a volunteer feed one of the plants.

most of the specimens were for show, but there were also tables with plants for sale. i wasn't going to go home empty-handed and ended up buying a cobra lily (darlingtonia californica, which i'd later find out is one of the most difficult plants to take good care of) and a parrot pitcher plant (sarracenia psittacina, perhaps a hybrid). hsu wen couldn't resist either and she bought a cape sundew.

ballots could be filled out to determine which carnivorous plant was best-in-show, as well as a raffle for a free plant. the plant i picked was a tropical pitcher plant of very modest initial appeal, but upon a detailed examination would reveal pink digital "pixel" patterns on the inside lining of the pitchers. i'm not sure if this was intentional, but i liked it because it seemed very modern.

afterwards we drove around searching for a place that'd sell peat/sphagnum moss. unsuccessful, we went to a japanese restaurant (tokyo?) on wickenden street for lunch.

later we tried to check out the RISD alumni + student art sale but they were already cleaning up. i dropped hsu wen off and drove back to boston, listening to the yankees-twins game on the radio. i had dinner at my parents (rice noodles), watched as the yankees became the red sox's opponents on tuesday, then returned to cambridge.

cobra lily

cobra lily (detail)

parrot pitcher plant