Drosera Flowers and Green Tomatoes

Snap Happy Thanksgiving

I went a bit snap happy while watering the plants.

My biggest drosera has 12 flowers open today. I counted them and wanted a picture that you could count too, but they cannot all be in focus at the same time. So, I opted to take many, many photos.

These are a little over and inch across when they are open. That may give you a reference as to how big these plants are now. The largest stands sixteen inches tall from the bottom of the pot. It's nine inches from the moss to the highest flower.

The plant has a Siamese leaf. I think I may have posted on this defect when it was still unrolling itself.

Here is a macro shot (even harder to get everything in focus) of a leaf, in the sun, and it has caught a fly. The leaf will slowly wrap around its prey to help it absorb the nutrients as it digests it.

The flowers rise high above the rest of the leaves in order to attract the flying visitors that have the most energy. The ones that are tired will land on one of the leaves and be invited to stay permanently.

Let's see if we can count the flowers on this one plant... (many angles for you to try)

They are all closing as I write.

I though it may be easier to count them when they are not touching one another.

I also wanted to show you how I can tell when it is time to re-pot them.

These keep growing out of their soil (not soil - moss) so they need to have more put in to cover the dead stems of old leaves that have turned brown. In nature the streams near them wash new moss around them. Here at home, I have to take care of that.

I can still pus new moss up around the base of the main stalk on this one, but soon it will nee d a taller pot so that the moss does not fall over the edges. It also allows more space for the roots to go downward.

And a quick update on those same first tomato flowers from a week ago.

Cherry tomatoes in a couple of days.

Till Next Time...