Venus Flytrap caught a Crane Fly

 

A Crane Fly caught in a Venus Flytrap

    Here's a picture I took of a Crane Fly caught in a Venus Flytrap.  A Crane Fly, which is also mistakenly called a Mosquito Eater (it doesn't eat mosquitos) resembles an oversized male mosquito.  They do not and cannot bite, because they have a blunt proboscis used for feeding on plant nectar.  This Crane Fly was attract to the sugary "nectar" that is secreted on the inner surface of the trap.  The Crane fly is much larger than the traps, but it's abdomen triggered a trap.  You can see it's head, thorax and end of it's abdomen sticking outside of the trap.  The trap is strong enough to hold the Crane fly so that it couldn't escape. 

A Crane Fly caught in a Venus Flytrap

A Crane Fly caught in a Venus Flytrap

    Now the gruesome part.  The Flytrap will secret enzymes and acids to dissolve the abdomen into a nutrient-rich liquid.  The plant will absorb the liquid getting essential nutrients like nitrogen, leaving only the indigestible exoskeleton behind.  This should be an interesting sight (in about 10 days) when the trap reopens exposing the digested exoskeleton and the undigested parts outside of the trap.

A Crane Fly caught in a Venus Flytrap with other traps open and ready!

Ganna Walska Lotusland

 In late January I had the pleasure of visiting Ganna Walska Lotusland, and it's all thanks to my friend Charlene McGinnis.  She gave gave me her extra ticket for an off season, four person, docent lead tour.  If your not familiar with Lotusland, it's a 37 acre garden that is recognized for it's extraordinary history, avant-garde landscape designs, sustainable practices and home to many of the rarest and most fascinating plants in the world.  It's located in a residential neighborhood in Montecito California and Santa Barbara county limits the number of visitors and vehicles per day.  Due to this heavy restriction, the garden is only open four days a week for nine months of the year.

My photos begin at house where the euphorbia Ingens stand guard at the front door.

Dracaena draco AKA Dragon Trees

Here is a photo/postcard from the Lotusland archives of Madame Ganna Walska, taken in 1958.

I wished I had taken this photo below in the same position as the picture of Madame Ganna Walska.

Barrel cactus

A bed of roses resting

A dinosaur topiary

A huge staghorn fern

A part of the fern garden

Bird of paradise

Bird of paradise

A yellow Bird of paradise

Agave Attenuatas in bloom

A bee visiting Anisodontea ‘Strybing Beauty’ (African Mallow) 

The following pictures are of the plants growing on the edge of the great lawn.

Next to the great lawn is the theater garden with some stone figures.

The Cactus Garden was bequeathed to Lotusland by Merritt Dunlap, a longtime friend of Madame Ganna Walska.

Tree Prickly Pear

Tree Prickly Pear

The Lower Bromeliad Garden

Lotusland’s collection of Cycads is considered one of the most complete in any American public garden.

The Japanese Garden is a remarkable garden that was designed with balance and peace in mind.

While the namesake lotuses bloom in summer, winter is the peak season for the Aloe Garden and it didn't disappoint. 

Although the water garden  doesn't have lotus this time of year, the papyrus looks stunning in this light!

Papyrus

Towards the end of our tour we saw a few begonias.

B. 'Marmaduke'

B. 'Crestabruchii' 

B. 'Ramirez'

B. 'acuminata'

Just before leaving Lotusland, I made a quick dash over to the eastern edge of the fern garden and I'm glad I did.  There was one of my namesakes, begonia Mr. Hunt!

The backside of B. 'Mr. Hunt'

B. 'Mr. Hunt' in the Fern Garden

B. 'Mr. Hunt'