Welcome to my Carnivorous Plant page! 

For me, it all began sometime in the 1970's..
I don't recall the exact year, but I was probably around 8 to 10 years old, so it was the late 70's.
One day I was at Tioga Gardens with my family, and I saw Venus Fly Traps for sale!
Like all 10 year olds, I thought it was the coolest thing ever and I had to have one! 
and I got one!

I remember trying to feed it bugs that summer..it died after a few months.. 
which probably also happens to all 10-year olds with their first VFT..
I didnt have the slightest idea how to take care of it..
no books, no internet, no nothing..
"oh well..they must be really hard to take care of." I thought..
It was cool while it lasted..

Flash forward to 1994..when the CP adventure really begins!

Im now 25 and had just moved to Rochester, NY for my first "real" job after college.
I remember watching something on TV with my roomate Rob..
somehow, and I dont remember how, (it might have been WKRP in Cincinnati!) 
the subject of Venus Fly Traps came up..

Rob said "I had one when I was kid, but it died.."
"me too.." I said.."It would be cool to have one again"..
"yeah, it would" said Rob.."I wonder where we can get them?"

"yeah..me too..hmmmmm"

and that was it! 
the seed was re-planted in my head, and I got my first Sarracenia and my second VFT that spring..
and I have been obsessed with them ever since.

I checked the Rochester library, and they actually had a few books about Carnivorous Plants!
I was honestly amazed..those books taught me how to actually cultivate CPs properly!
Information that was unavailable to me when I was ten years old..

Carnivorous plants are not difficult to grow..you just need to know what they need.
For VFTs and Sarracenia, they need:

1. bright, direct sunlight outdoors.
2. the correct growing medium.
3. pure water (distilled, reverse osmosis, or rain water)
4. a proper winter dormancy.

thats basically it! 

(For tons more detail on those 4 items I highly recommend this website , this book
and this discussion forum. )
 
 

1994 - Year 1
 Outside on the porch roof at Barrington Street.

Here is the first-ever picture of my CP collection!
this was right after I set it up, Spring 1994.

Looks pretty impressive huh? 
actually no..not so much.
but it gets better. 

Looks like that first year I had about 12 VFT's, two purps, and a few other random sarrs.
I dont recall exactly what they were, but I know I still have them all today, 15 years later.

I was going for a nice bi-level effect (but without a path down the middle) with the VFTs in front
and the sarrs in a slightly raised area behind them.
 
 
 

1995 - Year 2

Looking better! 
and I have a second pot now too!

(The rocks actually arent such a great idea..they could leach minerals into the soil..)
 
 
 

1996 - Year 3

1998 - Year 5

Lets see..the plants first lived on the porch roof at Barrington street.. '94-'96.
then they lived on the teeny Balcony at East Blvd for one summer only, 1997.
then in September 1997 my plants and I moved to the Roosevelt Apartment building on Park ave,
where we would live for 5 years.

The plants had a beautiful deck on the 9th floor where they spent their summers!
Its the tall building in the background..the deck is on the roof.

2003 - Year 10

After 5 years at the Roosevelt, we moved again, to Stoney Creek apartments in Greece,
(a northern suburb of Rochester) where my plants had a balcony of their own..
I built a custom shelf for my Bonsai and the CPs..We would live here for 3 years.

Thats my little deck on the 2nd floor.

You can see a few of the CDs hanging..those scare away birds!
they work quite well too! birds dont like the spinning, flashing reflections.

Take two old CDs, (those free AOL disks work great! )
place them back-to-back so the shiny surface is facing out on both sides,
drill a hole through both, and hang with string.

when I first set up this shelf on the balcony, I was being raided by birds every day,
after I set up the CDs, I never had another problem!

the photo only has one CD visable, but there were actually 4 or 5.
 

To Page 2, the "Fridge Method" and "A year in the life, part 1"
 
 
 

Quick jump to individual pages:

Page 1 - The beginning of my CP hobby. (you are on this page)
Page 2 - "The Fridge method" and "Year in the life, part 1"
Page 3 - Native CP's of central & western NY.
Page 4 - 2006-2007

Page 5a   - 2008 and "Year in the life part 2."   the beginning, Spring 2008
Page 5b   - 2008 and "Year in the life part 2." - continued. - Summer 2008
Page 5c   - 2008 and "Year in the life part 2." - continued. - Autumn 2008
Page 5d   - 2008 and "Year in the life part 2." - conclusion. - Spring 2009