on our way to Oak Island back in October,
we noticed a simple sign for this Preserve
at a bend in the road (Route 211),
stands of tall pines with a fern understory.
it seemed serene yet unremarkable.
oh, i now beg to differ!
it is a land of carnivores!
http://www.wildlifesouth.com/Locations/NorthCarolina/GreenSwamp.html
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| blue-tailed skink |
after a trek along a broad, sandy path,
you wind through thicker forest
on a slick, narrow boardwalk
and arrive at a
sort of
Eden
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| Venus Flytrap flowers |
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| Grass Pink orchid |
they did a controlled burn in October
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| this reminded me (somehow) of Indian Paintbrush, from out West - "just a weed" said a fellow wanderer |
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| another Grass Pink orchid |
and then...and THEN...you round a corner
and you realize
you are in a field of Pitcher Plants
and you half-expect a brontosaurus to come plodding
around the corner
(okay, so maybe not...but it certainly feels prehistoric)
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| pitcher plant flowers |
this next flower (a White Bracted Sedge)
was Beetlejuice for me
(a daisy gone rogue, perhaps)
at first, i thought they were daisies
~ maybe dying ones, with the petals collapsing & fading
with brown spots and dying tips ~
but then i realized
this is their pinnacle look,
a droopy, frazzled, green-about-the-gills blooming.
there were many other wildflowers,
and this next one punched through
in tiny neon orange bursts...
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| Orange Milkwort (aka Bog Cheetos) |
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| a tiny white orchid |
i really couldn't get enough of the pitcher plants...they are just so different!
on our way back home a few days later,
we stopped in again...it is that remarkable a place.
this time, there were two large tour groups
(whereas, before, it was just us and one other lone explorer).
we wanted to try and get beyond the first
pitcher plant savanna, but - alas -
we did not have on mud-proof shoes.
which simply means...
next time!
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| baby Longleaf Pine |
it had rained the day before (torrential downpour our last afternoon at the beach),
thus the issue with the non-mud-proof footwear...
but made for some dewy, overcast photography!
the first thing you see are the white flower clumps
atop tall stems - but, follow the stem down
to the ground, and there they are!
this is not the venus flytrap flower...
but a lovely little white wildflower, nonetheless
fuzzy green finger plant
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| Common Goldstar |
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| Meadow Beauty |
this was what i really wanted to go back for...Sundews!
most of the ones we discovered were TINY, as in
...the diameter of my thumb or - at most - my big toe.
and they are CARNIVEROUS...amazing!!!
see those little drops? they are sticky "glistening drops of mucilage at the tip of the glandular trichomes that resemble drops of morning dew." - Wikipedia (ftw)
"...at the present moment, I care more about the Drosera than the origin of all the species in the world."
- Charles Darwin, 1860 letter
and I took yet more photographs of the beautiful wild orchids & other flowers
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| Grass Pink orchid |
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| again with the pitcher plants! |
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| White Grass Pink |
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| again with the pitcher plant flower |
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| the "it's just a weed" flower |
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| top of pitcher plant ~ little green spider friend |
now you see why they're nicknamed Bog Cheetos!
(aka Orange Milkwort)
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| possibly a willow primrose or similar |
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| again with the Meadow Beauty |
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| wild blueberries! |
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| an AMAZING Sundew...quite large! maybe six inches in diameter! just look at it ~ incredible!!! |
it's just a tremendous place.
and, while we lucked out with our well-timed June visit
(who knew?),
i read that even more wild orchids bloom later in the summer.
(and i think i found my favorite plant. any guesses?
i seem to have a thing for tentacles.)
