Back from the brink

A couple of years ago I bought a specimen of Drosera dicotoma – it is an amazing sundew, which produces huge leaves and, therefore has the ability to catch a lot of flies:

Huge, trailing leaves

I hung it up in the limery and it did a brilliant job. However, during last winter it completely died back and I wondered whether, reluctantly, to tip the contents of the pot into the compost bin. I decided, after a little thought, to leave it and see whether any shoots might reappear – carnivorous plants do seem to have a tendency to ‘play dead’ and, whilst they don’t always come back (Venus fly traps, I’m talking about you), I have experienced several resurrections.

To begin with, it looked like this:

Apparently dead

But, with a little patience, I started to see signs of life:

Tiny shoots

It was weedy at first:

Struggling

But as the weather warmed up and the sun shone more often, it rather perked up:

More shoots

And now, although it’s nowhere near as big as it used to be, it is thriving once again:

Call me Lazarus

I have high hopes for a long and active life for this very useful plant. I really hope that it achieves its previous impressive size.

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10 Comments

  1. Interesting! Maybe they go dormant… I always say, “Just because it is dead doesn’t mean it is dead.” You just never know. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Ann Pole

     /  July 22, 2019

    Our venus fly traps played dead too. We put them out side when the weather warmed, then we had a cold snap and they all appeared to die. Steve cleaned them out and repotted, and many are now growing again. Seems that the cold snap made them think it was winter, so they responded accordingly. Apparently, they can live outside all year.
    Glad your has recovered.

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  3. It will be munching your flies in no time!

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  4. Go, Lazarus! So often, plants just ‘play’ dead while they marshal their reserves. Besides, he has an elegant hanging basket to show himself off in, so it would be a waste not to make a come-back.

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  5. Thatā€™s impressive!

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  6. It just wanted a nice long sleep.

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  7. Well done Doctor, A successful operation.
    Hugs

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  8. Hmmm…I’ve seen a few of these on the nursery clearance shelf and passed them by, but maybe they’re worth a try :)) Love your fly control method, but the way!

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