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.
The Snail of Happiness 