When I posted about my adventures at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, Claire left me a comment (thanks Claire!) to tell me about the Plants with Bite exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. Pete and I popped in for an explore last week and it’s great!
Entry is free and even though it’s not a huge space, there are oodles of carnivorous plants on display. Including lots of very robust Venus Fly Traps (anyone who has ever tried to grow these at home will tell you how easily they die off)…
Tiny, sticky sundews, with sparkly globules that catch bugs like superglue…
Butterworts and bladderworts, although I didn’t take any photos of the latter…
And the most wonderful array of pitcher plants, both the North American ones that grow on the ground…
…and my all time favourites, these Nepenthes or tropical pitcher plants. Known colloquially as “monkey cups” (as monkeys have been seen drinking rainwater out of them) the pitchers form from the end of specialised leaves.
Apparently there are 170 different varieties currently known…
The exit is guarded by Audrey II, straight from the theatrical production of Little Shop of Horrors…
I always try to buy something in support when I attend a free exhibition, so I came home with a Gardens magazine and stick-on tattoos, because I’m a child…
I was told the display will be open for at least the first half of this year. It’s based in the Calyx at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney and well worth a visit if you get a chance. Make sure you have a good look at the green wall while you’re there – it’s the largest in Australia!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Can I say…….only in Australia??? Yes, up north here we do have a type of Pitcher plant but not as exciting as these! what an amazing exhibit, and the tattoo is a kick!
The Pitcher Plant is the provincial flower of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, where I live. They grow wild in slightly boggy spots; and as a child, we would feed poor insects to these plants when we found them along the roadside in ditches. I no longer to that, but I always stop to enjoy them when I find them during my hikes. PS – I too would get a temporary tattoo!
Thanks for letting us know about this exhibition. Your photos of these exquisite plants are beautiful.
Stunning photos!
So interesting, thank you. And the plants are beautiful. Nature is a marvel in its diversity.
what an amazing place!
What an interesting place! So many interesting plants. Great pictures.
BEAUTIFUL!
:-) Mandy xo
Your stick-on tattoo is fabulous! If you’re a child, I am too. Actually, that’s true, I really am! I love botanical gardens, we have a lifetime membership of RHS (in memory of Pete’s parents) and we buy annual passes to different gardens, each one usually covers a group of gardens, the one we have now covers Kew Gardens but is cheaper than buying an annual pass to Kew directly! Some of their greenhouses have several pitcher plants that grow very well. I love the Audrey II one though!
such an interesting post. Thank you
What an interesting exhibition. Great photos, thank you.
I love Audrey II… Feed me Seymour!
Hi Celia
Looks amazing. I went to Newfoundland last summer and saw pitcher plants in the wild. I also love these plants and have tried to grow them in the past but with no success. Perhaps it was our great science teacher that gave us this interest in biology? I wonder where she is now. Take care Janet
J, I can’t remember her name, but I can still see her face! And yes, she was great, wasn’t she?
Lots of love to you, my old friend. xxx
Thank you I love these plants. When I was growing up on the Mornington Peninsula we had a lot of the little sundews. Captivating little plants in more ways than one. I do hope they haven’t been lost to the march of progress.
Hooray – so glad you liked it. I was intrigued by the ones that look ok on top but apparently eat insects underground too! Bonkers this world we live in.
It was such a fun afternoon, thank you again! All the trees around the Calyx were amazing as well!
Have you done the urban hunt through the Botanic Gardens? Also a great way to see bits you might otherwise miss.