Norfolk Master Gardeners
830 Southampton Ave., Ste 2069
Norfolk, Virginia 23510-1045
A Carnivorous Paradise
I always thought Venus flytraps were exotic plants that hailed from Africa or South America.
Then on April Fool’s Day I visited Wilmington, N.C. with members of the Hampton Roads Brewing & Tasting Society. The beer club’s president encouraged our entourage to take a break from craft breweries to enjoy one of her favorite spots -- the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden.
Until my April 1 morning garden exploration, I assumed the garden’s namesake introduced these exotic beauties to North Carolina. Wrong!
Wilmington is ground zero for Venus flytraps, which are native to this coastal city and thrive within a 75- to 100-mile radius. Flytraps do not grow wild in any other part of the world and are federally listed as an at-risk species.
North and South Carolina’s semi-tropical bogs are perfect for growing carnivorous perennials like flytraps, sundews and pitcher plants. All attract and devour insects that provide them nitrogen typically missing from sandy soil that tops a layer of peat.
Stanley was a Wilmington native who studied horticulture at North Carolina State University. His German-immigrant grandmother grew and sold Venus flytraps and pitcher plants to people headed to a nearby cemetery. Her resourcefulness led the Rehder family to start a successful wholesale floral business. Stanley’s carnivorous plant collection and lobbying efforts helped preserve native plants and their habitats and led to his nickname, “The Flytrap Man.”
Worried about how land development, plant poaching and other factors threatened flytraps, Stanley persuaded owners of boggy land in Wilmington to let him grow carnivorous plants. He spent at least 20 years planting and nurturing the 3/4-acre plot. In 2012, six months before Stanley passed away at age 90, the Coastal Land Trust, City of Wilmington and land owners made the carnivorous plant garden official and named it for Stanley.
Today the Rehder Garden has official signs, a parking lot, pavers and a footbridge that help visitors view carnivorous plants without harming them. The garden in the Piney Ridge Nature Preserve is nestled among long-leaf pines and magnolias and is next to an elementary school and a church. Admission is free.
Helpful signs along garden paths give visitors tidbits about carnivorous plants and their habitat. Example: Venus flytraps can go without eating for 1-2 months, and they can also capture and digest frogs.
During my April Fool’s Day visit, yellow pitcher plants were easy to spot since they were tall and waving in the wind. My friend pointed out newly emerging flytraps, sundews and purple pitcher plants. I quickly learned to spot them while staying on the path to avoid stepping on the tiny plants.
Don’t even think about snatching a flytrap. Stealing one from a public spot like this Wilmington garden is a Class H felony that could get the thief up to 25 months in prison.
My Saturday in Wilmington started with a peaceful stroll in the Rehder garden, which must be glorious when plants are bigger and blooming. My day ended at Flytrap Brewing in the city’s arts district where flytraps, sundews and pitcher plants grow in terrariums. Adorning the beer garden is metal flytrap sculpture the size of the man-eating plant in the Little Shop of Horrors film. At the brewery you can raise a glass to Stanley Rehder by ordering a special ale -- Rehder’s Red. For Earth Day this year, the brewery plans a workshop for guests to turn repurposed plastic and paint into Venus flytrap art.
Two years ago, I bought a small Venus flytrap at Aldi. It was part of a pre-Halloween spooky plant sale. My flytrap only lived a few months. Now that I know more about these carnivorous plants and have seen them thrive in the brewery, I hope to try growing the plant Charles Darwin called in his 1875 book Insectivorous Plants “one of the most wonderful in the world.”
If you go to Wilmington:
The Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden is in the Piney Ridge Nature Preserve at 3800 Canterbury Road in Wilmington. It is open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. https://coastallandtrust.org/lands/rehdergarden/
Flytrap Brewing is at 319 Walnut Street in Wilmington. It opens on weekdays at 3 p.m. , at noon on Saturdays and 1 p.m. on Sundays. It stays open until 10 p.m. most evenings. https://www.flytrapbrewing.com/
Read more about Stanley Rehder and his passion for flytraps:
https://ncwildflower.org/flytrap-man/
https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/news/2012/10/01/flytrap-man-stanley-rehder-dies/30925389007/
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