Day 229: The bizarre flowers of my Sarracenia rubra (lovingly nicknamed "Audrey") are beginning to open. Audrey is the pride of my garden, although because of her specialized growing requirements, she resides in a pot on the back porch where her feet can be kept constantly wet in the bog-like conditions she prefers. Surprisingly easy to grow for as exotic as this Sarracenia appears, she has rewarded me with two blossoms this year with a third seemingly arrested in its development while no bigger than a grape. The central domed structure of a mature flower is golf-ball sized, the petals surrounding it 2-3 inches in length. At the base of each inner petal is a small gap which allows insects into the interior of the dome, as I discovered last year when I dissected the flower after it was completely spent. Audrey's digestive juices had dispatched any and all trespassers into her inner sanctum, "woe to all ye who enter here." The dome itself seems to function in preventing insects' possible escape, compelling them to alight where they will be trapped and consumed. One has to marvel at the process of genetic selection which allowed such a plant to develop in this manner. When you think about it, it makes human beings seem rather boring overall.
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