Carnivore

Day 202: I went in town today hoping to find a Venus Fly Trap for another photo project, but when I arrived at Watson's Nursery and asked the staff if they had any carnivorous plants, they said no, none were available. As I chatted with the woman stocking the racks, I told her that I'd been hoping to photograph one. She said, "Well, we do have one pitcher plant in the back room, but it's not in very good shape."

In the next chaper of the story, you will find me on my hands and knees on wet brick, the subject set in front of a moss-lined basket, the camera propped up on an overturned plastic flower pot and the clerk patiently responding to my instructions to "turn it just a little more this way...can you pull off that one dead leaf, please?" After each shot, she stepped behind me to review the photo over my shoulder. "Oh, I like that one! That's a nice camera. I like how you can zoom in!"

Watson's has often furnished floralia for my photostream, both in the store and with plants I purchased and photographed at home. I am a familiar sight in their aisles, but today marked the first occasion I was invited into the inner sanctum. The pitcher plant was not for sale, so I came home with two tomato vines and an orange tuberous begonia. Thanks, ladies!