Gothic Gardening: Theme Gardens

The Little Greenhouse of Horrors

Feed Me, Seymour!

Venus Fly Trap

The perennial favorite. Its little traps with the long bristles on the sides are known by everyone.

Pitcher Plants

There are several different genuses that contain pitcher plants. The premise is simple: a long tube, with fluid in the bottom, that traps insects and digests them. The pitchers can range in size from 1 to 3 feet. The California Pitcher Plant, also known as the Cobra Lily, has a particularly spectacular pitcher, since the tops are domed and dotted with translucent windows, and the tube twists around. The edge of the dome has a beard which is forked like a snake's tongue. .

Sundews

The leaves of sundews are covered with prominent red-stalked hairs, which exude a sticky red droplet at the end. When an insect tries to feed on this droplet, it gets stuck, and its struggles cause more and more of the tentacles to bend towards it. The insect is finally smothered, and then digested by the leaf.

Butterworts

Lesser well known than the former three plants, these have leaves which secrete a sticky substance which attracts insects. Once the insect is stuck, the leaf rolls inward and the digestive enzymes are secreted.

Yuck, what's that smell?

Devil's Tongue

The latin name of this plant isAmorphophallus. The blooms open once they reach a height of 8½ feet, and they have a gigantic fleshy pale-green spike in the center. The flower itself is maroon colored. The scent of the flower is said to resemble decaying fish, which attracts the insect that pollinates these flowers- the fly.

Dragon Lily

The flower of this plant is green on the outside, purple-black on the inside, and have a 1½ foot purple spike projecting from the center. Since it is related to the Devil's Tongue, it too is pollinated by flies, and its odor is of dung.

Voodoo Lily

Yet another relative of the Devil's Tongue, this one is less malodorous. The flower is greenish on the outside and yellowish with purple blotches on the inside. The spike emerging from the flower is purple and is known as the lizard's tail.

Zulu-giant Stapelia

The flower is sixteen inches across, and has five ochre yellow petals that are ridged in crimson and have fine purple hairs. The plant is only five to eight inches high, so the size of these flowers is actually quite amazing, aside from the fact they are an interior decorator's nightmare. The scent is of rotten fruit.

Cast-iron plant

The member of the Aspidistras has innocuous green foliage and small purple flowers borne near the ground. The odor has been described as the smell of bad breath....this is to attract the pollinator, the slug.

Hey, come here, I've got something to show you...

Squirting Cucumber

This is just what it says it is. The leaves of this vine are green and fuzzy, like cucumber vine leaves. The vine bears a green fuzzy fruit about two inches long, which squirts out seeds in a stream of watery fluid when you touch it.

Artillery Plant

This is a sort of fern-like plant, which has flowers that shed pollen explosively, like a small cannon.

That has got to be the ugliest thing I've ever seen!

Dracula Orchids

(obligatory vampire reference)These orchids actually have the genus name of Dracula. The blossom of one of these orchids has three triangular petals, each about three inches at the base, which then have long tails. The petals surround a movable pink center cup. The petals themselves are tan with maroon splotches and gray fur.

Bat Plant

The blossoms of this plants are many-petaled and black, and surrounded by a multitude of black whiskers, which are about eight inches long. These have been described as "sinister", and are also known as magician's flower or cat's whiskers.

Living Stones

Several genuses of plants are known as living stones. These are all succulents who have solitary or clump-forming leaves which are very swollen and fleshy so that they appear rock-like.

Celosia

Also known as Cock's Comb, the crested type of this flower can have combs that are nine or ten inches across, and combined with the "furry" appearance of the flower, makes it look like a hot pink (or red or yellow) brain.

Serpent Gourds

These grow on vines that can reach up to a hundred feet, and the flowers, which don't last for more than a day, are white and have long, curling fringe on the edge of the petals. The gourds themselves are greenish, and are long and coiled, reaching lengths of up to six feet.

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick

A nice tree to plant outside your conservatory window, in the winter when all the leaves are gone, it is quite a sight with its fantastically twisted, turned and corkscrew-like branches. It has pendulous catkins which become prominent as spring approaches.