By Elizabeth Jardina, Sunset researcher; photo by Thomas J. Story; conceived and created by Jess Chamberlain and Chad Dewitt
As October marches forward, the weather starts to gray and chill, and thoughts turn to the creepy, the eerie, the curious, the weird. Halloween is upon us.
In that spirit, we offer up a tabletop perfect for the season. Plus a deep, dark confession.
Those aren't flowers at the center of the table; they're the tube-shaped leaves of a couple of Sarracenia plants. Gnats and flies beware: These babies are carnivorous.
We recently spotted some similar Sarracenia at Trader Joe's.
Thinking of picking up a bug-eating beauty of your own? Good news. They're not hard to grow. American pitcher plants, as the genus is called, are native to exotic locales such as the coastal marshes of North Carolina and Virginia. No fussy greenhouse or humidity-monitoring is necessary to cultivate them. In fact, many experts say that they'll be happiest living outside, either in pots or in a containerized bog in your backyard.
DETAILS These plants don't have the jaw-chomping action of a Venus flytrap, but they're deadly to bugs nonetheless. Insects buzz up to the delicately patterned lip of the plant; there they sample the plant's nectar-like secretion. But the nectar isn't the innocent treat it seems. Laced with tiny doses of a natural narcotic, the bugs get dizzy and fall into the slender tubes of the plant, where they're dissolved by enzymes that act like digestive acid. The bugs become a nutrient-rich slurry; the plant creates its own fertilizer. (A neat evolutionary trick, to be sure.)
If your local nursery doesn't carry Sarracenia, you can buy them online at Sarracenia Northwest and both online and on location at the marvelous California Carnivores; the trip to Sebastapol to visit the latter is worth it just to see their wondrous selection. If you're looking for general information, California Carnivores owner Peter D'Amato wrote the book on insect-eating flora.
STORY INFO Sunset writer Jess Chamberlain got the idea to use carnivorous plants as a centerpiece from designer Chad Dewitt; the placemats, bowls, napkins and napkin rings are from the Gardener. The red wine glasses are from Simon Pearce and the lantern is from Fitzsu Society .
The Sarracenia, poppy pods, cork log and other creepy accoutrements came from our favorite creepy accoutrements source: Paxton Gate. (It is also our No. 1 source for gopher skulls and pinned insects.) If you're ever in San Francisco's Mission District, their store is worth a visit, especially because it's right next door to the Pirate Store at 826 Valencia.
THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES CONFESSION This photo was taken last fall by Sunset photographer Tom Story, intended to be a suggestion for a fresh Thanksgiving table. However, it never ran in the magazine because we discovered that in late November, Sarracenia plants aren't widely available. Like maple trees, they're deciduous, so they stop growing and start getting brown spots as winter approaches. Not very appetite-inducing. So what you, dear readers, saw in the magazine was a recipe for Thanksgiving Star Cider. Which, now that I think about it, sounds delicious right now.
GO DO IT If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out Chomp!, the current exhibit at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. The "little shop of horticultural horrors" (heh) continues through Nov. 4.
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