how to scare adults and small children

A box showed up last week. Inside was a plant I’d bid on on eBay, Dar­ling­to­nia cal­i­for­nica, the cobra lily, a plant for the new bog gar­den. It was a nice lit­tle divi­sion, packed in sphag­num and still wet from the bog gar­den it had just left. I showed it to John.

“It’s enought to give me night­mares,” he said, shud­der­ing a little.

Darlingtonia californica

I have this scare of snakes, a fear instilled in me by a nanny who took me to the Ran­goon zoo and pointed out the the banded kraits. “See that one? It can kill you with one lit­tle bite. And that one,” she said, point­ing out the Burmese python. Well, she didn’t need to say any­thing. Multi-feet long, and as fat as I was, there was no ques­tion I wouldn’t want to feel its lov­ing embrace.

Some peo­ple want gar­dens that are pretty and make them feel good. But some­how I end up get­ting this plant that has more than a pass­ing resem­blance to my child­hood fears. Maybe it’s about time I faced them head-on. And as scary as this plant is, I think it’s also fairly amazing-looking. And for the first time, I have this com­pul­sion to give this plant a nick­name, some­thing like…Audrey…

April 13 2008 | Categories: my garden • plant profiles | Tags: • • • | 3 Comments »