The "Queen of Carnivorous Plants" returned to her post last Saturday. It was Fairchild Tropical Gardens' Annual Ramble time, and this was my 6th year hawking all manner of meat-eating (do bugs qualify as meat???) plants to wide-eyed children and equally fascinated adults. The Ramble is an institution in the Miami area, and is the Garden's main fundraiser.
I can tell I've become somewhat of an institution at the carnivorous plant booth because Bob, the man who grows all these varieties we sell once a year, welcomed me back by name. This year I worked the Saturday 9-1 shift, arriving at 8:30 to help set up, and spending the morning explaining about the various plants, how they feed themselves, and how to keep them alive, especially the Venus Fly Traps that the kids tend to kill within a day or two.Teaching is as important as selling at the Ramble, and the kids are fascinated to hear everything we have to say. For a woman who lives in a highrise condominium and can barely keep a potted plant alive on her balcony, it's amazing how much I know about all kinds of exotic plants and trees.
This year I worked alongside a young man named Jamie who is studying theater and dance at the New World High School of The Arts in Downtown Miami, and a very nice senior citizen gentleman named Egon, who also volunteers on a regular basis at the Garden. I think you can tell from the photo just who is who. No, I wasn't standing in a hole when they took the photo, although I do believe the ground was a little uneven. At least I'd like to believe that.
The plants you see hanging all around us are varieties of Nepenthe, a pitcher plant that traps its dinner in hanging cups filled with a sweet liquid that apparently is to flies and bugs what a good martini is to a habitual drinker. Once the bug enters the "pitcher", it gets stuck in the sticky stuff, and as I tell the kids, "that's all she wrote." They understand perfectly. Nepenthe, by the way, is a Greek word meaning "absence of sorrows". I bet a bug stuck in a pitcher might have something to say about that.
At 12:30, Jamie and I snuck out of the booth for a few minutes to witness the release of two turkey vultures that had been rescued from Biscayne Bay by Wild Life Rescue of Dade County. Turkey vultures can't swim, and no one knows why a whole flock of them ended up in the bay. The rescue service, whose slogan is "Keeping Dade County Wild", is run by a Viet Nam vet named Lloyd Brown. They do amazing work. Don't laugh, but I'm thinking of volunteering there. They need help with their website and I love animals, so it sounds like a good match.
The "significant other" spent the morning driving one of the solar-powered shuttles, hauling visitors around the Garden and to the parking areas, so when both of us finished our shifts at 1pm, we made a bee-line for the booths offering food samples. Benard tends to be picky, but I am an equal opportunity sampler,from sticky Thai orange ribs and my all time favorite Arepas, to Key Lime pie and double chocolate cheese cake. It's not a day to count calories.
If you've never experienced The Ramble, you don't know what you are missing. Put it on your calendar for next year. I guarantee it's worth the trip. You'll find me at my usual carnivorous plant stand. . . .good thing I'm not a vegan.
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Photo: Jamie,Me and Egon. . . .can we interest you in a killer plant????
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