November-December 2022 - 54

GARDEN Rx
Fascinating Flora
Carnivorous plants make for clever fly catchers
The Venus flytrap is probably the best known meat-eating plant thanks to Hollywood, but don't worry, we have yet to find one big enough to catch a human.
R
etired pathologist George Newman
is a man with many interests.
A passionate plantsman
and photographer, he has hiked
all the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire,
and he has traveled to Quebec and Newfoundland
admiring rare plants that grow
in these harsh environments. Dedicated
to the conservation and preservation of
wetlands, he was a trustee of the Bedford
Land Trust and belonged to the Piscataquog
Land Conservancy. A long-standing
member of the New Hampshire Orchid
Society, native orchids are among his
plant passions, and he also has a collection
of tropical orchids in his greenhouse.
He has planted his 3.5-acre property in
Bedford with many unusual native plants,
some of which are thriving far north of
their normal regions. The soil in one section
has enough moisture to sustain bogloving
plants including some of his favorite
insect-eating, carnivorous plants.
Along with native northern pitcher
plants (Sarracenia purpurea) that have
been growing outside in his bog garden
for 30 years, he also has tall yellow
trumpet pitchers (S. flava) and the green
pitcher plant (S. oreophila) whose normal
ranges are from Alabama to the North
Carolina border. These southern insecteaters
happily survive outside year-round,
BY ROBIN SWEETSER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN W. HESSION
52 New Hampshire Home | November/December 2022
in the bog garden next to plants native to
Canada and some that grow atop Mount
Washington. " It certainly is a strange mix
of plants, " he says.
Predatory Plants
We are used to bugs eating our plants,
but what about plants that eat bugs?
All carnivorous plants grow in either
extremely acidic or overly alkaline boggy
soils that provide the plants with no
nutrients. To survive these conditions,
they have evolved ways to feed themselves
by trapping insects.
Growing up in the Bronx, Newman
first encountered this unique group of

November-December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November-December 2022

November-December 2022 - 1
November-December 2022 - 2
November-December 2022 - 3
November-December 2022 - 4
November-December 2022 - 5
November-December 2022 - 6
November-December 2022 - 7
November-December 2022 - 8
November-December 2022 - 9
November-December 2022 - 10
November-December 2022 - 11
November-December 2022 - 12
November-December 2022 - 13
November-December 2022 - 14
November-December 2022 - 15
November-December 2022 - 16
November-December 2022 - 17
November-December 2022 - 18
November-December 2022 - 19
November-December 2022 - 20
November-December 2022 - 21
November-December 2022 - 22
November-December 2022 - 23
November-December 2022 - 24
November-December 2022 - 25
November-December 2022 - 26
November-December 2022 - 27
November-December 2022 - 28
November-December 2022 - 29
November-December 2022 - 30
November-December 2022 - 31
November-December 2022 - 32
November-December 2022 - 33
November-December 2022 - 34
November-December 2022 - 35
November-December 2022 - 36
November-December 2022 - 37
November-December 2022 - 38
November-December 2022 - 39
November-December 2022 - 40
November-December 2022 - 41
November-December 2022 - 42
November-December 2022 - 43
November-December 2022 - 44
November-December 2022 - 45
November-December 2022 - 46
November-December 2022 - 47
November-December 2022 - 48
November-December 2022 - 49
November-December 2022 - 50
November-December 2022 - 51
November-December 2022 - 52
November-December 2022 - 53
November-December 2022 - 54
November-December 2022 - 55
November-December 2022 - 56
November-December 2022 - 57
November-December 2022 - 58
November-December 2022 - 59
November-December 2022 - 60
November-December 2022 - 61
November-December 2022 - 62
November-December 2022 - 63
November-December 2022 - 64
November-December 2022 - 65
November-December 2022 - 66
November-December 2022 - 67
November-December 2022 - 68
November-December 2022 - 69
November-December 2022 - 70
November-December 2022 - 71
November-December 2022 - 72
November-December 2022 - 73
November-December 2022 - 74
November-December 2022 - 75
November-December 2022 - 76
November-December 2022 - 77
November-December 2022 - 78
November-December 2022 - 79
November-December 2022 - 80
November-December 2022 - 81
November-December 2022 - 82
November-December 2022 - 83
November-December 2022 - 84
November-December 2022 - 85
November-December 2022 - 86
November-December 2022 - 87
November-December 2022 - 88
November-December 2022 - 89
November-December 2022 - 90
November-December 2022 - 91
November-December 2022 - 92
November-December 2022 - 93
November-December 2022 - 94
November-December 2022 - 95
November-December 2022 - 96
November-December 2022 - 97
November-December 2022 - 98
November-December 2022 - 99
November-December 2022 - 100
https://www.nxtbook.com/yankeepublishingnhgroup/NewHampshireHome/new-hampshire-home-september-october-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/yankeepublishingnhgroup/NewHampshireHome/new-hampshire-home-july-august-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/yankeepublishingnhgroup/NewHampshireHome/new-hampshire-home-may-june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/yankeepublishingnhgroup/NewHampshireHome/new-hampshire-home-march-april-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/yankeepublishingnhgroup/NewHampshireHome/new-hampshire-home-january-february-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/yankeepublishingnhgroup/NewHampshireHome/new-hampshire-home-november-december-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/yankeepublishingnhgroup/NewHampshireHome/new-hampshire-home-september-october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/yankeepublishingnhgroup/NewHampshireHome/new-hampshire-home-july-august-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/yankeepublishingnhgroup/NewHampshireHome/new-hampshire-home-may-june-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/yankeepublishingnhgroup/NewHampshireHome/new-hampshire-home-march-april-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/yankeepublishingnhgroup/NewHampshireHome/new-hampshire-home-january-february-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/yankeepublishingnhgroup/NewHampshireHome/november-december-2022
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com