Hundreds of 'Texas trumpets' (Sarracenia
alata), 'pink sundews' (Drosera capillaris), long-fiber
sphagnum (sphagnum macrophyllum) and other native bog plants, were sitting
in plastic pots in the crowded beds of pickup-trucks. The pitcher plant rhizomes
were shooting up tender, red new pitchers, and flower-stalks with a small
round ball at their 90-degree bent end. These balls would become beautiful,
scented, and bizzare-looking yellow flowers, but now they looked like little
submarine periscopes scouting the area from inside their oversized plastic
pots. Last year's dead pitchers stared at the clouds with their mouths wide-open
in a silent protest. The sundews looked uncertain and impatient.
It had been almost one week since they were rescued
from a condemned Tyler Co. bog and brought to the The
Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in
Athens, TX. They were waiting for their new
home to get ready. Part of the consultation with TFFCwas proper planting of the
displaced plants so, on this cloudy and wet day I drove the 100 miles to Athens to
help plant these pitcher plants.
Since more sphagnum peat and sand was needed in the bog-gardens because of settling,
on went the rubber boots and, Glen Raborn and Bob, both TFFC employees, and I, went on an orgy of ripping open tens of bales of material, spreading it, and stepping on
it to get it hydrated (builds sartorius muscles in a hurry). A heavy roller pulled ox-style over the area again and again
helped compact the soil. Hauling and arranging rock for drainage works took up aditional time. We were finally ready to plant.
TFFC Director Allen Forshage joined the party. We cleaned out as much dead foliage
from the pitcher plants as possible, without disturbing the clay-and-sand
balls which enclosed the roots. We planted them without following a pattern,
to mimic a natural bog. In the shade of the S. alata clumps we planted colonies of
D. capillaris and sphagnum.
These bog gardens were to "replace" natural pitcher plant habitat which the DOT cleared when the loop around Athens was build. A man-made habitat cannot replace the perfection of a natural one, but the effort had to be made.
The refugee carnivorous plans are no longer displaced. They have a,
hopefully, permanent home, and will be admired by and fascinate the hundreds
of children and adults who will visit these bog-gardens after the grand opening
in April. The new pitchers will stand with their mouths wide open in
silent song under the Texas sun, bringing visitors part of the Texas heritage.
Related Stories:
Bog gardens part of wetlands exhibit
TFFC consults with CPT to build bog gardens
TFFC & CPT rescue Pitcher plants and Sundews
Site No. 2, Tyler Co.
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