Ever notice that some of the most spectacular nature photos you have ever seen are of plants and flowers covered in early morning dew? Growing up I loved the mornings just for that reason. Now imagine a plant that makes its' own morning dew for the sun to sparkle though all day!
The sundew (Drosera) has tiny hairs on it's leaves, and glands that keep a drop of dew balanced on the tip of each short, usually reddish hair, for the sun to shine through all day long! The Cape Sundew (Drosera capensis) was the plant that first sparked my interest in this hobby because of the way the sun glistened through it the afternoon I first saw one. A spectacular plant, it grows like a weed in most collections. I have seen it come back from a frost, and decapitation by a hungry cat. (Don't ask me why the cat ate it, it just did.)
Sundews vary in size from the pygmy's of Australia, just a few millimeters across, to the truly gigantic Drosera regia of South Africa, with three foot leaves, to the stag horn sundew (Drosera binata and family) that can make very large and impressive hanging basket display. Next Page>>
