Something Wicked This Way Blooms
- Diana Pierce
- Oct 22
- 5 min read
Where nature's beauty takes a spooky turn
By Diana Pierce, Oct. 22, 2025
Welcome to the Dark Side of the Garden
This Halloween, I'm looking past the pumpkins to the blooms that bite back.
Some lure their prey with sweetness. Others defend themselves with poison or perfume. And a few — like the ones we've seen in pop culture — have become icons of nature's darker side.
If you've ever wondered what Wednesday Addams, or Professor Sprout of Harry Potter fame, and Minnesota's bogs have in common… let's open the greenhouse door and find out.
Let's Start With Greenhouses of the Imagination
Before we venture into the real-world haunts of carnivorous plants, let's peek into the fictional gardens where they first captured our imaginations.
In Wednesday (Netflix, Season 1), botany teacher Marilyn Thornhill (played by Christina Ricci) tends the Nevermore Academy greenhouse. Her lessons on poisonous plants and carnivorous curiosities mirror the show's themes — deception, defense, and transformation. She's the kind of teacher who knows that what's beautiful can also be deadly.
And at Hogwarts, Professor Pomona Sprout teaches Herbology, where magical plants like Mandrakes scream and Devil's Snare strangles. Both were inspired by real species — from toxic mandrake roots to the twisting vines of nightshade.
It seems that whether it's Nevermore or Hogwarts, every great magical school keeps a few dangerous plants in the curriculum.
These fictional greenhouses remind us that plants have power — they protect, adapt, and outwit. Maybe that's why they've always made such compelling characters. Think Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.
But you don't need to venture into fiction to find nature's monsters. Some of the most sinister specimens are growing in northern North America and right here in Minnesota.
Closer to Home: Minnesota's Real-Life Monsters
This past summer I visited bogs and peatlands up north like Big Bog State Recreation Area — and there you'll find our state's only native carnivorous plants including the Purple Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea).
Its rain-filled cups lure and drown insects in a deadly pool of enzymes.
The bog itself feels like another world — muggy, quiet, and ancient.
Here’s where it can be found besides Minnesota- The Purple Pitcher Plant thrives from Alaska to Newfoundland, stretching south through the Great Lakes, New England, and into the Appalachians and coastal Carolinas.
Photo tip: Get low at eye level with the plant. Let the morning dew highlight the trap's purple veins. I had to lay down on the boardwalk to get the shot.
Venus Flytrap: Beauty That Bites
Speaking of traps, let's turn to perhaps the most famous carnivorous plant of all.
You might recognize this one — it's the top photo and I photographed mine at Heidi's GrowHaus & Lifestyle Gardens a while back.
Native only to the Carolinas, the Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) has become a houseplant celebrity, snapping shut with a speed that still startles first-time viewers.
"In carnivorous plants, we see beauty turned weapon — the flower's lure becoming its prey's undoing."
David Attenborough, The Private Life of Plants (1995, BBC)
Corpse Flower at Como Zoo
From the quick snap of a flytrap to the slow, theatrical bloom of something MUCH larger and far more pungent...
The blossom — over six feet tall — opened for barely two days, releasing its signature stench of rotting meat.
The odor is the plant's way of luring pollinators like flies and beetles.
Pop Culture Crossover: Little Shop of Horrors
You can't talk about carnivorous plants without mentioning Little Shop of Horrors and the unforgettable Audrey II — the talking, man-eating plant who belts out "Feed Me Seymour!"
While your flytrap won't start singing (thankfully), the story was loosely inspired by real carnivorous plants' eerie mix of attraction and danger.
And if you've been bewitched by these botanical terrors, good news: you can grow your own.
Tips to Grow Your Own Little Audrey II
Want to grow houseplants that have a touch of gore?
Here's how to raise your own miniature monster — ethically and safely.
Note: Tips condensed from carnivorousplants.org
1.Choose your plant:
Pick a nursery-grown Venus Flytrap — never wild-harvested.Look for cultivars like Akai Ryu (Red Dragon) or Dente for dramatic color.
In the Twin Cities- Gertens has them in stock.Note: There might be other garden centers that carry them but when I posted this, Gertens was it.
2. Light: Give them at least six hours of direct sun daily or use a bright LED lamp (12–16 hours). Without enough light, they weaken quickly.
3. Water: Keep the pot sitting in ½–1 inch of water at all times. Use only distilled, reverse-osmosis, or rainwater — tap or bottled water will kill them.
4. Soil & Pot: Stick with the tiny pot until it fills out. When repotting, use a mix of 50% peat moss and 50% coarse silica sand — no fertilizer, no potting soil, no "miracle" mixes.
5. Feeding: Outdoors, they catch their own meals. Indoors, offer an occasional small insect or rehydrated dried bloodworm — and gently touch the trap to mimic movement.
Care Notes: Leaves die back naturally every few months. Cut off any flower stalks so the plant keeps its strength. If growth slows, it may be craving more light or food.
Winter Rest: They need a cool dormancy (35–50°F) for a few months each winter — just like they get in the Carolinas.
For an in-depth care guide go to the: New York Botanical Garden
Photography idea: Capture the trap mid-snap. Try backlighting the fine hairs inside the jaws for a dramatic shot.
Floral Folklore: Wickedly Symbolic Blooms
Beyond the carnivores, the plant world holds plenty of other dark enchantments — blooms that have haunted folklore and frightened gardeners for centuries.
Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum): Said to scream when uprooted.
Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea): Beautiful but heart-stoppingly toxic. Note: plant is highly toxic to humans and pets if ingested.
Marigold (Tagetes): In Mexico, known as cempasúchil — the "flower of the dead."
Black Bat Flower (Tacca chantrieri): Shaped like a flying bat with long whiskers — nature's gothic masterpiece. How to grow
Closing Reflection: The Garden After Dark
As the veil between seasons grows thin and Halloween draws near, maybe it's the perfect time to remember that nature doesn't always play nice.
From the bogs of northern Minnesota to the greenhouses of Hogwarts, these Wicked Blooms remind us that beauty and danger often grow side by side — and that's what makes them irresistible.
So this Halloween, while others carve jack-o'-lanterns and hang paper bats, perhaps you'll be tending something a little more... alive. Something with teeth. Something that watches and waits.
Happy Halloween, fellow gardeners.
May your blooms be wicked!( Mwa-ha-ha-ha)
Diana
Q. Have you ever witnessed a Corpse Flower bloom? Tell me your spooky-botanical stories in the comments or send me your photos. I’d love to share.
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