The new Savage Garden just opened at Inverewe Garden in Wester-Ross, in the Scottish Highlands has many interesting plants on show. Chief amongst the curious specimens on display include plants that smell like urine, eat flies and sport twisted red tongues.
The garden showcases carnivorous plants including the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), whose diet consists of flies and small insects; the trumpet plant Sarracenia flava which uses the smell of urine to attract flies into its tall, triffid-like trumpets; and the cobra plant Darlingtonia californica with bulbous green heads, twisted red tongues and long, tubular pitchers.
Children visiting the garden will have the chance to feed the Venus flytraps under supervision. “When first seen in action, these small plants are awe-inspiring,’ said Inverewe’s head gardener, Kevin Ball. ‘They are without doubt the most famous of all carnivorous plants.”
The more tender varieties are displayed in an Edwardian-style Wardian case – like a mini-greenhouse. Others are quite hardy and can withstand some frost – meaning it’s quite possible to grow them outdoors year-round in the UK.
The garden is part of a £1.5m restoration project at Inverewe, carried out by the National Trust for Scotland. The project will also see the installation of a new glasshouse at the garden later this year.