A partnership between the city of Wilmington and the N.C. Coastal Land Trust has created a unique landmark – the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden – that continues to evolve.

The garden, at 3800 Canterbury Road off Independence Boulevard, is home to Venus flytraps and other carnivorous plants.

At the end of January, the city of Wilmington installed a new 60-foot walkway that connects the existing sidewalk to the northern viewing deck in the garden. The city also installed new interpretive signage throughout the park, and according to Lauren Edwards, city communications manager, crews are scheduled to replace the decking on the southern viewing deck later this summer.

The Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden is the legacy of George Stanley Rehder (1922-2012), who was known around Wilmington as “The Flytrap Man.” Rehder devoted much of his life to studying and preserving the Dionaea muscipula carnivorous plants. Dedicated in 2012, the garden’s humble start came from seeds that Rehder cultivated and planted alongside the road in an area that was under development by Hugh MacRae and the Oleander Company Inc. Rehder noticed a section of that land that was too wet for building but had the perfect moisture, sun and sandy soil to grow Venus flytraps.

Stanley Rehder’s daughter, Julie, recalled, “Every spring, my father would take me to the garden and show me the tender plants just emerging from the sandy soil. We walked from one end of the garden to the other, bending down dozens of times to examine the tiny flytraps that had been dormant all winter. It felt like he knew each plant and its place in the garden. I can trace the locations where he sowed the seeds because they follow a distinct pattern of where he walked.”

The N.C. Coastal Land Trust holds a permanent conservation easement on the privately owned property. The easement allows the trust to lease the 22-acre garden to the city of Wilmington.

These plants only grow naturally within a 70-mile radius of Wilmington, according to experts.
“There are many things that make this garden special,” said Jesica Blake, associate director of the N.C. Coastal Land Trust. “It’s a wonderful place to see many different species of carnivorous plants up close in nature, including the endemic Venus flytrap, as well as a species of the pitcher plant also found only here.”

The plants trap insects with two hinged lobes that close when its sensor hairs are stimulated. Each trap can close and digest three to five times before the trap dies. Any insect, small frog or spider that finds itself landing on or walking across the traps could be digested by the plant. Within three to five days, nutrients from the prey are absorbed and the trap reopens.

The Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden is open to the public year-round. “Now is the perfect time to see Venus flytraps,” Blake said. “Flytraps flower in April and May. Since they are relatively small, flytraps are easier to find when they are flowering. A tall white flower is the flag to locate the plant below.”

Venus flytraps are also native in the pine forest ecosystem at Carolina Beach State Park. It is a felony in North Carolina to poach Venus flytraps. “The biggest threat to this species is loss of habitat and poaching,” Blake said.

“I think my father wanted to create a space where people would not only see the plants in the wild, but also become interested in their preservation,” Julie Rehder said.
 

FLYTRAP FROLIC

What: The 15th annual Flytrap Frolic, hosted by the N.C. Coastal Land Trust, is a free environmental education event.
When: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, June 7
Where: Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden, 3800 Canterbury Road, Wilmington
Info: coastallandtrust.org/frolic