Monthly Archives: August 2022

State of the Gallery: August 2022

(Dedicated to the memory of Nancy Crawford, whose 90th birthday would have been today. Without her gentle encouragement for 20 years, the Triffid Ranch probably never would have happened.)

Ever been in an amusement park and got in line for a new rollercoaster, and right when you get strapped into the car and sent on your way, the earth gives way and all of you go barreling into an abyss that lay beneath the whole park? And when you gently hit bottom, you find yourself cornered in a city full of vampires that have been feeding on humans above them for centuries? And you manage to take on the vampires with a spare boba tea straw that fell from above, organize the various servant races the vampires have been breeding for menial labor and midnight snacks, relay light from the surface via spare fiber optic cables buried by the CIA, and burn the vampires to ash? And then when you get back to the surface, you discover that the vampires were the only thing keeping a species of sentient exoparasite from the rim of the galaxy and a species of hyperintelligent dinosaur from taking over Earth themselves, and your chainsaw is in the shop? And when you lock them all in stasis tombs deep below the surface of Ganymede, you find artifacts from an indescribably ancient civilization that lead you to their perfectly preserved home inside a series of nested Dyson spheres, and you get exclusive real estate rights to the equivalent living area of three billion Earths?

That’s what August 2022 has been like, but with carnivorous plants.

The best part? 2022 has been this wild, and we still have four months left.

Folks outside of the Dallas area might have heard or read about the bit of rain we got on August 22. The Tallahassee-level deluge wasn’t enough to get us out of severe drought yet, nor will the expected rains through the beginning of September, arriving about a month early compared to most years. However, every bit helps, as do the delightfully cool temperatures right now as compared to three weeks ago. The last time I experienced an August that ended like this was in 1987 (I spent my 21st birthday slogging through rainwater so high that it came up to the axles on my bicycle, and I was having the time of my life doing so), and considering how 1987 went, I’m packing a spare parachute just in case somebody else needs it.

The gallery itself continues to undergo its ongoing renovation and metamorphosis, with the front area, now mercifully entourage-free so that visitors can actually get into the place, pretty much finished and ready for new enclosures. The renovation and remodeling of the back area begins in September, although new lighting and shelves are already there. Considering how well the last open house in August went, the first open house of September attempts to continue the tradition, only moving from Saturday to Sunday, September 4 in order to allow folks who couldn’t get to the gallery on Saturdays to have a chance. Keep coming back through the year and take one picture each time, and you’ll get a view worthy of George Pal and Wah Chang.

One of the other benefits of the ongoing cool and wet outside is that the Sarracenia and flytraps, long semi-dormant in the extreme heat of July and August, are now simply exploding with new growth. as things cool off, the regular Triffid Ranch events move outside for a return of the Porch Sales. Depending upon the weather, expect Porch Sales every weekend until Halloween (in case of rain, everything moves inside) every weekend where the Triffid Ranch isn’t attending a show elsewhere. In addition, the new Porch Sales will feature also guest vendors, the number to be announced in the future.

And speaking of shows, it’s time for a range of local and out-of-town shows in the next couple of months. Unfortunately, the Triffid Ranch can’t be out for this weekend’s Plantopia in Arlington, but I’m signed up for the Crow’s Alley Flea Market in Bedford on October 15 and 29, and then there’s the long-running Blood Over Texas Horror for the Holidays two-day event at the Palmer Events Center in Austin on November 26 and 27. After THAT, it’s all local events at the gallery for the rest of 2022. Since the Day Job offers the whole last week of 2022 as additional vacation time, there may be one last big event before New Year’s Day 2023, but that’s still being discussed.

(On the subject of 2023, things got very interesting with Texas Frightmare Weekend, moving for next year to the Irving Convention Center for Memorial Day weekend. As brought up before, TFW moved to the Irving Convention Center next year due to massive upgrades to the whole of Terminal C at DFW Airport, and one of the upshots was the ability to upgrade to 10×10 spaces as opposed to the smaller spaces in which the Triffid Ranch had been presenting plants since 2009. This means a LOT more plants, enclosures, and other possibilities, and the next eight months are dedicated to stretching the limits of enclosure design and technology specifically to take advantage of the increased space.)

Finally, there’s still a bit over a week to vote in the Dallas Observer Best of Dallas Awards, and the Triffid Ranch was nominated for “Best Garden Center,” so give love to all of the other things that make Dallas such a fun city when we put our minds to it. Me, I’m happy to be nominated, but if the Triffid Ranch should win, the afterparty open house is going to be the stuff of legends.

In the interim, it’s back to the linen mines: as mentioned, the renovations continue, and with them comes a ridiculous amount of room for new enclosures. Again, come out to the gallery on September 4 to get a view now, and be amazed at how much gets put in between then and the end of the year, especially compared to last year. You’ll boogie ’til you puke.

The Aftermath: Seventh Anniversary Open House

Sometimes it’s hard to believe how far the Triffid Ranch has come: it’s been fourteen years since the first-ever Triffid Ranch event and seven since the original gallery opened at Valley View Center, and there’s always something new to put together. This time around, the first stages of the new gallery renovation were reasonably complete, with oh so much more to do in the back area of the gallery and only so many 78-hour days to best exploit. (I kid: I never use anything that short.) Between the revised front area, the revamped and relit hallway, and the space available for additional tables, the beginning of Year Eight was as impressive as hoped back when this all started in the spring.

Considering that the opening date was also the birthday for one of the ea (rly visitors, this was one hell of a birthday. There’s still so much more to do (the whole back area hasn’t had a stem-to-stern revision since the middle of 2020), but at least now it’s a matter of knowing how much is left instead of how much needs to be done first.

To stir things up a little bit, to take advantage of the long Labor Day weekend, and to facilitate those whose work or life schedules keep them from being able to attend Saturday open houses, the next Triffid Ranch open house is on Sunday, September 4, running from noon until 5:00 pm. See you then.

Have a Safe Weekend

The rains finally returned to Dallas, the whole city is nicely soggy, and the National Weather Service predicts even more. In many ways, we’re repeating August 1987, and considering how much that year changed the rest of my life, I’m not complaining.

For those curious about Triffid Ranch events, it’s time for the big blowout. The Texas Triffid Ranch Seventh Anniversary Party and Carnivorous Plant Open House starts Saturday, August 27 at 3:00 pm and runs until 9:00 for your plant-viewing pleasure. If you can’t make it, September and October are going to be packed with events: some of which are still forming, but at least expect a major open house on Labor Day Weekend.

And to boost the signal, voting in the Dallas Morning News Best in DFW Awards ends at midnight on August 26, and the Triffid Ranch is nominated for Family Attraction in “Entertainment” and Best Adventure Within a Day’s Drive and Immersive Experience in “Things To Do.” Do what thou wilt. (The Triffid Ranch was also nominated for “Best Garden Center” in the Dallas Observer Best of Dallas Awards, but voting there continues until September 10. Feel free to vote early and often.)

Finally, today’s song selection has multiple points of reference, and not just because of the storms earlier this week that soaked everything. Let’s all wish Shirley Manson a very happy birthday today; if I’d been three hours more premature, she and I would be the same exact age. (For the first time in ten years, I feel that I can celebrate my birthday, so there’s that, too.)

The Aftermath: Aquashella Dallas 2022 – 7

And that’s how Aquashella Dallas 2022 ended. Two days of unrelentingly enthusiastic attendees, asking excellent questions, and eventually we had to pack it all in and go home. It’s always bittersweet when a show this good ends, and the only hope is to try it all over again next year and do it even better.

As always, I would like to thank the staff of Aquashella Dallas for a wonderful experience all the way around (the only issue all weekend, the outdoor temperature, was completely out of their control), and also many thanks need to be extended to the attendees and general visitors. You’re the people for whom i do this, and all of you made attending next year’s shows a certainty. Thank you again.

Fin.

The Aftermath: Aquashella Dallas 2022 – 6

One of the many perks available at Aquashella Dallas this year involved glasses. Specifically, every attendee received a pair of Fritz UV Coral Reef Viewing Glasses included with admission. According to attendees visiting the various live coral dealers throughout the show, these glasses filtered out blue light coming from the LED lights used everywhere, making the corals appear even more fluorescent than usual. Unfortunately, vendors didn’t qualify for glasses, but my gallery neighbor, who came out to view the show with friends, gave me his pair, and I’m waiting for a good cloudy day to see if these glasses offer unorthodox views of various carnivores, particularly Sarracenia pitcher plants.

This led to questions, and musing, and a possible course of action if what I seek actually exists. If it doesn’t exist, or if it’s not possible, you’ll never know, but if it does, expect a much more interactive display at next year’s show.

To be continued…

The Aftermath: Aquashella Dallas 2022 – 5

(This space left blank, Just go to Aquashella Dallas next year, and get your tickets as soon as they’re available. Judging by the crowd here in 2022, the lines for same-day ticket sales are going to be long and very, very sweaty. Buy them in advance, so you have more time to check out the live coral displays.)

(Really. Just make plans for next year, or go to Chicago in October. You won’t regret it.)

To be continued…

The Aftermath: Aquashella Dallas 2022 – 4

A little sidenote about Triffid Ranch shows and events is that everything gets measured in “vans.” The stackable tubs used for moving plants and other show gear are a godsend for transport, and a standard U-Haul van packed to the gills has room for up to 16 tubs and still have room for shelving, tables, lights and battery (thank Arioch for LED lighting, because my current setup can run lights for two days without recharging), essential non-plant accessories (tablecloths, extension cords, ID tags, and cleaning supplies, among others), and hauling carts. (I always carry two: one big pneumatic-tired cart for hauling the heavy stuff, and a foldable cart for moving items in spaces where the big cart can’t fit.) If the show is local, there’s always the option of rushing back after unloading and unpacking to get more, venue and staff willing, but if the show is outside of Dallas, what I can jam into the van is all I’ll have. Larger trucks are an option, but finding a rental truck that also has air conditioning in the cargo area (a necessity in Texas in the summer, unless I’m driving solely at night and unpack first thing in the morning) also has to be balanced with potential sales versus the cost of fuel. It’s a tricky deal, which is part of the reason why Triffid Ranch booths at outside shows tend to be filled with lots of beginner plants as opposed to ones only of interest to specialists and collectors.

While there’s an advantage to being close enough to home that it’s possible to reload the van, that also has to be balanced. It’s really easy to have an excellent show on Saturday, completely fill another van for Sunday, and find yourself having to wrangle multiple trips to take everything back if Sunday’s show is a dud. Alternately, you can find yourself making so many sales on Saturday that not having enough surplus means you’re staring out over empty tables all Sunday, as most events and venues frown very hard on breaking down early. As I said, it’s a balance.

That said, I had high hopes for Aquashella Dallas, and attendees and staff outshone my best expectations. The only issue for attending other Aquashella shows is that based on this one, and the multiple return trips to the gallery to get more plants, I’m going to need a bigger truck.

To be continued…

The Aftermath: Aquashella Dallas 2022 – 3

Newcomers to Dallas have every reason to be wary when a local asks “So…what brings you to Dallas?”, but it’s almost always for a legitimate and benevolent reason. Dallas was and is built off waves of people moving here from elsewhere (I myself came here on the big Oil Boom wave in the late 1970s/early 1980s), and there’s always a reason. Nobody just decides to pick up a dart, throw it at a map, and decide “Hey, I’m moving to Dallas today!” Whether it’s for family or career or school or because they fell in love with the place after seeing a rerun of the PBS adaptation of Ursula LeGuin’s The Lathe of Heaven, there’s always a story, and I for one love hearing those stories. It’s even better when those stories involve something that someone living here for four decades didn’t know about, and suddenly you have a serious conversation.

Suffice to say, Aquashella Dallas is FULL of stories. The absolute best part comes from casual tourists who have never been to North Texas in their lives: discovering that a particular event caused people from all over the planet to come to Dallas, in the middle of one of the worst heat waves in Texas history, means we must be doing something right, and we have to work harder to keep doing so.

To be continued…

The Aftermath: Aquashella Dallas 2022 – 2

It’s been a very, very long time since I had the opportunity to go to a big aquarium show (early 1986, to be exact), and one of the things I’d forgotten was how dedicated aquatic people are to hitting as many shows as they can. It’s one thing for regular attendees of an annual show to plan life events around that one big show, and many people look at touring shows and plan several dates, either ones within their vicinity or ones where they’re already planning to visit family and friends. However, the folks at Aquashella have only one counterpart that compares, and that’s the music festival fan. I’ve done a lot of shows in the last nearly 15 years, and this was the first time both attendees and fellow vendors were actually disappointed when they asked “Are you going to be at the next show?” and I had to decline.

In retrospect, though, it makes a lot of sense. It’s not just that aquarium people have as wide a range of specialties as music festival folks, as well as the enthusiasm to travel the country and the world to keep up with their passions. It’s that every aquarium show really will have a range of touring displays and local vendors that make you risk missing out if you don’t hit as many as possible. The other half of the fun, also, is the sense of community among aquarists: tetra people and discus people may look quizzically at gar or axolotl people, but nobody’s putting down the other’s loves. If anything, from my booth alone, I caught several conversations about specific fish species that went from “we’ll have to agree to disagree” to “I’m going to have to try that just on your recommendation.” That’s the sort of enthusiasm that more hobbies and genres need.

All said, it’s too late for me to make the road trip with plants to Chicago for the next Aquashella show…this year. Next year, though, I may have to skip the Orlando show solely because of the date (late February shows mean not having Sarracenia, flytraps, or other temperate carnivores still locked into dormancy), but it’s high time to bring the Triffid Ranch to other cities outside of Texas, and I should have plenty of vacation time on the Day Job to let me do that.

To be continued…

The Aftermath: Aquashella Dallas 2022 – 1

From the register side of the table, one of the more intriguing aspects about Aquashella Dallas was the brand and community awareness aspect. With the overwhelming number of vendors at other Triffid Ranch shows, from Texas Frightmare Weekend to the Oddities & Curiosities Expos, they’re also selling, and there’s always a dynamic of turning to the side to see how everyone else is doing. Many of the Aquashella booth crews, including my immediate neighbors from Tetra, were there to get the crowd excited about upcoming products and releases. As such, that meant having very experienced booth crews coming by to ask exactly why the Triffid Ranch displays were set the way they were, and offering suggestions on improvements when the only answer I had was “That’s a really good question.” They also had lots of insights into an entire slew of shows with which I had absolutely no experience, so talking shop about show attendance and potential new events was both illuminating and very, very relaxing.

The best part of discussions with neighbors, besides their surprise that I was familiar with Tampa thanks to the Convergence goth convention in 2008, was talk about the other Aquashella shows in Orlando and Chicago. The original pre-COVID plan for expanding the Triffid Ranch’s range included finally attending shows outside of Texas, and when all of your neighbors ask “Are you going to Chicago?” because they honestly think the Chicago attendees would love carnivorous plants, well, you pay attention. I’ll burn all of those bridges at the end of the year.

To be continued…

The Aftermath: Aquashella Dallas 2022 – Introduction

It all started in the Before Times, when a representative from Aquashella, one of the biggest aquarium shows in the country, stopped by the Triffid Ranch booth at the NARBC Arlington show in February 2020 and asked “Would you be interested in showing your plants at the Aquashella Dallas show?” The answer was typically understated (quote: “If you nail a duck’s foot to the floor, does he waddle in circles?”), and plans for later in 2020 made quite quickly. Well, anybody not knowing why the 2020 show didn’t happen was obviously in a coma until last week, and we should all be very envious of their situation. Last year, the Aquashella crew tried again, and the finalized date coincided with my best friend’s wedding, and priorities are priorities. The third time, though, was the charm, as Aquashella moved from Dallas’s Fair Park to Dallas Market Hall in 2021, and it was definitely worth the wait.

For those unfamiliar with the show, Aquashella specializes in aquatic wonders, both in freshwater and in saltwater, and the overwhelming majority of my fellow vendors focused on fish, tanks, and decorations, as well as coral, live plants, and tank augmentations. A few were devoted to axolotls and other aquatic amphibians, and a few spread out to reptiles, but most focused on fish and fish accessories. Nobody was expecting to see carnivorous plants, much less see them up close, and even the record heat of that weekend didn’t dissuade Dallasites from coming out to ogle the pitcher plants and sundews. Two days and thousands of people, and the crowds didn’t let up until about 90 minutes after the show was supposed to be finished. It was WONDERFUL.

To be continued…

2022 Open Houses: The August Edition

As of August 22, the months of lack of rainfall at the Triffid Ranch were rectified. In fact, Dallas’s biggest concern right now involves flash flooding for the rest of the week. At the moment, both the gallery and the greenhouse are in good shape, and living near the top of a hill has its advantages. The main thing is that a dearth of appreciable precipitation, an issue since last June, is now rectified, and the carnivores are now awash in, quite literally, more water than they know what to do with. For the Sarracenia in particular, the rain and subsequent high humidity are long-awaited blessings, and we’re apparently going to get a lot of it over the next week.

Before our much-appreciated break in the heat, though, the ongoing heat and dust are a usual issue in August in Texas, and that continues in most years until the end of September. This means that people are loath to get out into the heat if they can possibly help it, and if they do, it’s usually for as long a luxuriation in air conditioning as can be managed. Ergo, things were a little slow at the Triffid Ranch open houses this year, but that just gave more time to focus on finishing things for the seventh anniversary evening open house on August 27.

As for the future, those plans have to wait until after the August 27 anniversary event. One thing is for sure: if the brutal heat doesn’t return and this is truly the end of temperatures above blood temperature in the Dallas area, the outdoor Porch Sales return in September…some with guests.

The Texas Triffid Ranch Occasional Newsletter and Feed Lot Clearance Sale – #31

For newcomers, this is a semi-regular newsletter from the Texas Triffid Ranch, Dallas’s pretty much only carnivorous plant gallery. Feel free to forward early and often, and to subscribe if you haven’t already.

Installment #31: “Dealing With Texas-Level Heat
(Originally published July 11, 2022)

For those outside of the Dallas area, you may or may not know about the current weather situation. Those of us in the Dallas area are already sick to death of it,and those of us who have been here for a while know what’s going to come next. You see, when it comes to Texas summers, there’s “hot,” where we might have a few days of temperatures above normal body heat in July, but generally we stay around or below that. Then there’s “HOT,” where we push toward 107F/40C and above, and the record highs just keep coming. We always have “hot” summers, where we deal. We get the occasional sudden thunderstorm, but otherwise it’s warm, sunny, and dry between the middle of June and the end of August. “HOT” summers, though, are an aberration of which we talk for years and sometimes for decades. I personally have lived through three, in 1980, 1988, and 2011, and we’ve had a few that came close to meeting that standard. My late mother-in-law, though, lived through the famed Drought of Record that hit Texas from 1952 to 1956, and the reason the Dallas area has so many reservoirs is because if the drought hadn’t broken at the end of 1956, 1958 would have led to an evacuation of Dallas because of a complete lack of water.

We’re not that bad right now, but it’s still going to be interesting. According to Weather.com as of July 11, we’re looking toward at least two weeks and probably three of head advisory warnings, and we’re already getting the entreaties from ERCOT, the body that manages Texas’s electrical grid, to please minimize electrical use during the day. (Yes, ERCOT and our esteemed governor learned nothing from the 2021 statewide blackout, and we’re still running on an electrical system that’s absolutely state of the art…if the state gets tossed through a time vortex and we all find ourselves in 1974.) We’re also significantly short on rainfall this year, which exacerbates the ongoing heat (the wetter the topsoil and the thick layers of clay underneath are when summer starts, the more evaporation cuts back on severe heat, and starting out June with already-dying grass and big cracks in the back yard means that the heat probably won’t break until October), not to mention filling the aforementioned reservoirs so we can drink, bathe, and water our foundations. (The reason we generally don’t have basements in North Texas is because of those thick layers of clay upon which we put houses and businesses, and as they dry, they shrink. Not only do you get big cracks, sometimes big enough to lose puppies, in unwatered areas, but the shrinking clay also causes damage to house foundations and water mains. Watering house foundations is a learned but essential skill throughout the Dallas area.)

And what does this have to do with carnivorous plants? Right now, they’re going to be suffering without assistance. Most carnivores prefer much cooler temperatures than what Dallas is experiencing right now, and those that love heat (certain species of Nepenthes pitcher plant are referred to as “stovehouse plants”) absolutely loathe the low humidity. Most outdoor carnivores such as Venus flytraps and North American pitcher plants can adapt and get through summer for a whole new growing season in autumn, but they need help.

First and foremost, make sure that you have a good and dependable source of water. I regularly refer to Dallas municipal water as “this side of ‘crunchy,'” and it’s sufficiently loaded with salt and calcium carbonate that it’s eventually lethal to carnivores. If you were overprepared this year, you should have a surplus of rainwater already collected and sitting in barrels waiting for use. If you weren’t, as most people understandably weren’t, either the water reserves are running low or they’re going completely dry about now. If you have a few carnivores, purchased distilled water will work for a long while, but if you have many, you’re going to discover the unique aggravation of hunting down, transporting, and dispensing dozens of jugs every time you need to water your Sarracenia. As it was at the Triffid Ranch, it may be time to look at a reverse osmosis filter.

For the unfamiliar, a reverse osmosis (often referred to as “RO” or “R/O”) filter pushes water through a membrane with pores small enough to allow water molecules to go through but not larger molecules such as sodium chloride, iron oxide, or lead sulfate. Not all of the water can go through at once, so an RO filter has one outlet for pure filtered water and one for water carrying the salts and compounds that couldn’t go through the membrane, Because of the amount of stuff, from pollen to mineral deposits in the pipes, that can be found in tap water, most RO units have activated carbon and mechanical filters that “polish” the water before it gets to the membrane. Most units today are rather efficient: for every gallon or liter that goes through, about an equal amount is produced as waste. That waste water doesn’t actually have to be wasted: the outflow can be directed into the sewer, sure, but it can also be directed to water foundations, gardens, trees, and any kind of water feature that won’t have a problem with slightly more saline water. The filtered water then can either go directly to the plants that need it or into a storage tank for later use.

A regular question asked at Triffid Ranch shows  “can I use RO water for my plants?”, and after extensive research, the answer is “it depends.” Should you get one intended for hydroponics or cannabis (and we should all thank the US states legalizing cannabis and industrial hemp for helping to increase the efficiency and lower the costs of RO units over the last couple of decades, the way indoor cultivation did for LED lighting systems), the resultant end water is usually fine for carnivores, although it should be tested for mineral content on a regular basis. Most of the RO units intended for producing drinking water, though, can be a problem. Pure water of both tastes really flat and dull and tends to leach compounds out of containers (Portland, Oregon is famous for its nearly pure municipal water from a reservoir fed from snowmelt, but it’s also famous for being so pure that it leaches lead and copper out of older pipes), so most bottled drinking water, even if it is vacuum-distilled, has table salt and other electrolytes added for flavor. With home RO filters intended for drinking and cooking, the overwhelming majority come with a module called a “remineralizer,” which is essentially a slow-release salt source that dissolves as water runs through it. Water from an RO filter with a remineralizer isn’t good for carnivores, so if you have the opportunity to get a RO filter solely for the plants, leave the remineralizer for people and pets.

(A little sidenote for us North Texas folks. Many of the RO filters intended for Colorado use, if you know what I mean and I think you do, come with transparent filter canisters so users can gauge how close the filters are to needing replacement. After just a couple of weeks of use, you’ll be amazed at how much rust is in Dallas municipal water and how much those filters catch. After a month, you’d think someone dropped a Ford Pinto into the filter. Be prepared to change the filters and flush the RO membrane a lot more than recommended by the manufacturer, because our water so close to being a rust porridge as it is, and the mineral concentrations that precipitate out as sediment are only going to get higher as the reservoirs from where the water came get lower. I could make jokes about “Do you want selenite? Because this is how you get selenite” when letting local water evaporate in the sun, but those of us who practically need acid to get mineral deposits off shower stalls and sinks won’t find them particularly funny.)

Now that the water is taken care of, it’s time to discuss heat. Right now, even plants in their native habitats are going to show signs of heat stress when faced with Dallas temperatures. Some handle it better than others: Venus flytrap traps tend to burn off when exposed to excessive heat, while Sarracenia pitchers get replaced with long flat bladelike leaves called phyllodia to continue to catch light even when it’s too hot and dry to catch insects. Others are going to die without some kind of protection.

Let’s start with outdoor plants. You know those incredibly cool black skull pots that you wanted to put your Sarracenia in back in March? Right now, they’re probably steaming the poor plant’s roots if they’re in direct sun. Setting the pot in water may not be enough, so use light-colored covers, such as an old sheet, to keep the direct sun off the pot (don’t use aluminum foil or reflective barrier sheeting to do so: if you don’t know why, ask a baked potato) if you can’t move it, or move it to a place that gets morning sun but afternoon shade if you can. Likewise, since Dallas’s prevailing southern wind slurps the moisture out of everything, try to keep your carnivores in a place reasonably sheltered from the wind. Whatever happens, do NOT let your plant dry out, because it won’t come back if completely dessicated, so watering heavily first thing in the morning and then checking on it or them in the evening is about the only way to go. If you live in an apartment where the only outside growing area is on a balcony, you may have to bring your plants inside temporarily while the heat is extreme, because most Dallas apartment balconies become convection ovens in late summer.

Indoor plants such as Nepenthes pitcher plants and Cape sundews aren’t going to be spared just because they’re not out in direct heat, so they need additional care, too. Air conditioning is one of the main factors that makes Dallas even remotely liveable in summer, and AC units condense a lot of moisture out of the air inside of a house or apartment. This means that more water than usual is going to evaporate from enclosures and plant tissues with the drier air, and this is aggravated if the only place to leave the plant is in front of an AC vent. If you keep your plants in enclosures, put the top on and seal them off to spare them the worst of the lowered humidity (remember, Nepenthes stop producing pitchers when the average humidity goes below 50 percent, and they die if exposed for too long to humidity below 30 percent without an additional source of humidity such as an ultrasonic fogger or a chameleon dripper), and try to keep it closed as much as possible. Either way, keep a very close eye for signs that they or their substrate are drying out, and don’t be afraid to overwater slightly if they appear to be losing more water than usual because of the increased AC activity. Most importantly, watch cool-loving plants such as Cape sundews or highland Nepenthes for signs of heat stress and get them into cooler spaces as quickly as possible. If you catch it soon enough, the plant may be in shock, but it should make a full recovery if given half a chance.

The big thing to remember is that while things are stressful now, eventually the heat is going to break. Dallas usually gets one big day-long thunderstorm on or near Labor Day, and the amount of rainfall we get after that determines how long the heat will last into October and November. The important thing to remember is that we should be back to chilly weather by the beginning of December…and then we have all of the issues with cold to worry about. It may stop, but it never ends.

Shameless Plugs

31 years ago, my life went through as massive an upheaval as it did at the beginning of 2022, and I credit the Seattle artist David Lee Ingersoll and his much-missed comic Misspent Youths for getting through 1991 alive and relatively unscarred. Let it be said that his Redbubble page is full of wonders, and a Misspent Youths banner now acts as a sunshade for my office to keep out the afternoon heat. Look for a poster in the gallery in the very near future.

Recommended Reading
The research on potential new enclosures never stops, and the exemplary book The Art and Science of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs by Mark P. Witton and Ellinor Michel hits all of the right notes. For all of the interest in Waterhouse Hawkins’s famed statuary, any information in the past was relegated to fragments in various books, so getting an authoritative guide to the first 3-dimensional dinosaur reconstructions on Earth and the surrounding park in which they stood is a particular joy.

Music
Dallas has a justified reputation for odd music, both thanks to the city’s inherent character and the complete inability for local artists of all sorts to get any recognition or acclaim until they hit it big somewhere else. To the massive “Dallas music that will give you a brain hemorrhage” playlist goes Panic Surfer, a one-man death metal band with an ultraviolet sense of humor. Naturally, this is catnip to me, said as a terminal Hatebeak fan, and here’s hoping that this is just the start.

Have a Safe Weekend

Two more weeks of gallery updating before the big August 27 seventh anniversary open house, and everyone is welcome to come by to see everything in progress. The gallery is open on August 13 from noon until 5:00 pm: there’s still so much to do, but you should be thrilled with what’s already completed.

“Vote Now Space Cowboy…”

As mentioned with the nominations for the Dallas Morning News Best of DFW Awards last week, it’s awards season in the Dallas area. The big surprise this week is that the Texas Triffid Ranch was just nominated for the Dallas Observer Best of Dallas Awards 2022, under “Best Garden Center” in the Shopping & Services section. (The Triffid Ranch is much more of an art gallery than a garden center, much to the consternation of boomers who leave upset that it isn’t an actual ranch, but I’m not complaining.) Not that this is a complete first (the Triffid Ranch won “Best Little Shop of Horrors” in 2017), but it’s a new decade, a newly updated gallery, and a host who has a new hair color, and this is the first time the gallery has been nominated for open voting by the strange and terrible mutants of the Dallas area. Voting is open every day until September, just in time to come around for the big seventh anniversary open house on August 27, so do what thou wilt, and here’s hoping for a plaque at the annual Best of Dallas Awards ceremony. Not bad for Dallas’s pretty much only carnivorous plant gallery, eh?

Have a Safe Weekend

A lot of weirdness converged this week, so as you’re reading this, the Triffid Ranch will be set up at Aquashella Dallas at Dallas Market Hall for a solid weekend of carnivorous plant fun. After that, it’s a matter of putting together the second stage of the gallery renovation: when I said back last spring that you wouldn’t recognize the place, I meant it. Either this weekend or next, I’ll see you around.

Awards Season Is Nigh

Well, it’s that time of the year: the beginnings of regional awards season. Between now and the end of November, Dallas newspapers both daily and weekly, magazines, and Web sites all rush to process nominations and awards finalists for their views of what makes Dallas and immediate environs so interesting. Right now, the Best of Big D Awards at D magazine are being announced tonight, and the Dallas Observer Best of Dallas Awards haven’t even opened up to nominees yet, so smack between the two is the Dallas Morning News Best In DFW Awards.

Thanks to the efforts from previous visitors and cohorts, it was quite the surprise to discover that the Texas Triffid Ranch was nominated for not one but three categories. (The Triffid Ranch made bronze in the “Best Art Gallery” listing in 2021, which was enough of a surprise.) These include Family Attraction, Adventure Within a Day’s Drive, and Immersive Experience, and there may be others that I can’t find yet. Many thanks to those who nominated the gallery, and further thanks to everyone who chooses to vote for the finalists. One ballot per email address can be made each day, so feel free to go berserk, and voting is open until August 26. And if you aren’t sure, feel free to come out to the August gallery open houses to see for yourself.