Garden Detective: Carnivorous plants

January 5, 2012 4:51 PM

When we brought my mutt of a puppy home three years ago, she tore up the house. She ate my daughter's homework (really!) and chewed up a coffee table, floor moldings and a camera. For the first two years of her life, I could often be heard muttering that plants were better than puppies because they were well-behaved and provided joy without causing any pain, and what was I thinking getting another dog, anyway? As it turns out, I now have some ill-mannered plants in my house, and although they're quite destructive, I'm not muttering at all. Let me introduce you to them. --Jessica Damiano