If you are a sixth grader 'round these parts, chances are you're going to have to produce a project for science class on the topic of one animal and one plant. Not one to be saddled with just any old animal or your run-of-the-mill Venus Flytrap, oh no indeed, Miss Merry chose the the albino dolphin (it's PINK! You guys! A pink dolphin!) and the Pitcher plant.
That's her albino dolphin... cake. FOR SCIENCE.
Pitcher plants are carnivorous; their prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid, known as a "pitfall trap". As you might imagine, Pitcher plants aren't exactly the easiest plant to find, here in the 'burbs of Columbia, South Carolina.
That's her albino dolphin... cake. FOR SCIENCE.
Pitcher plants are carnivorous; their prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid, known as a "pitfall trap". As you might imagine, Pitcher plants aren't exactly the easiest plant to find, here in the 'burbs of Columbia, South Carolina.
That's a Pitcher plant.
Well, you might imagine that a Pitcher plant would be difficult to fins if you don't know about Jarrett's Jungle !Jarrett's Jungle has been locally owned and operated in West Columbia since approximately the dawn of time. Okay, so really it's more like 30 years, but the point, and I do have one, is that they've been around awhile. They also happen to be within walking distance from our house, staffed by some of the friendliest folks you will ever have the pleasure to meet, and when you walk in you are walking into an actual greenhouse, and that is cool. In a warm and humid sort of way.
So, when Mer asked if I knew where we might buy a Pitcher plant, I remembered the pleasant shopping experience I had with Jarrett's Jungle when we bought the Venus Flytrap for CJ's sixth grade project in 2009, and I looked 'em up on facebook. I love it when I find a company not only ON facebook, but actively engaging with their customers and using facebook. So I left a comment on their wall inquiring about Pitcher plants.
Score! They had three in stock, going for about $35 each. Yep. Thirty. Five. Dollars. Each. As in actual people moneydollars. But wait! There's more! Right there in that same comment, before even giving me the tiniest chance to choke on my coffee at the price of a plant I would certainly kill in record time, they proceeded with an offer to cut pitcher for us - like buying a single rose, only a carnivorous and honestly, fairly creepy, single rose. No charge. Free. On the house. On the greenhouse! Just because!
Internets, this is how you do it. This is how you earn customer loyalty and word of mouth advertising. This is how you absolutely thrill an eleven year old kid, her mom, and her science teacher. Because it would have been the easiest thing in the world for those nice folks to just answer my question: Yep, we carry them. $35. But, instead, they took the opportunity to perform a little act of kindness, and that little act of kindness made a big impact.
Thank you, Jarrett's Jungle. Here's Meredith with her project board, Pitcher included:
Science!
Location: 1621 Sunset Blvd.
West Columbia, SC 29169
Phone: 803.796.4670
Jarrett's Jungle offers a variety of services including: Horticulturist on Duty, Local Delivery, Custom Arrangements, Plant Maintenance, Funerals, Weddings, Altar arrangements for Churches, Repotting, Insect and Disease Diagnosis, Pruning, and more. Visit their site for more information.
I love Jarrett's Jungle but never seem to think about going unless it's Sunday! Note to self... go soon!
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