One sad part of living in Southwestern Ohio (besides the weather) is the region’s distinct lack of carnivorous plants. We envy folks fortunate to have native species growing practically in their back yards, or within a short drive.
One day we headed north to hike at John Bryan State Park. Inside the visitor center, there was map of all the state parks in Ohio hanging on the wall, several of which had the word “Bog” in the title. Bogs in Ohio?! This was worth checking out.
Turns out, Ohio does have bogs
In fact, Ohio used to have a ton of bogs, many of which were part of The Great Black Swamp until it was drained to make room for farmland. Today only a few bogs remain, spread throughout the middle and northern parts of the state. Not every bog has carnivorous plants, but to our excitement some of them do! Ohio’s bogs are home to several species of carnivorous plants including Sarracenia purpurea, Drosera rotundifolia, Drosera intermedia, and a few types of Utricularia.
Cedar Bog err… Fen
The first stop on our travels took us to Cedar Bog northeast of Dayton. Cedar Bog is the largest fen in Ohio.
Cedar Bog has a boardwalk that allows visitors to explore the area while minimizing damage to the environment. From our research, we knew that D. rotundifolia and a species of bladderwort were in the area…but didn’t know where exactly to look. We moved slowly, but eventually transitioned from the wooded area into a grassland with plenty of sun. A little green flash in the sea of brown caught our eye, it was Drosera rotundifolia!
D. rotundifolia Flower
Chowing down on a bug
Soon, we were seeing the little guys everywhere and even found a patch of sphagnum moss growing nearby. A group of college students wandered by and asked what we were looking at. We explained we were looking for carnivorous plants and had found some! With a lifeless tone, one of the students said, “Oh yea, I heard those types of plants were out here” and walked away without even looking. The lack of enthusiasm nearly crushed us. We quickly recovered however and enjoyed the rest of our time in the fen before pressing on to the next stop.
Brown’s Lake Bog Preserve
Brown’s Lake Bog Preserve is an actual bog near Wooster, Ohio. It’s unique in that it is a kettle bog. Kettles are large holes left by receding glaciers. Kettle bogs form when the hole fills with rainwater and then becomes acidic from decomposing plant matter.
We made it to the bog in the early evening and were the only ones there. After walking a short ways through the woods on a rickety boardwalk, we arrived at the kettle portion of the bog which was mostly covered in a mat of Sphagnum Moss and ferns.
It didn’t take long to find what we came for; dozens of S. purpurea poking out of the moss near the boardwalk!
Some grew as individual plants and others clumped together in mounds of Sphagnum Moss. Most were bright green, but several had beautiful purple and red veining. Once again, we were blown away that these plants grow in the wild right here Ohio.