Westlake Designs

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Spring 2012 hair barrettes and crocheted collars

the mini collection

bow barrettes in mint and sea foam

braided cable barrettes in cobalt, oyster and kohl

combs with braided cable detailing in coral, honeycomb and white tweed

peter pan collar in oyster

peter pan collar detail

scrunchie in cobalt

the colour palette

And to celebrate the transition to spring, all hand knit and crocheted hats, cowls and fanny packs are 25% on westlakedesigns.etsy.com! Just use the coupon code SPRINGCLEANING when you check out.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Plant of the Month

The Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea muscipula)

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Time to nerd out...

Carnivorous plants, some of the coolest plants around. Venus fly traps, which are actually pretty common as houseplants, attract, trap, and digest insects that come their way. Tiny hair-like sensors on the fleshy inside of their 'leaves' trigger a thigmotropic (moving in response to touch) snapping shut of the trap. Digestive enzymes are then secreted and nutrients are absorbed from the prey until all that's left is the chitin from the exoskeleton. Then, the trap re-opens.

Native to North Carolina.

They're a bit difficult to care for, but they can live for up to 30 years in the right environment! They're used to bogs so they're best growth in peat moss kept moist. Humidity is also important so an open terrarium works well- they still need access to food so no lids.