šŸŖ“ So I bought a Venus flytrap...

šŸ“… 2026 April 21 šŸ·ļø Gardening

Sorry for disappearing for a while! Hereā€™s some catch-up and some cool plants!!

April 11: Hanami

A couple of weekends ago, we finally had a chance to have a nice little picnic under the cherry blossoms. We arrived a bit after the peak so a lot of the flowers had already fallen, but to be honest, I prefer seeing the leaves come in and having everything turn lovely and green. Plus, seeing the carpets of petals over the walkways looks very cool.

Clusters of pink cherry blossoms on a tree
Our folding table stacked with bags full of pastries, looking out at a wide green park with shade trees and other families enjoying the flowers
Walking path lined with cherry blossom trees and covered in pink petals
Bunches of white cherry blossoms on a tree
Moss growing underneath a tree. Dead leaves and petals are strewn about and the light is dappled from the leaves above
Round fluffy clumps of pink blossoms on a tree

April 12: Balcony gardening

Being outdoors and looking at all the flowers reminded us that we hadnā€™t set up this yearā€™s balcony garden. We slacked off last year as well so itā€™s been a while since we really spruced up the place. So the next day, we went to the home center and planned out what we wanted to do.

Cardboard tray filled with pots of different plants including pink and white begonias, lovegreens, succulents, and a small pot of Venus fly traps

Our haul:

  • Two begonia plants with pink and white flowers
  • A pot full of cute little Micranthes flowers
  • Two succulents: a small Echeveria and a teeny little Sedum morganianum with the delightful nickname ā€œdonkeyā€™s tailā€
  • A small glass cup holding a Venus flytrap plant and surrounded by moss

That last item was a total impulse purchase because it just looked so cool. I didnā€™t know anything about them beforehand and assumed that they would be a fine indoor plant to spruce up the kitchen or dining area. And maybe, just maybe, it could help me with the infestation of fruit flies that plague us during the rainy season and summer monthsā€¦

So we took all of this home and repotted them all. We also gave our poor banyan tree a much-needed haircut after the long winter.

White wire table with various plants in their pots. Clockwise from top: bowl full of crassula succulents and a toy piglet, pot with spiky cactus, small blue pot of sedum morganianum, clay pot with houseleek, round glass cup of moss and Venus flytraps, and a wide blue bowl with a toy pig and bunches of euphorbia
Balcony garden with a wooden planter holding pink and white begonias, and a white pot holding pink and white lovegreens. In the background is a banyan sapling that has been sheared on one side, with fresh green leaves poking out on the other

Learning my lesson about Venus flytraps

I initially put the Venus flytrap on the kitchen counter facing the window, thinking that would be more than enough sunlight. But then I looked up care instructions andā€¦ realized I had been going about this completely wrong.

The cup of Venus flytraps and moss on our white counter. Beside it is a copper-colored spray bottle
Literally everything about this picture is wrong. Learn from my mistakes, kids.

Where I had assumed Venus flytraps preferred the shade, it turns out they need full sunlight, preferably up to twelve hours a day (!!), and getting it filtered through the window glass wasnā€™t going to cut it. Not only that, but the mossy, fertile soil that it had come with was actually terrible for the plant. It needs a mix of unenriched peat moss and perlite, and proper draining, i.e. not the little terrarium glass that it came in. And finally, it needs distilled water or rainwater and cannot handle the kitchen tap water.

I also learned that the traps are too large and too slow to probably ever catch fruit flies šŸ˜” So there goes that dreamā€¦

April 13: Preparing to repot the Venus flytrap

First things first: this needed to go outside and sit in the sunlight with the succulents. I would also need to repot it, so I went out and bought a little plastic pot from the local 100 yen shop.

The white pot sitting beside the glass cup holding moss and the Venus flytraps I bought yesterday. The new pot is significantly larger with (by my guess) three times the volume of the glass cup

I chose this pot from the store because itā€™s got this outer ā€œshellā€ that also acts like a water trayā€¦ but unfortunately, I forgot how big (or rather, small) the Venus flytrap cup was, so uhā€¦ whoops šŸ˜” I mean I guess having a pot thatā€™s too big is better than too smallā€¦

A plastic white flower pot that has a black inner cup. The outer white "shell" has a hole near the bottom to pour water in so the roots can soak, and it reads "Plant Pot" above. Henry the gray cat is sniffing it
It did at least get the Henry Seal of Approval, thatā€™s gotta count for something.
Four sets of flower-themed flake stickers: blue, pink, yellow, and purple, with the white flower pot behind

I ordered some perlite and unenriched peat moss online, and that would take a few days to get in. While I waited for that to get in, I also bought a bunch of flake stickers from the 100 yen shop to try and spruce up this pot a bit. I donā€™t know if these stickers will last long since theyā€™re basically paper with sticky backing and not laminated. But then again, even if they end up fading or peeling off, the stickers have gotta look better than boring white plastic!

My desk with small piles of flake stickers, the white pot with some leaves and purple flower stickers stuck on, and Henry the grumpy gray cat sitting nearby and glowering at me
Trying to decorate this pot but a certain Someone keeps trying to sit on top of the stickers and steal focus from my workā€¦
The front of the pot covered with purple and yellow flowers and branches of green leaves

This was when I was roughly halfway done. All my work in Sticky Business paid off šŸ’Ŗ As feared, I think some of these stickers might end up peeling off, especially after sitting out in the sun and rainā€¦ but eh, still worth it.

And hereā€™s what it looked like when I was done! Henry gave his cheek-smear of approval:

April 16: Repotted the Venus flytrap

The perlite and unenriched peat moss finally got in which meant it was finally time to move the Venus flytrap into its new home! And not a moment too soon since I noticed that its roots were quite black and sickly, probably due to sitting in the glass cup with no drainageā€¦ I hope I managed to repot it in timeā€¦

The tiny Venus flytrap plant in the middle of a large pot filled with peat moss and perlite
The Venus flytrap pot on the white wire table along with the other balcony plants, mostly succulents

April 20: Checking in on the Venus flytrap

Maybe this is wishful thinking on my part, but I swear some of these leaves and traps are new? Or at least, larger and more pronounced than when we brought it home šŸ‘€ Come on little dude, I need you to get your strength up quick because the Kanto summer is on its way and it is brutalā€¦

Pot with a small Venus flytrap plant with a few larger leaves and traps on the bottom and several smaller (possibly new) leaves and traps growing in on the top

And thatā€™s where we are today! I really like taking care of this little plant, itā€™s almost become like another pet. Iā€™ve always enjoyed working on our balcony garden but having a special project on top of it is really fun. If you have your own garden, please tell me about it! I need more plant pals, haha.

Anyway wow it is almost 3am, I got really caught up writing this. Iā€™ll try to blog more!! Maybe!! See you later!!