During my stay in Eastern North Carolina I was fortunate to find an area I never knew existed. It is called Green Swamp Nature Preserve. Located in Supply, North Carolina, this area is home to some very unusual plant life. This area’s goal is protect carnivorous plants such as Venus flytrap, sundew, butterwort, bladderwort, and 4 different species of pitcher plant. There are also other trees, shrubs, and plants native to North Carolina that call this swamp home such as long-leaf pines and orchids. Birds and butterflies abound. I found these to be more difficult to identify as I did not have my binoculars

Another great thing about this day was sharing it with my younger brother, Larry. In my opinion, nature is even more wonderful when experienced with family and/or friends. It was a bonding moment and a way to share common interests. It started in the parking lot when we were greeted by a friendly duck. There was a large pond area located next to the parking area. The trail was difficult to follow as there were many off-shoots but watching for the orange triangles became imparitive to prevent us from loosing our way. Another stumbling block was being careful where we walked as to not damage these unique plants since many were very low to the ground. Once we crossed a boardwalk type of trail through part of the swamp we were able to spot what we were hoping to see. It strarted with the Venus flytrap which was low to the ground but was usually easier to spot if you found a patch of moss. Once we new how to spot them we found several patches of the Venus flytraps and pitcher plants. The hardest part was to find where the trail ended but it did appear to be an out and back trail and, like I mentioned earlier, marked with orange triangles. This encounter encouraged my brother and I to learn more about these plants and we definitely are better able to identify these beautiful, rare plants.

The Green Swamp Preserve has great information on there website (listed below) but I couldn’t find where they provided pictures to identify some of these great plants. There is, however, a large display with pictures at the beginning of the walk that may be helpful and I have included another website that has a great picture identification guide.