My name is John van der Werf, I live in the village of Boskoop (known from the tree nurseries and because of the apple named after it), the Netherlands. My profession is microbiologist and I have a passion for everything in nature and especially of carnivorous plants.
In and around my home I grow a nice collection of these fascinating plants. And I started to grow them about 35 years ago.
My collection contains mainly sundew (Drosera) species, especially tuberous and pygmy species. Next to that I also grow some Sarracenia, Pinguicula, Utricularia, Heliamphora, Darlingtonia and a Cephalotus.
I am the treasurer of the “werkgroep Carnivora” (http://www.carnivora.nl), the Dutch Carnivorous plant society. Recently I also started to do this for the “Ark of life” (http://www.arkoflife.net).
In my spare time I enjoy sports (I have ran the marathon twice). Besides that I love to hike and bike into the Dutch nature, keeping my eyes open for nice plants and animals.
I also love to travel, to explore nature outside of my country. My vacations have taken me far away from home and I have visited all continents except Antarctica. When I go for a holiday trip abroad I enjoy the various aspects from nature. It is nice to see carnivorous plants, but there is so much more to see.
During these trips I’ve been lucky to have seen many special animals and plants (both “normal” and carnivorous).
About this blog:
In this blog I will introduce you to some plants from my collection. Additionally I will also tell you something about the various encounters I had with wonderfull creatures elsewhere.