Spirit Switchboard- Deadly Plants & Ghostly Flowers With Varla Ventura

Spirit Switchboard Episode #177 Sept. 11th, 2026 Deadly Plants & Ghostly Flowers Guest: Varla Ventura Step into the poison garden after dark with returning guest Varla Ventura! We’re digging into corpse flowers, carnivorous plants, ghostly orchids and poisonous beauties that seem ripped from a horror story. Varla will also share a preview of her soon-to-be-released book, Rotten Bottany: Darly Deceptive, Bizarrely Beautifuly & Oddly Alluring Plants. Plus, join us live in the chat and play along with “Fact, Folklore or Fertilizer?”—can you separate strange botanical truth from old superstition and freshly spread shite? Guest Bio: Varla A. Ventura is the author of several books, including Fairies, Pookas, and Changelings: A Complete Guide to the Wild and Wicked Enchanted Realm. As a lover of all things strange, Varla’s interests extend into the weirdness and magic of the plant kingdom. With a deep fascination for folklore and medicinal plants, she has been studying herbalism and botany for more than thirty years. Her plant knowledge comes from a combination of experimentation, formal classes in botany, and working in the horticultural industry for fifteen years. She ran a retail nursery in Portland, Oregon, as well as in San Francisco, California, and operated her own landscaping business for more than ten years. She is also the botanical brain behind Rotten Botany, a website dedicated to unusual plants. When not writing, she can be found wandering around the Minnesota woods and tending her poison garden. Guest links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/varla.ventura Website:https://www.varlaventura.net/ Host links: http://www.kerrilynnshellhorn.com https://linktr.ee/kerrilynn.shellhorn Message from Kerrilynn: I want to hear from you! I want to hear about your ghost stories, paranormal adventures and occurrences. I would also love your show suggestions to cover in the future. Email me at [email protected]. If you enjoy the content on the channel please live, subscribe and share. My deepest gratitude to you all! A formal disclaimer: The opinions and information presented or expressed by guests on Spirit Switchboard are not necessarily those of the Host or the United Public Radio Network/UFO Paranormal Radio Network and its producers. As always Spirit Switchboard strives to hold space for open, respectful dialogue with show guests and listeners. United Public Radio & UFO Paranormal Radio www.uprntalkradio.com