Growing some carnivorous plants on a window sill...

My first seedlings were grown from a kit picked up at Oxfam for a couple of quid. None of the Venus flytrap seeds germinated, but one Sarracenia leucophylla germinated, as well as dozens of Drosera capensis. The photo below shows them after nine months; the pitcher plant can be seen at the top left.

Potting the seedlings

Here’s the pitcher-plant seedling at about ten months and moved into its own little pot. Within two years its tallest pitcher was about 20 cm tall, and after three years about 30 cm tall. At that point it was taken outside where it grew quickly and didn't seem to mind a cold winter at all.

Venus' flytraps

The Venus' flytrap Dionaea muscipula is probably the most loved carnivorous plant, but has a reputation for being difficult to keep. This hasn’t been my experience at all. On the whole my specimens has done well, overwintering in an unheated room across several years.

By its third year in my keeping was split into two plants, one put outside into my bog garden all and the was other brought indoors. The one outside seems to be doing well, and after a cold winter was sending up new shoots by mid April. But the one brought inside eventually died. It was fine for most of the winter, but thanks to a problem with my central heating I accidentally expoosed it to several hot, dry days. This managed to cause it more harm than weeks of snow did to the specimen outside.

Frostbitten Drosera aliciae

This Drosera aliciae was out outdoors just a little too soon in 2010, and a late frost did quite a bit of damage. The foliage died back almost entirely before it was brought back indoors to rest in an unheated room that was cool but not frosty. But by April it had started to recover, and was even sending up a flower stalk.

A pleasant surprise was spotting some baby Drosera aliciae plants in another pot. These were gently uprooted and placed into their own pot where they seem to have settled down nicely.

Some rescued Nepenthes ventricosa

Down House is always a fun visit because of the wide selection of carnivorous plants on display there. But in 2009 there were a few garden and house plants on sale outside for trivially small amounts of money. It being early December, these plants were likely leftovers from the tourist season, and among them were three Nepenthes pitcher plants. For £0.50 each, they seemed worth picking up, despite being in rather bad condition. The cold air had done them no good, as the top photo shows. But after a few months indoors, at least two of them had recovered rather well, as seen in the second photo.

Another rescued Nepenthes

On a visit to a garden centre in Wendover, I came across a big potted Nepenthes in the bargain section, marked down from £10 to £2. Presumably deemed to shabby to sell, the plant was snapped up and brought home. Fingers crossed!

...And growing carnivorous plants outdoors in England

Sarracenia purpurea is hardy in England, and I leave my specimens outdoors all year around. I kept a specimen outdoors in its own pot for a couple of years with success. Apparently many other Sarracenia are hardy enough to stay outdoors as well, so with that in mind, I created a simple bog garden by filling a plastic urn with a mix of Mountain Gold peat and silica sand. The species included here are Sarracenia leucophylla, Sarracenia purpurea, Sarracenia “Wrigleyana” and one half of my Venus flytrap.

The bog garden two months later

Apart from all the weeds, the most obvious thing is how much redder many of the plants turn when kept outdoors exposed to direct sunlight rather than indoors where the light is filtered through glass (top). The Venus' flytrap has done astonishingly well and seems to have tolerated being divided into two plants very successfully; periodically, it also sent up a few flowers (middle). Sectioning a pitcher plant leaf (bottom) at the end of the summer revealed just how greedy these plants can be!

Winter 2009/2010

This was a long, cold winter with several periods of deep snow that sat on the ground for weeks at a time, something that is quite unusual for this part of England. The Sarracenia should be okay, but what about the Venus' flytrap?

Spring 2010

By April the bog garden was clearly recovering from its winter dormancy. The Sarracenia “Wrigleyana” seemed to be hardly affected at all by winter, and the remaining foliage looked fine. The Sarracenia leucophylla were a bit more raggedy, though there were some new shoots visible at the base. The Sarracenia purpurea were also looking a bit rough (top). The Venus' flytrap had lost virtually all its leaves, but there were plenty of new leaves ready to replace its lost foliage (bottom).

Summer 2011 round-up

A look at some of my newer plants on the next page.

Carnivorous plants at Down House

Photos of the excellent collection of CPs at the home of Charles Darwin, Down House, are on another page.