The Pacific North-West Carnivorous Plant Club

Hardy cp's for the Pacific Northwest

There are a wide variety of species that can be grown outdoors year round in the Pacific Northwest. These include:

• All Sarracenia (North American pitcher plants)
• Darlingtonia californica (cobra pitcher plant)
• Dionaea muscipula (venus flytraps)
• several Drosera (sundew) species such as rotundifolia, anglica, filiformis, intermedia, binata, and capensis
• several Pinguicula (butterwort) species such as vulgaris, macroceras, lutea, lusitanica (returns from seed), among others
• some Utricularia (bladderwort) species such as vulgaris, minor, livida, subulata, and others

With some protection from freezing temperatures, the list of species which can be grown successfully in this region expands to include such exotics as Heliamphora, Cephalotus, and even some of the hardy highland Nepenthes such as khasiana and alata.

Growing cp's in the Pacific Northwest

With our mild winters and summers, combined with high humidity, it's almost too easy to grow cp's year round in our region...almost! It does require a little trial and error, but here are some general tips which apply to the majority of cp species:

1. Try to purchase your plants in the springtime or summer while they are still in full growth. This gives the advantage of having the entire growing season for the plant to adapt to your conditions. If possible, try to buy from a local cp grower who can provide further advice, and healthy stock plants

2. In general, most cp's prefer an open soil mixture of one part peat to one part sand. Too much peat often inhibits growth, but is essential for most cp's as it acidifies the soil

3. For most of the common species, you can never give them enough water. Many people like to keep plants sitting in one inch of water year round. If you are going on vacation, it does not hurt them to fill up their container to flooding levels. Water should be as pure as possible. In the Pacific Northwest, collecting rain is not a problem. Since tapwater in this region has relatively few dissolved mineral, this can often be used as a substitute.

4. Keep your plants in a sunny location. The majority of cp's love sunlight and look poor if grown in the shade. Since they are constantly sitting in wet soil, low light, high humidity, and low air movement quickly provides a breeding ground for the mold Botrytis.

5. Do not feed your plants; fertilizers or hamburgers! If grown outside, they'll catch plenty of insects. That's what they're designed to do!

6. Respect their dormancy. A lot of cp's have definite winter, or summer dormancy triggered by changing light levels, water levels, and temperature. Make sure you allow them to go dormant so that the plant returns the following year.

By following the above, and by obtaining as much information you can from books and the internet, you should succeed in growing some very interesting cp's in your area.

Easy to obtain and easy to grow cp's

The following is a list I made of generally easy to obtain (through garden centre's or specialized growers) and grow cp's which can be grown together in the same container year round. Some of these are annuals, so whenever possible, seed should be collected and stored dry in the refrigerator until spring.

• Sarracenia flava, purpurea, rubra
• Dionaea muscipula
• Drosera capensis, binata
• Pinguicula lusitanica (annual)
• Utricularia subulata, livida
• Byblis liniflora (annual)

The above is by no means a comprehensive list of plants that could be grown together in a bog container or garden, just easy to obtain plants, or easy to grow from seed, and often tolerant of beginner mistakes.

If you have any further questions about growing cp's in the Pacific Northwest, please feel free to e-mail me with your queries.

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Last updated January 22, 2000