Carnivorous plants for beginners, from left to right: Drosera capensis, Dionaea muscipula, and Sarracenia purpurea.

Some provide an enticing home for symbiotic bacteria that they depend upon to break down their catch for them. Whether you’re a green-thumb enthusiast or just starting your botanical journey, get ready to witness the captivating world of insect-eating wonders unfold before your eyes.Grow Nepenthes x ventrata in a warm, bright room in a hanging container, ideally where it can receive a few hours of direct sun a day. Dormancy: Not required, though your plant may slow down or stop growing depending on the light levels. To keep plants looking their best, you can remove old pitchers, traps, flower heads and leaves once they start to fade. Suitable compost is available from carnivorous plant suppliers and some garden centres, or you can mix your own.

Small insects are immobilised by the sticky slime and larger victims may struggle to break free, coating themselves further in the mucilage - death is usually indirect, via suffocation.If you’d like to dive deeper into the 170+ species or calculate the requirements of a specific plant, I’d suggest bookmarking my Nepenthes Interactive Guide. There are dozens of other carnivorous and semi-carnivorous plant species out there, but you’re less likely to encounter them as a beginner.

The Venus Flytrap: Without a doubt the most famous carnivorous plant, the Venus flytrap is - for many growers - a gateway drug! A cloche is a small, portable, protective structure made of glass or rigid transparent plastic used to protect plants, especially overwintered and early vegetables, from wet and cold weather and to warm the soil before planting. You can also mix your own compost – the ingredients are available from specialist suppliers online and from some garden centres.Carnivorous plants can be found on every continent except Antarctica and there are many species native to the UK including sundews, butterworts and bladderworts. I transplanted and separated my pitcher plant from the VFT and used the recommended soil from the same brand. Carnivorous plants don’t just catch tiny insects – some species of the tropical vine Nepethes are known to trap frogs, birds, mice, rats and other small mammals in their large fluid-filled pitchers.