growing carnivorous plants, with peter d’amato
The backstory: About 20 years ago my longtime friend and fellow garden writer Ken Druse and I were working on a book about native plants, called “The Natural Habitat Garden,” and I joined Ken as he traveled around the country photographing natives, in nature and in gardens.
One of our wildest stops was up in Sebastopol, California, at California Carnivores, which has been open and dedicated to cultivating these dramatics plants–including various native American species–since 1989. (A highly recommended destination if you are near San Francisco.) In 1998, Peter wrote “The Savage Garden,” but a lot has changed in carnivores in 15 years since the first edition–and even more so in the 40 years D’Amato has been growing them.
So many new species have been discovered in places such as the Philippines. “We’re now at an estimated 800 to 1,000 species of carnivorous plants worldwide,” says Peter; for many years the number was thought to be about 600. At the time of the first edition, for instance, there were 80 known species of Nepenthes (below N. rafflesiana); those outlandish-looking “tropical pitchers” are now counted at about 150 species.
Speaking of which: In the “houseplant section” greenhouse of my local garden center, I’ve been admiring the giant hanging baskets of Nepenthes. Can I really bring one
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