Local carnivorous plant grower and expert Dave Nelson contacted the Idaho Botanical Garden in 2011 to determine our interest in displaying some of his plants in our Children’s Adventure Garden. As you can imagine, the answer was an emphatic YES!

An old stock water trough serves as the peat- and perlite-filled container that now supports 14 different pitcher plant, Venus flytrap, and sundew species. Plants grew well in nearly full sun through the hot summer, much to our surprise. As long as they never dried out and were irrigated only with distilled water, they kept right on growing and flowering as “Coach Dave” told us they would.

Come check out this fascinating display in the Children’s Adventure Garden, just a hop, skip and a jump from our Boys in the Swing water feature!

Learn about how to care for your indoor Tropical Pitcher plant.

Learn about how to care for your indoor Tropical Sundew plant.

Learn about how to care for your outdoor Venus Flytrap.

List of Carnivorous Plants On Display
Northern purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea)
Southern purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa)
Yellow pitcher plant (Sarracenia flava)
Pale pitcher plant (Sarracenia alata)
White top pitcher plant (Sarracenia leucophylla)
Green pitcher plant (Sarracenia oreophila, federally endangered)
Hooded pitcher plant (Sarracenia minor)
Alabama sweet pitcher plant (Sarracenia rubra ssp. alabamensis, federally endangered)
'Red sumatra' hybrid pitcher plant cultivar (Sarracenia flava x Sarracenia leucophylla)
Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)
Fork leaf sundew (Drosera binata)
Thread leaf sundew (Drosera filiformis ssp. filiformis)
Spoon leaf sundew (Drosera intermedia)
Pink sundew (Drosera capillaris)