Fun plants for children

Gillian Vine looks at some carnivorous plants with kiddy appeal.

UNDER Alert Level 3, garden shops are back in business, with contactless collection or delivery, so browsing the shelves is still on hold.

My prediction is that the indemand items are likely to be vegetable plants and broad bean seed, as we rush to get planting done before the weather turns too cold. Potting mixes, fertilisers and bags of compost are also likely to be popular.

As well as essentials, a few fun plants could help encourage children to garden. It’s a bit late for swan plants to attract monarch butterflies, so how about a Venus fly trap or pitcher plant?

These belong to a group of carnivorous plants whose prey is small insects.

Loosely, they fall into two types. Firstly, there are the “snap traps” like the Venus fly trap (Dionaea

muscipula), sundews (Droscera) and less familiar waterwheels

(Aldrovanda species), which live in swampy waterways.

The second group is the pitcher plants, mainly Nepenththaceae and

Sarraceniaceae, and bladderworts (Utricularia). We have seven native sundews and three bladderworts, most rare or endangered.

Attracted by bright colours or sweet nectar, the insects get too close and are either trapped by touching the plant’s hairs, triggering the jaws to close, or go down the slippery slope into the maw of a pitcher plant.

Growing a Venus fly trap is not too difficult if you keep in mind the fact that the sole species comes from the subtropical wetlands of eastern parts of the United States. That means they are better grown indoors, as outdoors they will need protection in winter.

The growing mix should be moistureretaining and tending to acid, so using equal quantities of limefree potting mix and peat will give good results.

Water plants from the bottom, preferably with rainwater, and keep them in a sheltered, sunny spot.

Venus fly traps need no feeding, except an occasional small insect, and each trap will take only a few meals before it dies. If you are lucky, small white flowers will appear in spring and if plants produce seed, it can be sown to produce more plants.

Pitcher plants are not as exciting to watch, as there are no jaws to close. Instead, most of the action takes place after the insect has fallen to the base of the trap, having been confused by the “windows” in the flowers, which are not the exit.

The stainedglass effect is the appeal of many pitcher plants.

The tropical vinelike Nepenthes are sometimes called monkey cups, as the primates will drink from them. They need warmth and high humidity or will signal their displeasure by not producing cups.

In contrast, the North American trumpet pitchers (Sarracenia species) need cold winters to thrive. They are grown in similar acid soil to Venus fly traps and because they need constant moisture, trumpet pitchers can be sited at the edge of a pond. Outdoors, they need no feeding.

Trumpet pitchers hybridise readily and this has meant the creation of some extremely colourful cultivars, definitely plants for the adult wish list, while the children watch their Venus fly traps.

Hairy danger . . . The sundew’s hairs alert the plant to the presence of an insect.

PHOTOS: GILLIAN VINE Well fed . . . After it has digested an insect, the Venus fly trap’s jaws open for the next victim.

Bright trap . . . Trumpet pitcher plants use their bright patterns to attract prey.

Drink up . . . The tropical vinelike Nepenthes are sometimes called monkey cups, because monkeys drink the contents.

American beauty . . . Sarracenia flava var. cuprea, one of the North American pitcher plants.

For the youngsters . . . A Venus fly trap (Dionaea muscipula) is a fun plant for children to grow indoors.

Elegant . . . A tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes).