Question
QUESTION:  Do you know what the best carnivorous plant would be to grow in Southern California(Orange County)?

ANSWER: Hi Ryan,

I'm going to give you some general recommendations since there is no one single "best" plant.  You are blessed in your region that you have lots to choose from.

Here are some plant recommendations.

1.  Outdoors.  Sarracenia pitcher plants are going to be simple to grow.  Some of the
more vigorous are Sarracenia flava (Yellow trumpet), S. rubra varieties (Sweet pitchers), S. leucophylla and Hybrids such as Judith Hindle, Scarlet Belle, Daina's Delight and others.  The Venus flytrap is also a great outdoor plant.  (It is not a houseplant!)  Hardy sundews such as the Dewthread (Drosera filiformis) are
also great.

2.  Indoors.  For sunny windows my first recommendations would be tropical sundews.  The Cape sundew (Drosera capensis) is my top recommendation since it's relatively fast growing, and has dramatic leaf  movement.  Close seconds are the Lance-leaf sundew (Drosera adelae) and the Fork-leaf sundews (Drosera binata types), both very easy growers.

Southeast Asian pitcher plants (Nepenthes) are some of the preverbal carnivorous houseplants.  They do require a bit more patience since they grow a bit slower.  Good first time plants include Nepenthes sanguinea, N. truncata, N. ventricosa, N. copelandii hybrids such as N. x ventrata and
others.  Depending upon what your minimum winter temperatures are, you might be able to have highland varieties outdoors with some shading.

Mexican butterworts (Pinguicula ssp.) are also very easy to grow in windowsills.  Two great ones for a sunny window include Pinguicula moranensis, and P. agnata.  They catch lots of tiny bugs, and have pretty flowers.  Pot one in an African violet pot, and you have a very low maintenance plant.

Hope this helps.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: So when winter comes around in my area would i leave the plants as they are or make an artificial dormny period such as the refrigerator. The reason I ask this question is because there are NO freezes where I live and the lowest it EVER gets is 38 degrees only some nights. The average would be around the high 50's to low 40's at night.

Answer
Hi Ryan,

Just leave them outside.  Temperatures in the 40's and 50's combined with the short days of winter are more than enough to  put them into dormancy.  It doesn't have to freeze.  Doing the refrigerator method is only recommended when you are in a true tropical climate such as Hawaii, or Florida Keys.  This is one of those situations of, "Don't make it any harder than it needs to be."  Your biggest issue will be water.  Just make sure you have a good source of low mineral water for your plants. (Rainwater, distilled water, or water purified by reverse osmosis.)

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com