Question
QUESTION: Do you have any suggestions on which tropical plant I should get? It needs to be able to grow well in a south-facing window in my room at 73-75 degrees F, and at about 60% humidity constantly. I appreciate your help!

ANSWER: Hello Corey,

Just about any tropical carnivorous plant would do well in that window and at room temperature with that humidity level. Some great houseplants would be Nepenthes, especially the easy growers like N. ventrata, alata, ventricosa, sanguinea, and others. Tropical sundews like Drosera capensis, spatulata, graminifolia (a tropical sundew that likes cooler temperatures and bright light), and a number of others. Drosera adelae might grow well in that window if you keep them slightly further from the window and to one side so that they still get bright, but partial sun through the window. Drosera adelae tend to burn easily in high intensity ultraviolet light, so would be better off in an east or west window (windows do cut ultraviolet light greatly, however; might still be enough to burn the leaves of lower light plants occasionally).

Check out cobraplant.com (Sarracenia Northwest's site) and look over thier selection of tropical plants and find those that say "easy" on the difficulty. The Drosera graminifolia is actually indicated as an intermediate difficulty plant, however, your conditions should be just fine for them.

Christopher

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QUESTION: Thank you, and what about Cephalotus Follicularis? Would that do well?

ANSWER: Hello Corey,

A Cephalotus would like those conditions, however; also requires some rather special care. They are a bit more difficult to cultivate than other tropicals and are actually more of a short dormancy temperate. Australia creates some very diverse weather patterns that Cephalotus had to get used to, so it often needs a short dormancy in winter at least (though not as cold as other temperates). If you feel experienced enough with other more difficult species of plants you could try a Cephalotus. They can succumb to fungal infection rather suddenly and do not like having their roots disturbed when repotted. They also need to be watered where they get just moist soil all the time, but no standing water near their roots as they can succumb to root rot easily too.

Some great advice on the care of Cephalotus can be found here:

http://www.cobraplant.com/cephalotus.html

If your still relatively new to carnivorous plants I would suggest a Nepenthes or sundew first, then when you have the watering and lighting right for that plant, with it growing well, you could move on to more finicky species.

Christopher

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QUESTION: Great! Thanks for the advice! Now, this is my last question, for real! :) Do you know of anywhere that I could get a Cephalotus? I know that Sarracenia Northwest recently had them for sale (I was frantically saving up for one), but I can't find them anywhere else! I know that I'm ready to try it, as I've cultivated many of the easy tropicals and temperates already and completely read the Savage Garden twice, but I'm getting so desperate that I'm actually considering being patient and growing them from seed, which is very slow business. Any suggestions as to where I might get them? Once again, thank you for your time!

Answer
Hello Corey,

I also cannot find a single place online that sells a Cephalotus of any cultivar right now. You might try to search for carnivorous plant forums and inquire about trading plants with another grower if you are just desperate to have one now. If you can wait, just save up and keep hitting all the online places you can till you see one in stock.

Good going with your plant collection,

Christopher