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Hi ! Welcome to my web site dedicated to the fascinating World of Carnivorous Plants..

I am Bill Sherren and one of my passions is growing these amazing plants! I first began growing carnivorous plants in the early 70's unsuccessfully! I can't remember just how many Venus Flytraps I killed ! It wasn't until Adrian Slack's marvellous book "Insect Eating Plants & How To Grow Them" appeared in 1986 that my fortunes changed! Now I know that with a few basic rules carnivorous plants are remarkably easy to grow (with just one or two exceptions!). From the Mid 80's I began growing both Venus Flytraps and Sarracenia pitcher plants, with my eye on the holy grail of these plants Nepenthes! All the books I had read up to that time suggested you would need a stove house and 80/90% humidity to even have a chance of success. And indeed with the lowland forms that is somewhat true. But the highland forms of Nepenthes are proving far more adaptable to more sensible greenhouse cultivation. With windowsill and even outside growing ( in the summer ) possible!

Another snag of growing any sort of carnivorous plants in the early days was actually finding any for sale! When you did locate any, they were often poor quality specimens and quite expensive. Nowadays with the advent of Tissue Culture as well as seed grow plants the choice and quality has increased beyond belief! With newly discovered species often becoming available after just a year or so after being discovered! Such an amazing change in just 30 years or so! There has never been a better time to grow these incredible plants!

I am dedicating this site to the memory of my sister Kate who died on the 18th May 2005 after a short battle with cancer. The Martlets Hospice in Hove Sussex were marvellous in making her final weeks so comfortable & happy.

Many thanks to Sue Dougan and BBC RADIO KENT "Sunday Gardening" to allow me to help promote these amazing plants on their 21/01/07 edition. It was great fun :)

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LATEST NEWS

Very sad that one of my lovely and loyal cats has recently died . (16/01/15) :( Although a good age at 17 it was a shock to lose her, and her brother & I really miss her. She loved wrapping herself around my shoulders as I went through and watered my plants.

And now very sad to say her brother has died today (27/07/15) after suffering kidney issues. The greenhouses will seem very empty without them seeking me out and finding me pottering about the greenhouses. :(

My front garden experiment with growing Sarracenia outside all year round has this year suffered a massive setback with vine weevils wiping out the bulk of the plants! And still more Heliamphora dropping dead without warning. Not to mention a few neps as well. So all in all 2015 could have been a better year... Hopefully 2016 will be better!

2016 was slightly better but still having far too many losses from my Neps in particular! :( Perhaps older plants, bad or average winters and less time to tend them is starting to have a negative effect?

2018 News!

Intend to retire fairly soon from my day job and concentrate on my plant collection and updating this web site and make it more user friendly to mobile devices!

2019 News!

So sad to lose yet another feline. :( Poor old Mr Ginge had a short time with me and was never a well cat. But hoped he would improve and enjoy another summer in the garden and greenhouses. But alas it was not to be... Be safe my friend.

2020 News!

A new decade and time to improve the conditions for my plants! And concentrate on the species/hybrids that actually do well for me...

Added some LED lights to one Neps house to see if it helps the plants over winter. Too soon to tell...

Latest 2020 news!

I am finally retiring from my day job in late November this year. So hope to rebuild stocks of my plants to start selling again in 2021 and beyond! Also hope to improve my ageing web site and make it more user friendly on tablet devices.

As Flash is no longer supported my current Photo Galleries will only work on Windows 11 or lower and possibly Firefox as well. Not Microsoft Edge or Safari. So will be replacing the galleries with a new one and more upto date photos during 2021!

Here you will find growing information, recommended books to read , photos of some of my collection, and plants for sale.

I have now added a new video page where I hope to add a variety of different videos. The first one that I filmed at the 2012 Hampton Court Flower show is now up.

Other videos now added!- A look behind the scenes at Kew Gardens Tropical Nursery. This covers the Nepenthes section.

And another looking at a few of my Sarracenia which I grow outside all year round!

I now can accept Pay Pal as well as Cheque & PO payments for Plant Sales. Please check out my Plants for Sale page

There is now a "Links" page which I will be updating regularly. If you would like to swap links with me, please let me know. Contact me here

While you are here would you like to sign my Guest Book?

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International Carnivorous Plant Society CARNIVOROUS PLANT WEB RING
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Updated 04/07/21 Plants for Sale page