FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

We found this book while cleaning up my basement. It has survived 3 moves and over 30 years of loving. This was my first source of information about CP. (Pardon the lunch dishes in the background)

Sorry to resurrect an old post but I love that book. I bought a copy from Bob Hanrahan back in the late 90s. He was in Salt Lake City visiting one of his kids and was kind enough to drop by to deliver it in person and see my small collection. I subsequently bought the second edition, which I think is one of the best books on Sarracenia.

Sounds like you’ve been in the CP world for awhile. Would love to see you add a grow list, as I personally really enjoy reading through the different things people here grow.

I have that book (both editions). I found it at a local bookstore a year after it was released and pounced on it. Lots of great information in that one, really helped me out when I started things off with four Sarracenia growing in buckets and Tupperware tubs.

This was the book that started it all for me, 2 years earlier: It has an appendix listing 7-8 places to order carnivorous plants, including Northrop's nursery in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Hedonista wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2024 11:21 pm Sounds like you’ve been in the CP world for awhile. Would love to see you add a grow list, as I personally really enjoy reading through the different things people here grow.

Yep, I guess since I was a kid in the late 70s/early 80s, although I mostly just killed VFTs until I found Adrian Slack's Insect-eating plants and how to grow them at the library. I suppose that book spent more time in my home for a few years than on the library shelf (I've since found a used copy at a bookstore while on a business trip to Portland, OR). Plus, there wasn't much plant variety available where I lived until the internet happened in the 90s.

I've posted my grow list - it's in my own semi-weird format.

jgreen1025 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 7:07 pm Yep, I guess since I was a kid in the late 70s/early 80s, although I mostly just killed VFTs until I found Adrian Slack's Insect-eating plants and how to grow them at the library. I suppose that book spent more time in my home for a few years than on the library shelf (I've since found a used copy at a bookstore while on a business trip to Portland, OR). Plus, there wasn't much plant variety available where I lived until the internet happened in the 90s.

I've posted my grow list - it's in my own semi-weird format.

You have lots of fun things on your grow list! Plenty I’m unfamiliar with and will have to look up, as well.

As far as the books you’ve talked about, which would you recommend someone keep an eye out for? I already have The Savage Garden and Adrian Slack’s Carnivorous Plants, but I’m always interested in expanding my library. I’m a visual learner, so I prefer lots of pictures, but I know that can be tough to come by in books from the 70s/80s. Clear photos, at any rate.

MikeB wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 5:02 am I have that book (both editions). I found it at a local bookstore a year after it was released and pounced on it. Lots of great information in that one, really helped me out when I started things off with four Sarracenia growing in buckets and Tupperware tubs.

This was the book that started it all for me, 2 years earlier:
Carnivorous Plants.jpg
It has an appendix listing 7-8 places to order carnivorous plants, including Northrop's nursery in Wilmington, North Carolina.

I just gave my copy away to a young man who is just starting to get into carnivorous plants.

Hedonista wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 8:13 pm As far as the books you’ve talked about, which would you recommend someone keep an eye out for? I already have The Savage Garden and Adrian Slack’s Carnivorous Plants, but I’m always interested in expanding my library. I’m a visual learner, so I prefer lots of pictures, but I know that can be tough to come by in books from the 70s/80s. Clear photos, at any rate.

That's a good question. For cultivation advice, The Savage Garden (1998 and 2013) would be my pick, particularly for US growers (2nd edition is slightly better). Slack's Insect-eating plants and how to grow them (1988) might work better for UK growers, but bear in mind that it was older. Slack's got good pics but there are more in Savage Garden. Incidentally, if you want but can't find Slack's book, it was republished in 2006 as Insect eaters - same text but some of the photos are quite small. Another good book for cultivation advice from the UK is Carnivorous Plants: Gardening with Extraordinary Botanicals (2016) by Nigel Hewitt-Cooper, but it's harder to get here in the US (I read the kindle version).

For books that are more like field guides but still have good cultivation advice and outstanding pictures, I think Schnell's Carnivorous Plants of the United States and Canada is my favorite (the 2nd edition from 2002; the original was published in 1976 and is much shorter). Of course, the scope is limited, but I'm not as interested in Nepenthes so it works for me. Also, Pitcher Plants of the Americas (2006) by Stewart McPherson is very good. He's got a lot of different books but that's the only one I have. Slack's Carnivorous Plants (1980) is okay but light on pics, especially color.

Since you mentioned photos I also want to mention Barry Rice's Growing Carnivorous Plants (2006). He's an amazing photographer and approaches things a bit differently - he gives as much attention to Utricularia as he does the other genera. I found the growing advice a bit basic, but for me it was still worth buying. And a very honorable mention for Gardening with Carnivores: Sarracenia Pitcher Plants in Cultivation & in the Wild by Nick Romanowski (2002), which has great advice on starting your own CP nursery (or not!).

A couple that are really only worthwhile for collectors of CP books (I have a decent collection) is Pietropaolo's The Carnivorous Plants of the World (1986) and the short Carnivorous Plants by Gordon Cheers (1984). Both are out-of-date on growing advice and lighter on photos, but were early efforts for CP books. And while I'm at it, Darwin's Insectivorous Plants (1875) and Lloyd's The Carnivorous Plants (1942) are collector's items - buy them if you can get them at a good price, but don't expect exciting reading.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents (and probably WAY more than you wanted).

jgreen1025 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2024 8:34 pm That's a good question. For cultivation advice, The Savage Garden (1998 and 2013) would be my pick, particularly for US growers (2nd edition is slightly better). Slack's Insect-eating plants and how to grow them (1988) might work better for UK growers, but bear in mind that it was older. Slack's got good pics but there are more in Savage Garden. Incidentally, if you want but can't find Slack's book, it was republished in 2006 as Insect eaters - same text but some of the photos are quite small. Another good book for cultivation advice from the UK is Carnivorous Plants: Gardening with Extraordinary Botanicals (2016) by Nigel Hewitt-Cooper, but it's harder to get here in the US (I read the kindle version).

For books that are more like field guides but still have good cultivation advice and outstanding pictures, I think Schnell's Carnivorous Plants of the United States and Canada is my favorite (the 2nd edition from 2002; the original was published in 1976 and is much shorter). Of course, the scope is limited, but I'm not as interested in Nepenthes so it works for me. Also, Pitcher Plants of the Americas (2006) by Stewart McPherson is very good. He's got a lot of different books but that's the only one I have. Slack's Carnivorous Plants (1980) is okay but light on pics, especially color.

Since you mentioned photos I also want to mention Barry Rice's Growing Carnivorous Plants (2006). He's an amazing photographer and approaches things a bit differently - he gives as much attention to Utricularia as he does the other genera. I found the growing advice a bit basic, but for me it was still worth buying. And a very honorable mention for Gardening with Carnivores: Sarracenia Pitcher Plants in Cultivation & in the Wild by Nick Romanowski (2002), which has great advice on starting your own CP nursery (or not!).

A couple that are really only worthwhile for collectors of CP books (I have a decent collection) is Pietropaolo's The Carnivorous Plants of the World (1986) and the short Carnivorous Plants by Gordon Cheers (1984). Both are out-of-date on growing advice and lighter on photos, but were early efforts for CP books. And while I'm at it, Darwin's Insectivorous Plants (1875) and Lloyd's The Carnivorous Plants (1942) are collector's items - buy them if you can get them at a good price, but don't expect exciting reading.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents (and probably WAY more than you wanted).

This is an excellent post, and just what I wanted to know. Worth every penny