Gardening with Carnivores

Gardening with Carnivores: Sarracenia Pitcher Plants in Cultivation & in the Wild. By Nick Romanowski A family of carnivorous North American pitcher plants that grows wild in the Southeastern United States, the colorful and striking Sarracenia thrives in nutrient-poor areas, especially near bogs and swamps, and is also surprisingly cold-hardy. Thus, Sarracenia offers gardeners an unusual alternative. In this unique work, Romanowski, an Australian biologist and commercial grower of aquatic plants, first introduces the history, habitat, and function of Sarracenia, covering such topics as how the plants attract and capture insects, pollination and germination, and efforts at conservation in the wild. He then presents the ten major taxa, with thorough descriptions of each. Part 2 covers the plants' cultivation, including nutritional needs, pests and problems (which are relatively few), propagation techniques, and constructing a bog garden. These plants are easy to hybridize, a process