Mike King from Telford runs one of the biggest carnivorous plant nurseries in the country.

Transcript

00:00Okay, so my name is Mike King. I am a national collection holder of Saracenia picture plants

00:15and Venus flytraps. I've been passionate about these plants for 45 years and this is how the

00:21collection looks today from building from just a couple of plants over the years. So my fascination

00:28with carnivorous plants began when I found out there were plants out there that could actually

00:33deliberately catch, kill and digest insects usually for food. The idea of nature turning the tables on

00:42animals normally is the other way around but they have plants that are deliberately catching animals

00:46for food. It just was so strange, so fascinating that's why I dive straight in. So carnivorous plants

00:53are the ones I'm growing here what they call herbaceous perennials. So they have a growing

00:57season so in winter they're dormant and removing any dead material if the plant needs dividing as

01:03in any other plant you were potted on or split. But during the spring you get the rapid growth of

01:09plants just like you see on trees, bushes, garden and flowers and then during the summer they maintain

01:15the foliage and then some of the plants will actually produce another crocker traps. During the

01:20winter autumn time the plants are dying down and general care they need to be sat in rain water

01:26during the growing season and just kept damp. They mustn't dry out because they live in bogs and

01:33usually that's a death sentence of the plants and you mustn't give them tap water because of the

01:38chlorine fluoride and if you're in a hard water area the calcium is not a big friend of these plants so

01:43rain water or distilled water or even reverse osmosis water is best if you can't get the rain water.

01:49They're easy to grow if you follow those simple rules they like sun not shade they need rain water

01:54not tap water and basically they need to be kept tidy so saracenia are really easy you can grow them

02:01in a variety of places outside or you can grow them on a sunny windowsill providing it's not too hot in

02:07winter well find a cool place or in the greenhouse this greenhouse is a big one but it's you can do it

02:13regular unheated greenhouses with an auto vent and they'll be fine so the best way is to start small

02:18with a small tray gravel tray full of rain water in a sunny spot and you get rewarded and as you begin

02:25to fall in love with your plants and the collecting bug kicks in and then you end up something like this

02:30what i love about these plants is it's no longer about the carnivory that went when i was a kid

02:35it's the colors the shapes the fact they're so freely interbreed and you can use your imagination

02:40what color you like and just transferring from one flower to another when they're in blue

02:45and you get something brand new for me it keeps the enthusiasm going after all these years

02:51it's a hobby for life and you know i'll be active with these and it is a color fest you don't you need

02:56to look at the plants to see what what you get but when you get seedlings coming on which is exhibiting

03:04characteristics which you planned for or didn't plan for would surprise you i can't describe the

03:09the pleasure that brings