Gallery: Hampshire Carnivorous Plants Open Weekend

Tom Bennet

By Tom Bennet
Published 15 August 2017, updated 3 September 2022

I've been growing a wide variety of carnivorous plants for over 2 decades. I got my first Venus flytrap at age 10 and now have an entire greenhouse full of carnivores.

On the 12th & 13th of August 2017, Hampshire Carnivorous Plants hosted its annual open weekend. The nursery is run by Matt Soper, who has grown carnivorous plants for over 35 years and won over 100 RHS Gold medals for his exhibitions and displays. In that time, it has earned its reputation as one of the best carnivorous plant nurseries in the UK.

I’ve ordered from Matt many times and have always received top quality plants, but this was the first time I was able to attend one of his open days.

The nursery recently moved to a new location in Lower Upham, which is near Southampton and not far from Marwell Zoo. Admission was free, there was plenty of car parking on-site, and refreshments were provided. Matthew and his family were extremely welcoming to all the visitors, of which there were quite a crowd by the time we arrived at about 11am.

Matt’s collection is huge and includes some incredible specimens. Walking round the greenhouses I took as many photos as I could, mostly of the Sarracenia, Nepenthes, and Dionaea.

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The first greenhouse, housing Sarracenia, Drosera, Dionaea, and more. The first Sarracenia bench, with many different varieties of S. flava. A strikingly coloured form of Sarracenia flava var ornata. Dozens of the red varieties of S. flava. I've always loved the contrast between the reds and yellows of Sarracenia flava var rubricorpora. The Sarracenia cultivar 'Juthatip Soper' - this is one of Matt's own hybrids named after his wife. Not sure of the exact parentage, but it's a Sarracenia × mitchelliana back cross of some kind. It's a very pretty plant, and you can clearly see the influence of S. purpurea and S. leucophylla. Pretty in pink, young plants of the Sarracenia cultivar 'Bella', which is S. 'Juthatip Soper' crossed with S. leucophylla. Sarracenia 'Bella' again. The cultivar Sarracenia 'Eva'. Me, surrounded by Sarracenia and looking pleased. Couldn't find a label on this one, but I loved it. I think it's an S. x moorei cross (i.e. S. flava x S. leucophylla). Enormous ruffled lids! A Sarracenia x moorei cross. S. x moorei again, with my hand for scale! Dozens of Sarracenia hybrids. A form of Sarracenia flava var ornata with a heavily veined lid. Sarracenia purpurea and its many hybrids. Another Sarracenia x moorei cross. Sarracenia flava var rubricorpra. I can't get enough of the red forms of S. flava... Another Sarracenia x moorei cross, this one with particularly lovely pale green pitchers and white lids from the S. leucophylla parent. There was no label on this S. flava, but as you can see from my hand - it was huge. A beautiful Sarracenia pitcher beginning to turn brown as Autumn gets closer. Sarracenia seedlings and young plants. The famous Sarracenia x moorei 'Adrian Slack' - this wasn't for sale, but I spotted it from a mile away! Sarracenia x moorei 'Adrian Slack' again - difficult to capture how vibrant this plant's coloration is. My favourite form of Sarracenia flava var ornata - heavily veined coppery lids with a deep red throat and lip. A lovely flamboyant lid on this S. x moorei cross. Another Sarracenia flava var ornata. A particularly stunning Sarracenia flava atropurpurea - huge flared lids! Dozens of forms and hybrids of S. purpurea and s. psittacina. Moving on from Sarracenia to Dionaea and Drosera... A tiny all-red form of Dionaea. The 'Royal Red' Venus Flytrap cultivar. Some of the many Dionaea forms offered by Hampshire Carnivorous Plants. A typical form of Dionaea. Large, adult flytraps... ...and lots of younger plants. Drosera aliciae sundews. Cephalotus follicularis, the West Australian pitcher plant. Look at those teeth! Bushy fork-leaved sundews. Next we headed towards the Nepenthes greenhouse, which is the area I was most looking forward to seeing. Before we got there, we found several Nepenthes growing in the main Sarracenia space. As you can see, my wife was delighted to find this Nepenthes 'Linda' cultivar. Huge pitchers! Growing nearby was this particularly stunning Nepenthes maxima. My hand for scale! N. boschiana x mira. I really liked the red to orange gradation of the peristome on this hybrid. An unusually coloured form of Nepenthes sanguinea. Nepenthes sanguinea again, trying out portrait mode on the iPhone 7 Plus... Entering the main Nepenthes greenhouse, you can see that the tropical pitcher plants share this space with Mexican butterworts. N. hurrelliana x veitchii, with a lovely striped peristome. A young N. platychila x mira hybrid. Young plants and seedlings grew in trays on capillary matting, while larger specimens sat in hanging baskets. I spotted this single specimen growing amongst some other hybrids - it's an Exotica Plants N. (ventricosa x sibuyanensis) x [ventricosa x (lowii x ventricosa)]. Squat red pitchers with a fairly typical ventricosa shape, but very wide mouths and striped peristomes. Lovely plant! Couldn't find the label on this one - an N. veitchii hybrid perhaps? An older pitcher from the plant in the previous photo. A white pitchered form of Nepenthes ventricosa. I suspect this is N. ventricosa x hamata. Young N. spectabilis x N. ventricosa plants. Dozens of young N. talangensis x N. robcantleyi plants. A close up of an N. talangensis x N. robcantleyi pitcher. A young N. burbridgae x N. campanulata pitcher. An adult Nepenthes sanguinea, with beautiful deep purple pitchers. I really like this species. N. sanguinea pitcher, with my hand for scale. Nepenthes x mixta, the classic Victorian hybrid between N. northiana and N. maxima. The Nepenthes cultivar 'Suki' (N. rafflesiana x sibuyanensis) was in a hanging basket. Tubby red pitchers with bright yellow peristomes.

If you’ve never attended one of Hampshire Carnivorous Plants’ open weekends, I’d strongly recommend doing so - it’s a great opportunity for people of all ages to see beautifully grown carnivorous plants, meet fellow growers, and to pick up a few plants in person.

You can check out the Hampshire Carnivorous Plants website here, and I’d recommend following Matt on Instagram.

Thanks for reading, and good growing!

Tom Bennet

By Tom Bennet

Site Owner

I've been growing carnivorous plants for over 2 decades, having been fascinated by these plants since I got my first Venus flytrap at age 10. I now have a large greenhouse to house my collection and am an avid breeder of Nepenthes pitcher plants.

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