The Venus' Fly-trap

	The legendary Venus' Fly-trap, the plant that gets most growers interested in CPs in the first place, and the one most frequently sold (and killed!) by garden centres. I killed many of these plants myself as a youth, before I had the common sense to read a book (by Adrian Slack) and discovered a whole new world of plants...
Many plants are doomed from the start - sad bulbs grubbed up and stuck in unsuitable compost, then usually underwatered or totally negelcted by garden centre staff. If, however, you can get a plant from a reputable source (see Links page) then this is not a difficult plant to grow - the specimen on this page is at least 15 years old.
	I started to get good results after I realised that the VFT benefits from a drier dormancy period in winter. Use the most basic CP compost - 50/50 peat/sand - and stand in an inch (2.5cm) or so of water throughout the summer. In winter, try to keep the plant somewhere slightly cooler (the occasional light frost can be tolerated) and let the water in the tray/saucer/whatever dry out between waterings. And resist the temptation to stuff bits of meat, etc., into the trap ;-)
Propagation is easiest by division - happy plants will soon develop a number of bulbs, which can be potted up separately. The flowers, as well as being pretty dull, tend to weaken the plant. After you have seen them once (and thought "Oh, so that's the flower, then"), pinch out any subsequent buds.