Want to get boys into gardening? Grow carnivorous plants!

I must admit the vast majority of children at my school gardening club over the years have been girls. Where are the boys? Are they too busy playing football? Is gardening a girly past-time?

I don't  know but if you want to get your boys more involved, or just want to grow something that little bit different with your children (because girls love flesh-eating plants too) then look no further than carnivorous plants.

They are dormant during winter so now's the time to buy a venus fly trap, pitcher plant or, my favourite, a sticky sundew which attracts small insects like fruit flies by secreting a sticky blob on the end of every small tentacle. When its prey is trapped, the long stalk will curl around the fly.

Fly traps are perhaps the best known and the one most readily found in garden centres but there are plenty of online carnivorous plant sellers.

Once you have your plants (one seems never enough) there are a few simple guidelines to follow to ensure they flourish:

• Sit them on some gravel in a dish and place the water in this. Their natural habitats are bogs so be sure not to let them dry out

• Use rainwater as tap water contains too many chemicals. If your water butt is empty, let a jug of tap water stand for at least 24 hours before you use it

• Cut away dead leaves and stalks. The fly trap also produces flowers but cut these off too as they can weaken the plant

• Grow them on a warm, sunny windowsill

• From about October the plant will begin to die back and enter dormancy. Again, remove dead leaves and move the plant to somewhere cold (like an unheated greenhouse) but don't let it dry out

• In the spring, move the plant back onto a sunny windowsill.

Although these plants need some care, they are enormous fun to grow even if you don't have a garden and no matter what age you are.

Kew Gardens has information on how carnivorous plants trap their prey as well as wonderful displays. There's also information online about choosing houseplants for children.

Photo: Debbie Webber