Article on Growing the Butterwort in Home Concepts Magazine

The article which I wrote on the growing of butterworts (Pinguicula) had just been published in the August issue of the Home Concepts magazine. This interesting genus of carnivorous plants used to be so uncommon that enthusiasts who want to grow them need to buy and import them from overseas. I still remember the tiny little plant that I receive via mail-order which was about the size of a Singapore 50 cents coin.

Just only recently, we were able to see some hybrid butterworts on sale in Singapore nurseries. These were probably tissue-cultured and grown in large-scale nurseries. Hence they can be considered as relatively new introductions to the Singapore plant market and I reckon many people are still not aware or know much about them. This is the reason why I decided to pen this article for Home Concepts this month.

The plants that we can get from local nurseries are amazingly large, up to one’s palm size at one time. But bear in mind that unlike many other carnivorous plants like the Venus Fly Trap and American Pitcher Plant, the butterwort likes to be grown under semi-shade and not full, direct sunshine.

In addition, one more point to note which I have not been able to write in the published article due to word number limit is that if one is to grow the butterwort under ambient room conditions, do expect the plant to shrink a bit in size. Originating from cooler temperate and subtropical areas, the butterwort has been reported to be able to grow to a large size in air-conditioned offices in Singapore.

Tags: Butterwort, Home Concepts Magazine, Pinguicula