The National Botanic Gardens grows carnivorous plants in a mix of one part peat moss and one part granite grit, watering them only with rainwater. All grow year-round in glasshouses, but some hardier species can live outside in summer.
Pitcher plant (Sarracenia), Venus flytrap (Dionaea), sundew (Drosera) and butterwort (Pinguicula) can stand in shallow trays of rainwater (about five centimetres deep) during the growing season. In winter keep them just moist and in a frost-free place, such as a cool greenhouse. Keep monkey cups (Nepenthes) moist during the growing season, but do not stand them in water. Some may require a slightly heated greenhouse in winter. Never feed carnivorous plants. They require only insects or other invertebrates to survive, and these will find their own way in. Each Venus-flytrap leaf, for example, may "eat" just three insects in its lifetime. The traps can open and close only a limited number of times; harassing them with a pencil will exhaust them.
*More details from the International Carnivorous Plant Society (www.carnivorousplants.org) or the Irish Peatland Conservation Council (www.ipcc.ie). You can buy plants at the National Botanic Gardens' annual orchid fair, on June 18th and 19th. Large DIY stores such as Homebase and B&Q sometimes stock monkey cups and pitcher plants