About us

Hampshire Carnivorous Plants Ltd is run by RHS master grower Matthew Soper.

Founded by Matthew in his parents’ back garden in 1995, HCP is today run with the same passion and enthusiasm that first inspired Matthew to grow these fascinating plants after watching a natural history programme hosted by David Attenborough in the 1970s and further sparked by a visit to Kew Gardens.

Seven-year-old Matthew was hooked by this distinctive and specular species of plants, and thanks to a family friend who worked in a florist, he finally  got hold of his first plant, a Venus Flytrap, which he instantly killed by feeding it flies! It’s OK we all do it!

Fast forward thirty years and Matthew is delighted that he has been able to turn his passion into his livelihood, and HCP is now the largest specialist carnivorous plant nursery in the UK.

As a family-run business we retain the same enthusiasm, coupled now with years of experience, to grow an extensive range of high-quality carnivorous plants including Sarracenia Heliamphora, Nepenthes , Pinguicula , Drosera , Cephalotus , Dionaea.

Whether you are an experienced grower, looking for our one our bespoke Sarrenciania hybrids, or an absolute beginner, we  pride ourselves on being able to give you specialist advice on the best plant for your interest and growing conditions.  

We regularly supply Kew Gardens and our plants can be seen at the Eden Project, Oxford and Cambridge botanical gardens alongside botanical collections both inside and outside of universities  across the UK

Awards & Exhibiting History

Over 25 years of exhibiting at flower shows we have been awarded over 120 consecutive RHS gold medals.

We started exhibiting our plants in 1996 at  the Southampton balloon and flower festival where we were awarded a Gold medal.

The following year, at Halls in Westminster London, we were awarded Gold and the RHS award for best new exhibitor along with the Witan Award

Our first visit to RHS Chelsea was 1999, where we got Gold and have in our 23 years of  exhibiting at Chelsea, we are proud to have achieved  23 consecutive golds!

Other achievements include:

4 best in show Hampton court 

2 best in show Tatton 

4 best in show BBC gardener’s world / RHS 

3 best in show Malvern Autumn 

2 best in show Malvern Spring 

2 best in show Harrogate spring 

1 best in show Harrogate Autumn

2 best in show Gardening Scotland 

2 Best in show Amateur gardening show 

1 Best in show Southport flower show 

1 Best in show Portsmouth flower show

1 RHS Witan award ( Westminster )

5 RHS Anthony Huxley awards 

1 RHS Laurence medal 

A full list of flower shows we will be attending this year can be found under events on our home page click HERE

TV & Film credits

Though we yet to walk down the red carpet of any award ceremonies – our plants have ‘starred’ in several TV film documentaries and feature films including:

James Bond – No Time to Die

Dungeons & Dragons

Private Life of Plants

Life on Earth

BBC Gardeners World

Plus advertising campaigns for Jimmy Choos and Gucci

Plant sales & Open Days

We supply plants to our customers via mail order by DPD couriers also collection from the nursery and at our open weekends we hold here throughout the year

Open Days are listed under events on our home page click HERE

Completely free of charge, coming to an Open Day is a great way to see our complete range of plans that are not on the website also to see how we are growing the plants here and get some growing advice.

Wholesale

We also supply some wholesale for Collection from the nursery.

Education

In 2024 we launch our new education space and will host a range of education sessions, including our Carnivorous plant master classes.

If you want to find out more – click here to join our mailing list to receive further information or go to our website home page click HERE

Schools Groups please contact sales@hantsflytrap.com

Hire our Space

Get in touch if you are interested in hosting a class / event in our new Classroom email sales@hantsflytrap.com for more details.

We look forward to welcoming you to Hampshire Carnivorous Plants.

Matt , Ya , Dave , Fon and Nong