| Rating | Author | Content |
| Positive | ayahuasca
Beverly Hills, CA
(3 reviews)
March 23, 2013 | I have placed various orders with California Carnivores and have visited their nursery in person (which is very much worth the several hour drive). CaliCarn is probably the #1 company I would recommend for carnivorous plants. I have yet to receive a plant from them that was anything less than stellar. Always exceptionally healthy looking and pre-acclimated to a non-green house climate (at least what I have received has been). Also, Peter, Damon and the rest of the crew use the best, soil mixtures- I have yet to receive a plant with noticable soil based fungus problems. Their selection is not quite as big as some other nurseries (lately, it seems like their website has been a little ghost-townish), but what they do have has been well tended to.
Overall, highly recommended. They are always my first stop when looking for something, if they don't have it I look elsewhere but CalifCarn is my first consideration. |
| Positive | cheeseguy79
Arcata, CA
(3 reviews)
March 13, 2013 | Great plants! The nursery is really amazing, and I only saw it when the plants were dormant. All plants I've got from them are vigorous and super cool! Also, because their nursery is so well established, I've got lots of volunteer plants that sprouted in the pots of plants I've purchased. Cool! |
| Positive | flytrapstore
Ashland, OR
(7 reviews)
May 2, 2012 | Peter and Damon do it right! My experiences with ordering from California Carnivores have been nothing but positive. And Peter does so much for the carnivorous plant community as a whole that I'm very happy to support his well-run business. |
| Positive | FoxOfTheRose
Lacey's Spring , AL (Zone 7a)
(5 reviews)
July 6, 2011 | One of the best carnivorous plant sites there is. I made an order a few weeks ago, and was very impressed with the quality and health of the plant, as well as the packaging and shipping speed. Will definitely return in the future. |
| Positive | bogman2015
Saint Paul, MN
(3 reviews)
June 26, 2011 | I ordered two sarracenias. The plants were shipped quickly by USPS priority mail. They were well packed and very nice plants. I ordered the 'larger' size plants and they had 5-6 nice pitchers on each plant. |
| Positive | trospero
Corvallis, OR
(16 reviews)
May 31, 2011 | Five stars, without hesitation. The plants are healthy, well grown, packed with the utmost care and are exactly as described on the web site (in terms of size of the specimen). The owner was very responsive to an inquiry about a plant that was not currently on the web site and arranged to sell me the plant I was looking for. Orders are often shipped the same day they are received, and USPS is very fast with delivery.
I can see why California Carnivores is the preferred choice by many of the carnivore aficionados. I will buy again (and again). |
| Positive | ATLGARDEN
Atlanta, GA
(2 reviews)
March 24, 2011 | I have had great experiences with CC. I have ordered numerous Sarracenia rhizomes over the years. They are always large and healthy and perform great from day one. Damon is very helpful if you call to place an order. They also have a great website. When I travelled to California on vacation I even made their nursery a day trip from San Fran. It was worth the time. I have been growing carnivorous plants for over 30 years. They are the best source I have experienced thus far. |
| Positive | vannguyen42
Fallbrook, CA
(3 reviews)
February 5, 2011 | This is one of the most amazing places to visit in the united states for carnivorous plants. We visited here two times in 2010 and were treated very well. My wife has a collection of carnivorous plants on our deck and areound our water gardens. Other than the waterlilies these are my favorites. A+ service if you visit, they teach us many things about the care and are easy to work with over the phone questions too. Van N. |
| Positive | Uromastyx
Berkeley, CA
(2 reviews)
April 10, 2010 | A truly amazing nursery!! If your in the area it's defiantly worth a visit. It is owned and run by Peter D'Amato, the author of my favorite book on carnivorous plants "The Savage Garden."
They are often not the cheapest place to get your plants but you'll always get good sized, cold hardy, well rooted, amazing plants for the money. They will also have an unmatched selection of species and varieties. |
| Positive | Pinguicula
Yelm, WA (Zone 7a)
(5 reviews)
November 11, 2009 | Wonderful plants, always very healthy and well packaged. If you ever get a chance to see their nursery in person I highly recommend it! |
| Positive | Fladruid
Jacksonville, FL
(3 reviews)
November 4, 2009 | I had ordered from them earlier this year and had such good results I recently ordered ten more plants. Very nice! If there was a super positive rating, I'd vote that. |
| Positive | DaveH
San Francisco, CA (Zone 10a)
(28 reviews)
July 26, 2007 | I have ordered plants twice from California Carnivores. Both times I received my order promptly. The plants were extremely well packed, arrived in good condition, and are doing well for me. I highly recommend the owner Peter D'Amato's book 'The Savage Garden' as an excellent guide. I wish the pictures and plant descriptions on his website were as good as the ones in his book. |
| Positive | LaughnGal
Amber, OK
(3 reviews)
March 24, 2007 | Sent very nice sized plants. Good for the price. I think we will order from again! |
| Positive | aprilwillis
Missouri City, TX (Zone 9a)
(13 reviews)
June 21, 2006 | Order filled very quickly and although the price was a bit high, the plant was much larger than expected.and in excellent shape! |
| Positive | CTMGGardener
Waterbury, CT
(5 reviews)
March 26, 2006 | I received my first order March 22nd of Sarracenia flava (potted) and a sarracenia bare-root rhizome from their sale. Plants were in excellent condition, a good size with flower buds, well packed and arrived when expected. I would order again from this company. |
| Neutral | Equilibrium
(32 reviews)
May 6, 2005 | This man is incredibly knowledgeable. He is also incredibly experienced growing these plants with decades to his credit. To this I would also like to add that he is quite personable and always a pleasure to talk to. The man has written one of the foremost publications on carnivorous plants and I would recommend the purchase of his book to anyone interested in CPs.
He does in fact have a nice inventory rivaled by only a handful in the industry. He does in fact ship fast and he certainly does include a cute little fake fly which is a nice personalized touch. His plants were properly identified, they were healthy, they did arrive in good condition, but they were considerably more expensive and smaller than similar plants I have received from other online CP nurseries.
The reasoning behind my neutral is due to the fact that I attempted to order 6 plants and was told they were all available except one. Upon receipt of my order, only 3 of the 5 plants I had been told were available to purchase were in my box. My receipt included the amount I had paid for the purchase of the 3 plants that had been shipped as well as a $10 charge for the shipping and an additional $10 charge for handling. When I placed my order, I had been informed these charges would be applied to my total. In my opinion, these charges are considerably higher than those charged by other nurseries however I figured it was worth it to place the order as he had a few plants I wanted that I was having difficulty locating elsewhere at this time of year. Needless to say the two plants that I wanted the most were not shipped to me. Figures. Not a problem as I assumed the plants were temporarily unavailable and would be shipped at another time. I got to thinking about this and called a friend who had ordered from him in the past and was told that it might be prudent for me to give him a call for “clarification”.
Sure enough, I called to make sure I wouldn’t be charged another $10 shipping and $10 handling fee for the plants that I had ordered that were not shipped and was basically told that he was very sorry but that he was out of those particular plants and didn’t know when they would be available again but if he had them he would have not charged me to ship them out separately. Hmmm. Interesting. I believe it was unprofessional to ship a partial order without calling first to let me (the purchaser) know that plants were not available and would not be shipping separately at a later date. I was extremely disappointed. I can honestly say that I would NOT have placed an order with him if I had known he was out of the two plants I really wanted. I merely tossed the other 3 plants on to my order in an attempt to rationalize the shipping and handling fees. The 3 plants I was shipped are common and can be picked up locally or traded. Those 3 plants were most certainly not worth $20 getting them to me and if you check his plant prices, I believe you will find him to have higher pricing than that of his competitors.
Would he have allowed me to return the order, probably but there would have been hard feelings and I would have ended up spending more money to ship them back so what's the point to the exercise? Would I order from him again, yes. BUT if and only if I communicated with him via e-mail to make sure it was crystal clear that I would want my order shipped in its entirety or not shipped at all.
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| Positive | Ispahan
Chicago, IL (Zone 6a)
(51 reviews)
March 19, 2005 | A truly wonderful company specializing in some of the rarer carnivorous plants. I placed a sizable order with this company a couple of weeks ago and received all of my plants in great condition. They were beautifully packaged and arrived promptly and without any damage at all. I am so happy with their plants that I just placed another order! |
| Positive | kjcurly
Brighton, TN
(2 reviews)
February 10, 2005 | WOW! Ordered extra-large bare-root Sarracenia off the website (a special) and got great, great plants! Quick delivery via USPS as well. Especially enjoyed the plastic fly sent with the culture directions. I will certainly order from them again, and also recommend the book if you grow carnivores. |
| Positive | mep
(3 reviews)
October 11, 2003 | I don't have anything to add to the previous positive remarks, except to state my whole hearted agreement. Good people, good plants. Between the book and the wonderfully healthy plants, everything I have ordered has grown much larger and I have no room to order again, or I would. Time to build that conservatory! |
| Positive | arkiedee
Mabelvale, AR (Zone 7b)
(5 reviews)
August 12, 2003 | These folks are super. I have ordered from them three different times, and each buying experience has been excellent. The plants arrived in great shape, and were packed to be that way. Highly recommend this supplier to carnivorous plant fans. |
| Positive | mackd
(1 review)
February 18, 2003 | peter, the owner, literally wrote the book on carnivorous plants (the savage garden), and they are very nice and knowlegable....and my plants looked great! |
| Positive | jeremyrhine
(1 review)
February 1, 1996 | I believe this is the company which stocks the most varieties of Carnivorous Plants in the US. Firm is owned by Peter d'Amato and Marilee Maertz. They welcome drop ins but most of their business is mail order. These people are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Peter d'Amato has been interested in these plants most all his life. I have done business with them and have been most satisfied with their help and knowledge. |
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