When Peter D’Amato sold 11-year-old Damon Collingsworth his first carnivorous plant at a Sausalito flea market in summer 1989, their lives changed forever.
For nearly a decade, Collingsworth followed the nursery owner and learned how to propagate, grow and tend to the hauntingly beautiful plants. But the duo had no idea they would go on to together grow millions of them.
That time spent together turned into becoming owners of California Carnivores, the 35-year-old business on Old Gravenstein Highway in Sebastopol, brimming with millions of carnivorous plants from around the world.
Carnivorous plants are predatory flowering plants that attract, trap and digest animals or insects to derive nutrition.
The business, the largest and oldest carnivorous plant nursery in the U.S., operated online and in-person for decades but closed to the public three years ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has since operated exclusively online.
Now, the business is expanding because the plants need a bigger space. They’re swapping the 8,000-square-foot greenhouse for a 1-acre lot down the street where they’ll build multiple greenhouses for their thousands of species, hybrids and cultivars to thrive in.
“We were sad to close but we saw the silver lining,” said Collingsworth, 44, co-owner of California Carnivores since 2009. “The expansion allows us to continue what we do — bring more of our little joy boxes to people.”
In summer 2023, they’ll host open houses for a couple weekends for fanatics to pick out plants and ask questions.
“We’re able to reach and help more people all over the world now,” Collingsworth said. “But we do miss seeing our customers.”
Closing was on their minds even before the world shut down, though, Collingsworth said. The company’s staff — about nine of his best friends — realized they needed more space to keep up with the demand of their online sales and more time to take care of their plants.
“We were thinking about closing for years,” said Collingsworth, a Sebastopol native. “Then, COVID hit. I was like, Oh, this is a sign from the universe. We viewed the closing as an opportunity to expand.”
Since closing, they’ve sold their carnivorous plants online, including the brutal Venus flytrap — an insect that dares to crawl onto its spiky hairs is practically doomed — and butterworts, which use their sticky leaves to lure and trap. There are also some rare species like Nepenthes edwardsiana, known for its toothy peristome and bold colors. All of those and more are available to customers across the U.S., according to Daniela Ribbecke, an assistant manager at California Carnivores.
The business focused on their social media after closing and included more educational videos on YouTube and TikTok. On Instagram, the business has 118,000 followers.
Sales have doubled for the business since it was fully moved online, Collingsworth said.
The business started selling plants online in 1994, back when their website only contained their phone number and a simple list of the plant’s Latin names, Collingsworth said.
With the expansion, the owners will build climate specific zones inside multiple greenhouses on the new property. Currently, the greenhouse holds about 10 different climate zones.
“Dealing with many climate zones in one greenhouse is incredibly hard,” Ribbecke said. “This change will make our lives easier and our plants better.”
On GoFundMe, the business raised over $4,000 to put toward building the multiple greenhouses.
A natural green thumb
In the 1990s, Collingsworth and his family often visited D’Amato’s greenhouse in Forestville at Mark West Vineyards, the business’ first location.
“That greenhouse felt so big and important,” Collingsworth recalled.
When Collingsworth was 14, his dad and grandfather built his first greenhouse. From there, he volunteered at California Carnivores and continued to feed his deep love for plants.
After graduating from Analy High School, he began working for D’Amato at the Mark West Vineyards location and became its first real employee.
“He taught me everything I know,” Collingsworth said.
At the Santa Rosa Junior College he studied Botany but dropped out of college at 24 and decided to follow his passion. He traveled to Indonesia and managed a nursery full of tropical pitcher plants.
In 2002, he returned to Sebastopol and started a job at Harmony Farm Supply & Nursery. In 2006, he returned to working with D’Amato, this time at the greenhouse on Old Gravenstein Highway. They ran the business together until D’Amato retired in 2020.
Collingsworth bought his first carnivorous plant — a Cape sundew — for $5 when he was 11 years old. It still sits in a big pot inside the greenhouse.
“Growing these plants has taught me so much,” he said. “When I’ve been depressed, these plants always kept me moving.”
You can reach Staff Writer Mya Constantino at mya.constantino@pressdemocrat.com. @searchingformya on Twitter.
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