Page 20 - Sonoma County Gazette - June 2018

us who watched too much Science Fiction as children, Carnivorous plants are like something from another planet. Triffids they may be! But true
or false, they are being cultivated in Sebastopol for their singular beauty with a life- long dedication by the owners
winning book, The Revised Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plants. Peter and Damon have been business partners
Take a Walk on the Wild Side Visiting California Carnivores
By Jane Rogan For those of
Before he
left for Borneo, Damon developed a mentoring friendship
with Peter - the Godfather of carnivorous plants. Peter opened the Sebastopol nursery in 1989 and is the author of the award-
of California Carnivores.
Damon Collingsworth is a Sebastopol native
and co-owner of
the nursery with
Peter D’Amato.
They manage a sizable cultivation business, interact enthusiastically with the community and run an international online business. Damon says he was attracted
to carnivorous plants
as a boy because they eat bugs. Now he is passionate about their rare beauty,
fascinated by
their unique interpersonal relationship
with nature
and driven
by the need
to protect
them from
extinction.
There is something
else. His
fascination with carnivorous plants led Damon to the rain forest of Borneo where he lived with a tribal family in their hut. He ate what they eat [lots of fresh seafood]. He wore the clothing they wear. He learned about the forest and
the tribe’s culture. Heavy rain pounded the tin roof all day and night, violent lightning provided the necessary carbon burn some of these plants need to thrive, thunder shook the forest. All became the daily norm.
He went native. When he returned home to California, with all its easy conveniences, he experienced the displacement many people feel after spending time so steeped in nature and removed from the Western mainstream. On his arm he shows me the tribal styled tattoo of a pitcher plant. It is part of who he is.
now for 11 years, growing this most unlikely business of cultivating and conserving the
They are the largest
Damon and Peter have infused their business- family culture with the importance of community and ecology. On the day the Gazette visited, Damon was finishing working with a local first grade class. He says he has
local students in all the time. Caring for growing things, working in harmony with nature and recycling are lessons that are implicit in the world of carnivorous plants. Studying any one of the many species in the nursery will demonstrate the principal of symbiosis, or interdependence between a plant and an insect – or even a small rodent.
carnivorous plant nursery in the United States.
The information Damon and Peter can provide is encyclopedic. So, if you would like to take a quick
trip to an exotic environment and learn all about these spectacular plant species, California Carnivores is a must- go-see and experience place.
California Carnivores
2833 Old Gravenstein Hwy Sebastopol, CA 95472 707-824-0433 - info@californiacarnivores.com
rarest of Paleoendemic plants: Venus flytraps, American pitcher plants, sundews, butterworts, bladderworts, tropical pitcher plants and others - all commercially cultivated for either the curious beginner or the discriminating collector who wants the highest quality plants.
20 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 6/18
www.californiacarnivores.com