All plants are guaranteed to arrive in good condition.
We ship only the highest quality plants anywhere in the United States and its territories via Priority Mail through the United States Postal Service (USPS)! Although we cannot ship our plants internationally, we do ship seeds internationally via USPS 1st class mail. Orders for books only will be shipped media mail unless you request otherwise. Parcel Post is often more affordable, but much slower, so choose this option for heavy hard goods. We do not recommend shipping plant parcel post.

The plants we photograph for our catalog are representative of the plants we ship. On our web-page, "What you see is what you get", unlike other nurseries that photograph a great giant, but actually send a sad little plant in a tiny pot. Plants are photographed during their growing season. While dormant they may appear smaller or maybe even dead, but will quickly grow to look like the one photographed when they resume growth, if properly cared for.

We charge actual shipping costs, which may vary somewhat from our "automatic" shipping calculator estimate. Adjustments are made when you are charged on the day your order ships.

Timing of Shipments and Shipping Conditions:
Orders are shipped usually Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.Once an order is placed and payment received, your order will go out on the next shipping date. Very often orders are shipped the day after they are placed.
We ship our plants year round, except some delays may occur during severe, adverse weather conditions, such as an arctic winter blast. We will notify you of any delays should this occur.

One Flat Packing Fee:
Peter and Damon personally pull and trim every order. Then Norma (pictured right) lovingly and securely packs your plants for their journey. Norma's holding a tray full of plants ready for the box. For this service, we charge a flat $5.00 handling fee, whether you order one plant or 100. (There is no packing fee if you order only hard goods like books, seeds, soils, or T-shirts. This $5.00 charge will appear on your hard goods orders, but will be subtracted before billing.)

Potted vs. Bare Root Products:
California Carnivores has always been proud of our shipping potted plants in deluxe, green, heavy-duty pots of the finest soil ingredients. But we now will also sell many varieties of bare-root plants for the experienced, discriminating collector. Bare-root plants are sent in sealed bags with a small amount of damp sphagnum moss. The shipping cost of bare-root plants is less than potted plants due to their lesser weight. Not all plants can be bare-rooted, such as pygmy sundews. Each individual bare-rooted plant is sent in its own individual bag. Bare-root plants are available only through mail-order, and are not sold on-site at the greenhouse, except during special sales. Through mail-order you can order a combination of potted as well as bare-root plants, if you wish.

However, we recommend bare-root plants only for experienced growers. While we will generally ship bare-root plants throughout the year, many varieties (such as temperate plants which are dormant in winter) are better ordered during the winter and early spring. These temperate varieties may go through severe shock if root disturbance occurs during their growing season and they may not fully recuperate until the following year.

Tropical and subtropical varieties which grow year round may not suffer as greatly when bare-rooted, but will still experience transplant shock and will need time to adjust after you pot them up.

Seeds
All seeds were harvested this season or the prior season. Highly perishable seeds, such as Nepenthes, will be sold immediately after harvesting and we include the collection date under the description. All seeds are properly stored in the refrigerator. For international orders, we recommend shipping your seeds 1st class international mail, as priority is very expensive. California Carnivores will not be responsible for additional cost due to importing such as customs charges. Seed orders are shipped in padded envelopes. No packing fee is charged on seeds. See "Packing Fee" above.

Special Orders
Ordering plants from overseas is a complicated and risky process and many foreign distributors only sell wholesale. Let us deal with the costly permits and brokerage fees, confusing Cites and agriculture requirements, and often high minimum orders. We hope to make ordering plants from overseas a much easier prospect for our customers and, as with all our other plants, California Carnivores guarantees live delivery of all Special Orders.

To avoid confusion special order products MUST be ordered separately from items currently in stock. Also we ask that you place separate orders that are coming from different overseas vendors as they will have to be shipped at different times. Plants will be shipped out to you the day we receive them. Due to the complicated process of importing endangered plants from overseas, arrival dates may be changed slightly. Customers who have purchased items on pre-order sales shall be notified via email of arrival date changes, so they can be prepared for their new plants.

Because importing plants from overseas takes serious commitment on our end, we ask that our customers match that commitment by paying in full when the order is placed. Sales and other promotions do not apply to special orders. There is no packing fee on special orders. Plants listed are only a selection of those available that we thought you might be interested in. Call or email if you don't see what your looking for listed.

Other Ways to Pay for your Order:
If you wish to pay for your order by check or money order, please place your order online, through our website, total it to calculate your shipping cost, print out two copies of the order and then CANCEL the order from the website. Mail us one copy of the printed order to us with your check or money order and keep one for your records. You may also place any order by phone during our business hours by calling (707) 824-0433.

Gift Certificates:
If you have a gift certificate, under "customer notes" please give us the certificate amount and serial number. This amount will be deducted from your order.

Out of Stock Items
If any plants are out-of-stock, we may substitute a similar item, unless the customer requests no substitutions, or we may just eliminate that item from your order. If one or two items are temporarily out of stock, but are sent shortly after the bulk of the order goes out, we will charge you for the shipping cost but not an additional packing fee.

Please let us know if anything arrives in unsatisfactory condition!

   Please direct your grievances to our

   Complaint Department Manager,

   Miss Rhoda Penmark AKA "The Bad Seed"