Exports to cold countries

Late ripening items You can order plants any time they are listed but please note that some genera are VERY LATE RIPENING. This looks likely to continue, as the climate changes and Autumn temperatures become warmer and milder.

Some of our customers wish to wait until frozen ground has thawed and we sometimes get asked to hold Spring orders, for despatch as late as April or May.

May despatch is almost never possible and even April despatch is too late for most species. We are not being unhelpful but most of our spring-flowering species are in growth, many or most have already flowered and gone over by April. There is no safe way to send them by this time. Posted so late in the spring season, long shoots break and leaves rot, on the way to you. You would not be happy with the results.

Our suggestion is that we post plants to cold countries, at our normal time. We then ask that the customer puts them into a domestic refrigerator and keeps them there (checking every 7-10 days) until your ground is thawed and planting is possible. Even if they develop long shoots with you, there is little risk of breakage, as would certainly happen in the post.