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Online nurseries shipping to the EU

iogiog Posts: 19
edited June 2021 in Plants
Does it seem likely that because of Brexit, UK nurseries are not shipping to countries in the EU, or could it be due to the pandemic? I'm now situated in Finland and my favourite UK nurseries will not ship here. I have very particular plant standards and interests. My favourite UK nursery for perennials is Bressingham, and I'm not sure where to even begin looking for comparable Finnish, or just EU, nurseries. Surely there are very good online nurseries for perennials and perhaps dwarf conifers somewhere in the EU that might ship to Helsinki. I'll of course try to find people in Finland to advise me, but thought there might be someone with experience or knowledge of European ornamental gardening who might be able to make suggestions. Many thanks for any ideas. 
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  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I live in France a lot of the time and I've found the same thing. My OH lives in England, so I live there too some of the time, between Bressingham and Peter Beales Classic Roses. Both of them aren't delivering to Europe at the moment because of Brexit. It may eventually get sorted out, but there is too much red tape and expense.  I used to be able to take plants back in the car but now that the UK isn't in the EU it is forbidden.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It does seem to be the case for now, as @Busy-Lizzie says. There's a huge amount of red tape and extra costs involved for suppliers. Hopefully, it'll be resolved soon, but in the meantime, you may need to seek out suppliers more locally to yourself.
    Lots of UK stockists are short of plants anyway, and have been for a while - presumably due to extra demands and the difficulties in the last year due to the pandemic.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    Try in Holland, they have some very good online plant and seed sites.

    https://www.bakker-belgie.com/products/8x-vaste-planten-mix-bees-butterflies-favorites-winterhard

    https://www.tuincentrum.nl/

    I have used the lower one and it was fine. I haven't used the upper one but they're just examples. I don't know if they deliver to Finland but its worth an email. I'm sure they will be able to answer on English as most Dutch speak English very well and many sites have the option to select English anyway. I'm in Belgium myself. 
  • maxk9-QfoCOmaxk9-QfoCO Posts: 1
    It seems the cost and effort of getting phytosanitary certificates for every plant shipping from the UK to the EU us too high for most nurseries sadly, unless rules change.

    Does anyone know of perhaps a directory of plant nurseries in various European countries (e.g. like RHS plant finder) that could help in tracking down plants of a greater variety than that just in garden centres? doesn't have to be exhaustive, just a place to start would be great. currently it seems like the UK has all the choice compared to the EU but I can't imagine the EU is devoid of specialist nurseries 
  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,718
    I found this on line @maxk9-QfoCO maybe some help to you, it says they ship to all EU countries.
    https://www.vallonchene.fr/en/
  • iogiog Posts: 19
    floralies said:
    I found this on line @maxk9-QfoCO maybe some help to you, it says they ship to all EU countries.
    https://www.vallonchene.fr/en/
    Thank you for posting this, floralies. This is incredibly helpful and this site seems very promising. I'll be doing some container gardening in Helsinki, Finland this coming Spring and am primarily interested in dwarf conifers, but I do have other plant interests. Vallonchene nursery even has one of my favourite Japanese maples, Acer palmatum 'Inaba-Shidare'. 
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    my Favourtie Hosta nursery in Holland ( over 3,000 varieties ) won't ship to UK unless the customer organises all the paperwork. 
    They have more varieties than all the UK Hosta growers combined.
    Devon.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    Perhaps we need to visit as many local gardens as we can this year, they often have a plant stall with a treasure or two. If they grow in a garden nearby chances are they will do well in your garden too . Charities also benefit and the carbon footprint is low.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • iogiog Posts: 19
    This is an excellent idea. You are quite correct. However, having relocated from Oxforshire to Helsinki, I haven't yet found that many residents of Finland are particularly avid ornamental gardeners, so there is a shortage of local gardens of note. There does seem to be an active allotment system, but that is quite a different category of gardening. Calluna vulgaris (heath) is very popular because of its cold hardiness and is sold en masse everywhere. However, I am most interested in dwarf conifer cultivars. I'll keep looking for private gardens available for visiting, and Finnish nurseries, and will keep this updated if I have any success. 
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    We had a thread about Brexit and seed sales when the planta nd seed import/export following Brexit were first understood - https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1048376/uk-seeds-to-europe-and-northern-ireland-reminder#latest

    I should think for Finland the first thing to do is to find out what extremes of weather you can expect and thus what will cope.  Then see if they have a botanic garden you can visit and then google for plant nurseries in Finland, Sweden, Denmark which are all EU so no restrictions as long as they're willing to ship.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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