Brexit

Dear Valued Customer,

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing to let you know that for the time being we will no longer be able to deliver orders to Northern Ireland. We have been awaiting with keen interest the result of the UK Government's Brexit negotiations, and while it is good news that an agreement has been reached, unfortunately the agreement does not give any way for a company such as ours to avoid or simplify the new phytosanitary checks. The cost and complexity of these checks makes it impossible to fulfil orders at our usual great value and the delays involved would seriously risk the quality of the plants which our customer receives.

As part of the Northern Ireland Protocol agreed between the UK and EU, Northern Ireland will continue to be part of the EU's plant health territory and will no longer be part of that of the rest of the UK. This means that all plant products which are shipped from GB to NI will be subject to the new sanitary and phytosanitary regime.

The new regime will require that all regulated plant products (which covers all plants for planting) which are shipped from GB to NI must:

  • Be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate
  • Be notified to DAERA, Northern Ireland's devolved plant health authority
  • Will need to be made available for inspection at the border crossing point. To get a Phytosanitary Certificate, a UK plant health inspector must inspect each parcel and issue a certificate.

Unfortunately the situation we face is that we are unable to continue to provide the level of service and value to our customers in Northern Ireland that we have prided ourselves on in the past. Therefore we are, for the time being, no longer taking orders for delivery to Northern Ireland. I can assure you that we are working as hard as possible to find a way to overcome these issues and get back to helping the gardeners of Northern Ireland! If a deal to standardise plant health regulations, or another solution can be reached, we will immediately re-commence deliveries to Northern Ireland.

Kind regards,

Paul Duiker- Parker
CEO