Gardening
DAVID WHEELER MATTERS OF IMPORT
We flower-obsessed, nomadic gardeners are supposed to ‘take only photographs and leave only footprints’. In other words, we must tread carefully and not dig up wild plants or bulbs. It makes perfect sense, especially as the merry band of botanical villains knows exactly where to find endangered, highly covetable and potentially valuable specimens, enabling others to learn of their whereabouts through socialmedia bragging.
As a frequent traveller – not least as a guide on gardening holidays to exotic locations for The Oldie and other organisations – I’m often asked if plants can be taken back to the UK. The answer is, sometimes, yes, depending on what they are and where they’re from. Brits travelling in the EU are fortunate, as there are very few restrictions on plants sourced legitimately for personal (ie non-commercial) gain, while the movement of those protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is a criminal offence. Clarification can be sought from Defra and the Border Force leaflet Bringing Fruit, Vegetables and Plant Products into the UK. It’s better to properly understand the pitfalls than plead hopeless ignorance in a court of law: penalties for infringement can result in custodial sentences. I am no legal expert, and my own advice must not be relied upon in a court case!
A frequent destination is Madeira where, in Funchal, I always head immediately to the art deco building housing the capital’s farmer’s market, the Mercado dos Lavradores. Stalls right inside the entrance sell a variety of exotic plants, bulbs and packets of seed. Here, neatly packaged and temptingly ready for your suitcase, are seedlings of the fabulously blue-flowered jacaranda tree for under €5 each, strelitzias (the bird of paradise flower and the Madeiran national emblem, though actually of South African origin), multitudes of agapanthus, proteas, flamboyant orchids and a horde of lesser-known flora, all – mostly – in need of indoor cosseting during an English winter. These you can safely bring home, alongside a maximum 2kg bag of legal-status bulbs.
Exceptions litter the small print. For reasons I don’t fully understand, plants from Gibraltar (British) and the Canary Islands (Spanish, therefore EU territory) cannot be imported. Nor, too, at present, can you bring ash, citrus or vine plants into the UK – from anywhere. And who can say if any at all can be ferried here after Brexit? I urge travellers to fully investigate the perils of botanical procurement before leaving home: a multitude of websites are easily consulted and, if doubt remains, I suggest you nag Defra (at gov.uk) for definitive answers.
Where there is a green light, travellers throughout Europe can happily and excitingly enhance their gardens and greenhouses with great riches. I value my own modest acquisitions brought home from some of Europe’s far-flung gardens and nurseries as highly as my plantthemed photographs. Trophies include the uncommon dwarf yellow strelitzia which I’ve grown from seeds gifted by a nurseryman in Portugal, tradescantias of surprising diversity, all manner of succulents from the Côte d’azur and Paris flower shows, hydrangeas urged upon me by serious collectors in Normandy and Ireland, and roses and pelargoniums raised from cuttings given freely by fellow collectors eager to share their bounty. Each plant tells a story, each is an indelible reminder of a journey, a garden visited or a generous gardener well met.
And each plant I try to propagate, passing on its next generation to new hands. For it’s true: the best way to keep a plant is to give it away. I’ll be visiting the Azores in June – what will I add to my living album of plants from that isolated, mid-atlantic, Portuguese archipelago?