Northern Ireland’s mail order disorder

Gardeners in Northern Ireland are currently unable to buy mail-order plants or seeds from the rest of the UK, as suppliers say Brexit rules make it too difficult. New regulations mean mail-order packs of plants and seeds sent to Northern Ireland from Wales, England or Scotland must have plant health certificates, costing £15 each.

The Government will reimburse some direct costs, but the extra red tape has put seed merchants off. “The cost to administer it is prohibitive,” says David Turner of Mr Fothergill’s. But Andrew Eakins, of Co. Armagh’s Mahon Garden Centre, isn’t worried about larger plant deliveries from the UK and is pleased to note, “We’re having more enquiries from those who’d otherwise have ordered online.”