Imports to USA from Scotland and other parts of the EU

Iain Brodie of Falsyde auchgourishbotgard@falsyde.sol.co.uk
Wed, 06 Feb 2008 11:34:19 PST
Folks I don't know if this is of any interest or use to members on this forum but 
perhaps it might be worth scoping amongst yourselves.

As the person responsible for the management of Auchgourish Botanic Garden [ABG] I am 
on behalf of the garden and in my own capacity one of the very few registered with the Scottish
government authorities to import and export living botanical material following registration that
is almost finalised here. This registration is to be limited to plants known as Monocots, 
i.e. bulbs, corms and such. There is a small quarantine facility here, which although currently
filled with species Liliums, Cardiocrinum, Nomocharis and Notholirion should be free again from
1st April this year. What prompted me to make this suggestion was a recent posting along the
lines of " they won't let me have ??????? from the UK ". I think this is rather more to do with the 
sheer hassle and grief, not without some justification, by the US authorities over incoming to the 
USA and all the effort required that goes along with it, washing roots, etc, etc.

Now I am not inviting a veritable stampede but if there are really special material needed by folks 
who are unable to secure them in north America then we can coordinate in a way that allows me to 
do things in batches and by that means keep costs down by way of shipping PHYTO certificates, 
etc there are some possibilities here to be of help.

Thinking out loud with the caveat that the system would need to be checked as feasible, which I am 
sure it is, then e.g. if for instance three people had sourced plants in either this country and or England, 
did the required deals to pay direct to the suppliers, these could be sent here in the first instance at a 
roughly similar date. I would prepare them for inspect and hopefully the issuing of a Phyto certificate 
and thereafter pack them as USDA requires, send them down to either Edinburgh or Glasgow by 
courier and then flown over to those buying them. I have three caveats of my own, [a] I don't want paid 
for my efforts, and [b] don't want to incur any lost costs......... I am Scots after all, and [c] this would
be subject to the quarantine facilities, not very big. not being locked up into things coming in to us here.

In simple terms this would need one consignor and one nominated recipient at the Canadian or US end, 
from where the recipient named would then take over sending them on to their final destination[s]. This 
is not intended as a bulk consignment thing, just special "hard to get" species or cultivars. I would also 
ensure that the plants on arrival here from which ever nursery you buy them from are satisfactory in terms 
of health but could not take on responsibility to verify them as true to name or species, they will obviously 
mostly be in a dormant stage anyway.

Just thoughts from the desk of Iain as I know e.g how hard I have had to hassle to secure two of this and 
two of that, etc in the Lily, Iris and Paeone world.

Have a chat amongst yourselves, if of no interest no harm done and no offence taken.

Iain

Iain Brodie of Falsyde
Auchgourish Botanic Garden & Arboretum
auchgourishbotgard@falsyde.sol.co.uk


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