I and you have probably faced issues or over reactive rules of different countries when it comes to live plants. I have just a few do's ad don'ts when filling out customs forms to better your odds of shipping them successfuly. No matter what you do, DO NOT describe your contents as live plants, botanical specimens, or the botanical name of what you want to ship. You can write down a synonym, condensed format, or code. Always check on the gift option. Give a fairly low value of what you are shipping. Package your plant both to help it keep alive, and to disguise it a bit. Do not wrap it up tight and add all kinds of wrappings or styrafoam peanuts. You can add a few pages of info or growing suggestions on plain white paper and fold them, or include some ads, or info on some kind of interesting thing or happenings around where you live, maybe a pamphlet or magazine., which also helps in the packaging, or write a letter or put in a few postcards. Send the plant bare root if you can, and wrap a moist paper towel around the root section, then wrapped again with a plastic bag, and maybe again with newspaper or off white or colored tape. in the description think of something similar in weight and size to write down, or artificial something rather, or some common thing someone would send. I'm not suggesting anyone break any law. These are just suggestions, you could make to go around the often complicated customs system. Also make sure your package is a common size, and doesn't have a bunch of advertisements, or extra writing, or labels on it. Please do not send any plant life, herbs, mushrooms, that may be considered as a poison, evasive, or especially a form of illegal drug or narcotic. We are gardeners, not drug smugglers!
This message was edited Nov 13, 2009 10:10 PM
Suggestions for sending live plants to other countries
