Burch family Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 We are planning to buy some garden bushes such as camelias , magnolias etc for our house in SW France . Are there customs restrictions on taking these in our car via Brittany Ferries in April ?If they are not allowed how likely are we to be stopped by French customs personnel at St Malo ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 No probs with plants as far as I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardengirl Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I asked about this the other way round last summer, as we thought of taking our enormous laurier rose back to England via Switzerland, as I tknow they are poisonous. In fact we didn't do so in the end, as the friend we were calling in on en route in Switzerland was rather poorly, and she asked us to take so many of her clothes etc with us, that we ended up with a full car. I contacted DEFRA, who were very helpful. Since then I've been told that most plants are OK, but such things as snowdrops can be a problem area. I suppose also it's a balance between plants you love and whether they would settle in a different climate as well as different soil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh4 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Anecdotal eveidence suggests you are unlikely to have any problems with customs although there is a very long list of plants that cannot be brought into France without special certification including Rhodadendron, Azelea, Cottoneaster. If you are concerned then put phytosantaire annex V into a French search engine (Google.fr, Yahoo.fr etc) and you should with some digging find the full list of plants - most of which are extremely exotic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardener Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Avoid pampas, it is banned from sale in many places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukhostland Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I regularly import large quantities of plants from the UK to France for clients and our own garden and have never hidden the fact or had any problems.I am sure it will be fine.Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 [quote user="Gardener"]Avoid pampas, it is banned from sale in many places.[/quote]We were thinking of putting pampas in our garden - why is it banned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterG Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 [quote user="Jay"][quote user="Gardener"]Avoid pampas, it is banned from sale in many places.[/quote]We were thinking of putting pampas in our garden - why is it banned?[/quote] The only way to remove it when it has grown too big is with Semtex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViVienne Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 we have pampas in our garden, I know it's old fashioned but I love it, it looks good in a big lawn. It is easy to buy, where is it banned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh4 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 New Zealnd for sureAustralia - I think so and probably other countries where it will run wild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurier Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 I was advised to take a pampas out of my garden in South Africa as I was told it 'searched' for water and could attack the water pipes. It was a new plant I had put in so I never investigated whether that was right, but just took their advice and took it out. Maybe it would have been fine. I also love the different texture it provided in the garden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardener Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 It is not allowed for sale in some areas of Brittany and Pas de Calais for sure because it spreads like wildfire. There are other invasive plants too http://www.val-de-saire.com/vie_pratique/iso_album/203_362_8pplantesinvasives.pdfand http://hortimail.over-blog.com/article-17695781.html for example.I had a pampas in my garden but took it out as it was just harbouring mice. I had lots of off shoots which I offered to neighbours and that was how I found out!Search under l'herbe de la pampas interdit for more information.EDIThttp://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006074220&idArticle=LEGIARTI000022496815&dateTexte=20110331 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I must be the only person who has planted a pampas grass and it died!I didn't know they weren't allowed in P-d-C (no excuse I know) so I'm quite glad it didn't survive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViVienne Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I didn't plant mine but I like it, it's a long way from the house so it should be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmc Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 It is not so much that it is near the house and may attack the drains, the problem is that it seeds and can spread to areas where it may prejudice native flora. In Finistere there are many areas where it has done this and there are some where it has almost completely replaced native flora (near Lesconil for example). I think it has started to do this only comparatively recently but it is now considered as planta non grata. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doodle Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 nope not the only one, I bought mine from a garden centre in mayenne and it died within a year,chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now