Shipping Costs
We understand how off-putting it is to have to search around a site for delivery charges and that’s why I’ve put links to this page in as obvious place as I can. I’d also just like to point our here that there is no need to create an account to buy plants, simply checkout as a guest.
For shipping prices, please click the FAQ link in the menu and then open the Postage Costs section.
Pot Sizes and State of Growth
We will do everything in our power to supply the plant you have ordered in the pot size specified. However owing to the nature of growing a very wide range of plants (stock can die, be eaten by voles or quickly develop disease) it may occasionally be necessary to substitute a smaller pots size to fulfill your order. We will only do this if we feel that the smaller pot size is of equal quality to the pot size advertised.
We try hard to avoid trimming plants before dispatch if at all possible. We will frequently try our best to wrap in flowering stems to give you the benefit of seeing the plant you have bought in flower when it would be much easier to trim it to size. Some plants. however, grow just too tall or have stems that will not curl without kinking. If this is the case we may reluctantly trim plants before dispatch. In order to grow plants of boxable size we do trim many plants regularly and it may just be that your order coincides with a trimming. We try to trim part batches to avoid this, but inevitably we often find that a plant will not sell for weeks, only to be the top seller the week it is trimmed – such is life !
Delivery Methods
We use two main delivery routes – complicated, but a necessary measure to allow us to send plants to you at these favourable rates. Many nurseries set a minimum order value, or charge ever increasing postage costs. We believe you should be able to order one plant if that is what you want and do not think it fair to penalise those who want to order more.
In all events it our intention to offer a service that gets plants to you quickly and in the best condition possible. We could just drop all the plants in a box and hope for the best, but experience tells us better. We send plants in their pots, bagged to keep in the moisture. We then cardboard collar plants so that they can’t travel upwards in the box if the box is turned upside down. Its impossible to pack so that there is zero possibility of harm, but we try to pack so that the chances are small – who of us hasn’t received a parcel at some point that looks like it has been used as a football – we once had a window delivered which had, the previous day, been in a van that had rolled over. It tinkled in its packaging !
For small orders we will use Royal Mail’s small parcel service – this can handle a couple of plants . Orders of up to 6 plants may be split and sent like this in two boxes. Above this we make use of DPD. this is a tracked service on a guaranteed 24 hour tariff, (unless you are in the highlands).
In order to keep courier costs down, allowing us to offer a good service at a good price, and to give us time to get the nursery work done, we contract our packing days down to the start of the week. This also prevents plants being stuck in boxes over the weekend.
I hope this explains how we work, but please ring if you have any questions or special requirements – Our DPD contract will allow for special deliveries if there is particular urgency (extra costs may apply).
Putting a note on your parcel like ‘Can be left in the porch’ can greatly help in getting your parcel to you without the dreaded ‘you we’re out’ card. Finally, if you are not at home during the week and there is nowhere to leave plants safe, PLEASE, PLEASE tell us in advance and not after we have sent the parcels. It is much easier to sort out a solution before the plants go and very hard and frustrating after the event. Helpful we try to be, mind readers we are not. If a leave safe notice has been put on a parcel, this is done so at your own risk. None delivery of a parcel must be notified to us within a reasonable time frame, 2 weeks being a maximum.
Delivery Schedule
We aim to process orders as soon as we can, which normally means despatching within 2 or 3 days of accepting an order. However, this can be extended for orders received towards the end of the week as we don’t want our plants shut up in cardboard boxes over a weekend if they don’t have to be. We are just the two of us, so of necessity we have to arrange our time effectively to be able to grow plants and dispatch them. In practical terms this means batch packing orders one or two days of the week (normally Monday, Tuesday) to leave some week to grow crops. This can mean that an order placed on a Tuesday or Wednesday may wait until the following week to be packed. If you need your plants quickly or on a specific day, just give us a call and we will see what is possible. We try to be a flexible and accommodating as possible within reasonable limits.
Also we’d rather delay until the start of the next week so that the plants spend a minimum of time travelling. This is especially the case during the warmer months. We may delay delivery also if weather conditions are against either us picking the plants out or against the delivery firm delivering, as might be the case with snow or extreme heat. Whichever, we will always do our best to keep you informed and let you know as soon as we have despatched so you can be ready to receive your parcel. If we cannot dispatch your order within a week we will do our best to contact you to inform you of this and talk about options. Whilst we pack on a weekly basis, we review orders constantly. Hence , if we see a shortage on your order (we try our best to keep stocks accurate and slightly under reported to avoid this) we will endeavour to talk to you about it as soon as possible.
We use a mix of delivery methods to suit the size of your order. Once the parcel is on its way we will advise you of dispatch, telling you how your parcel is travelling along with tracking details if appropriate.
We ask for payment in full, in advance of dispatch. For orders accepted with a cheque payment we reserve the right to delay until the funds have cleared our bank before releasing the order.
Back Orders
We do our best to make sure that the website stock levels are fully accurate so that you can only order plants that are available. However, many years in the nursery trade have taught us that this is a rarely achievable dream. No matter what your good intentions, nature always seems to have one more trick up her sleeve than you do, and we are sure that mice are not only psychic but can read price labels. If you do order a plant that is either not up to scratch when we come to pick it out or not available, we will contact you to find out if you would like it refunded or the order saved for later delivery if possible. Whilst availability of some varieties is near constant, other varieties can come and go from our list as one batch sells out and we have to wait to propagate the next.
Credit Card and Identity Security
To place an order, you are required to enter your name, address and contact details along with a payment. The details necessary to process your order along with a paypal reference and an IP address are retained by our software. (They are actually stored in a database on our website host’s server, protected by our login details.) The payment details, ie. credit card numbers are not available to us. The reason we offer payment through Paypal only is that this takes this sensitive information off-site, giving an added layer of security. Even if our site is hacked, your payment details aren’t there to be accessed as they are only known to Paypal. We have just added a SSL certificate to our pages to further enhance security, (This means that your details are encrypted as they pass from your computer to our server); this shows up as an ‘https:’ start to our web address. Additionally, our site is scanned daily by our hosting provider to detect and remove malware.
If you’d like to read more then try this link:
https://www.paypal.co./uk/webapps/mpp/pci
Privacy Policy
We do not store credit card details nor do we share customer details with any 3rd parties. When you place an order, whether as a Registered Customer or as a Guest, the only details retained by us are your Name, Address and Contact details. We have these for the simple reason that it would be impossible to despatch an order without them. We DO NOT share these details with any third party.
Each order, with these details, is printed out and filed for our Tax records.
Refund & Returns Policy
Our aim is to only send out plants that you will be delighted with – We’d like you to come back and shop with us again and again with confidence. In the event that you are not completely satisfied with your plants then contact us by email or telephone within 14 days and we will endeavour to correct our mistake to your satisfaction as soon as we can. This might be by way of a replacement, refund or alternative plant, whichever suits you the best.
In the event that you would like to cancel your order, for whatever reason, you may do this at any time up until the order is dispatched with no cost implication. Please contact us by email or telephone to do so. Once the order has been dispatched we will only credit plants, other than for quality reasons as stated above, if they are returned to us promptly and in good condition at your expense. Please contact us before returning plants. Please note that some orders, if they arrive close to a courier collection, may be dispatched within a matter of an hour or two of lodging.
We do or best to operate a ‘no quibble’ policy but respectfully ask you to recognise that plants are by their nature variable. We would also point out that many of our plants, being herbaceous, can be without leaves ( and sometimes any visible sign of life ) during their dormant season.