Your posting of 5 April, that still appears at the bottom of page 1, asks the same questions.

Perhaps someone will pop up with new info.

The larger nurseries that routinely ship to the US will take care of all that for you. I received a shipment of roses from Pickering Nurseries in Ontario this spring, they ship lots of roses to US customers. They take care of all the inspections and permits and they accept payment in US dollars. Could not be easier for the US customer.

Nurseries that do not have a system set up will be a whole different ballgame. I haven't done this myself but I've heard people talking about what they had to do to import roses from Germany. You will need a permit from the USDA and you will have to set up in your garden a quarantine area to keep the plants in for some period of time like a year or two. Someone from the USDA will come out to look at it. Importing from Canada is probably a bit less onerous seeing as they're on the same continent.

For instance, once at a wholesale nursery I worked at we had a customer who wanted to buy plants from us, on site, to be taken overseas by himself as gifts. We would have had to have the nursery inspector there when he came out, to inspect and certify the plants he chose, and certification requirements depended on where he was taking them. One was going to go to Azerbaijan! they don't let you import anything, inspected or not, so that took care of that. But you could probably drive to BC yourself and bring the plant in, if the nursery can accommodate having an inspector there to certify your purchase for the border crossing. I think I've heard of people doing that.

I think that the easiest way to do it is to order from a nursery that handles the phytosanitary certificate, such as Plant Delights. They have a great selection of interesting plants and hopefully they have what you are looking for. Before ordering from the US, and in the interest of saving money, I would check out some of the nurseries in Canada like Phoenix Perennials and Brentwood Bay, to name a few, that sell some of the harder to find plants.

Sorry, I just noticed that I overlooked the overseas part. If you don't mind me asking, I'm curious about what kind of plants that you were thinking of ordering that you can't get in Canada or from the US?

You are in Canada right? First off you will need to know if the plants you want to import are allowed into Canada and the nursery you want to import from can supply a phytosanitary certificate, they can be expensive.
For overseas you'll need an import permit from the Canadian Dept. of Agriculture, last time I got one it was good for 3 years and it cost $35. I imported some perennial asters from the UK they had to come in as BARE ROOT root cuttings NO SOIL, what with shipping (air) and the cost of the phyto it doubled the price of the cuttings.
Quite a few things can be imported from the states without a permit but you have to have that phyto.

Do you have a customs office near you they can either give you or tell you the address where to send for the application form requesting a permit. Best to do this well in advance of the date you want to import.

Another vote for Phoenix Perennials for the unusual, they now ship within Canada :).

Hope this helps
Annette

Yes, I live on Vancouver Island. The plant I am interested in is an
Adenium. I believe that they do not fall into the S.I.T.E.S groups, but will have to see about a permit.

CITES is the correct acronym.

I don't think Adenium is listed under CITES either. I don't see it at the CITES website anyway. Adeniums are actually one of my favourite plants and on the outside chance that you don't know this, they are quite easy to grow from seed. I know that there is some debate on whether or not they should all be lumped together, but ignoring that, the species I have grown from seed (from the US) include obesum, somalense, and arabicum. There are numerous cultivars out there now, which I suspect are the adeniums you are probably interested in.

Annette, I was happy to find out that Phoenix Perennials ships within Canada too! :-)