Getting delivery right is very important to us, and we put a lot of thought into the best ways to safely pack and deliver plants. Whether we deliver plants ourselves, or use third party carriers, the sections below provide useful information about what to expect and how to ensure that plants ordered through our website arrive safe and sound with you.

1. Delivery Timelines

 

We aim to process all orders within a day or two of receiving them. This means that in most cases we find orders are reaching customers within 3-5 working days of placing the order. Collections are available on site no later than 48 hours after placing the order, unless we advise otherwise.

There may be exceptions, such as during periods of extreme cold or heat, where we delay delivery of orders to make sure the plants arrive safely and in a healthy condition. If this is likely to occur we will try to make sure this is recorded on the website, and will certainly contact you as soon as possible after receiving your order to advise you, at which point you will have the option to wait or cancel your order.

 

 

2. Delivery charges

 

We try our absolute best to keep these charges down as no-one likes paying them! However plants are heavy and sometimes tricky things to deliver safely and each order costs us anywhere between £4 and £20 in packing material costs alone (not including the cost of the labour in packing).

As it wouldn’t be commercially viable to absorb these costs (without significantly raising the price of our plants) we prefer to be transparent with you about these costs by charging a separate amount for delivery, where selected. To help us cover the postage and packing costs we charge £3.95 for most single orders (this includes where an order is two single litre plants, or three 9cm plants), with postage and packing for each additional item in the order being charged at £2, up to a maximum shipping charge of £13.95.

Single plants in containers larger than 2 litres (so some of our shrubs) are charged at £5.95.

So for example: 

• A single 2 litre plant, two one litre plants, or three 9cm plants, would cost £3.95 for postage and packing.

• Two 2 litre plants (or similar) would cost £5.95 (£3.95 plus the additional £2 for the second plant).

• Ten 2 litre plants (or similar) would cost £13.95, as this is the maximum charge we make for postage and packing.

 

The postage and packing charges should be automatically calculated at the checkout, but please get in touch with us if any of this is not clear or you appear to have been incorrectly charged. 

While we are not open to the public we do offer a free local collection service as an alternative (see 4 below). 

 

3. Delivery instructions and cancellations

 

If you have any particular delivery instructions please advise us at the time of placing your order, or very shortly afterwards. We will do our best to accommodate these requests. Once we have confirmed your plants are on their way to you we are unfortunately unable to make changes to delivery instructions. The email you receive confirming the plants are on their way will have details about what you can do if you need to make changes after this time.

We can accept cancellations of your order up and receive a full refund, inclusive of packing and delivery costs, until the point of dispatch. Once you have received confirmation of dispatch from us it is unfortunately no longer possible to cancel your order with a full guaranteed refund. 

 

If you need to cancel after this point you can refuse delivery and ask for return to sender, or otherwise arrange for the plants to be returned to us at your own cost. Because plants are perishable items we cannot guarantee a refund in such circumstances – however if the plants reach us in a timely, re-saleable state we will be happy to refund you for the cost of the plants (though not your delivery costs unfortunately as we have no way of recovering these). See the Refunds and Returns section for more information.

4. Issues with delivery

 

Unfortunately even with the best care in the world delivery problems can arise. We recognise that it is our responsibility to put these things right as far as we are able. We will of course provide replacement plants or refunds where plants are not delivered, are delivered damaged, or where there are significant delays, particularly where the delays result in damage to the plants.

To minimise potential issues with delivery we’d like to urge you to help us to help you. Plants are perishable items that need light, air and sustenance, and won’t survive if they spend a very long time in cardboard boxes, no matter how good the packing! You may wish to keep the following in mind when placing an order with us:

• Ensure your delivery address is accurate and complete. We can’t take responsibility for any delays or damages caused by your having provided us with an incorrect delivery address. Double check this when you place and order and, if you are registered with us, ensure your details are correct on your My Account Dashboard.

• If the weather forecast looks a little rough, and you won’t be in to take delivery, ensure there is a safe and protected place for your plants to be left until you are able to unpack them. This will mean in the shade if there is hot weather forecast, or under some form of protection if there is a lot of rain / very cold conditions forecast.

• If a delivery is attempted but you are out when your order is delivered, it is your responsibility to make the necessary arrangements for re-delivery. 

• If you are likely to be away from your delivery address for a long period around the time delivery would be expected, think about whether you could have the order delivered to a different address. You could also ask us to delay posting your plants, giving us an idea of when is the best time to post, by contacting us at info@crossgatenursery.co.uk, or via instructions when placing your order.

 

Ultimately, while we will do everything we can to ensure your plants arrive in as healthy a condition as when they left us, we generally can’t accept responsibility if damage or loss has occurred once the plants have been delivered, or once we have made a delivery attempt.

 

 

5. Local collection

 

For those customers who are fortunate enough to be our neighbours (or near neighbours!) here in the south-west, we offer a free collect-on-site service. If you’d like to take this option then just click the relevant box when placing your order, and we’ll reach out to agree a time for you to pick up your plants in person. This will often be via a collection box at our business address of The Old Barn, Crossgate, St-Giles-on-the-Heath, Cornwall, PL15 9SX.

 

 

6. After delivery

 

Hopefully when you unpack your plants they are as sprightly and vigorous and healthy as when they left us! However remember that plants need fresh air and light as a rule, and so even the toughest can find delivery in a cardboard box an ordeal. If your plants don’t look as healthy as you’d like when you receive them you may wish to keep in mind the following points:

• If plants look a little sorry for themselves our advice in general is to put them in a bright, cool (frost-free) and out of direct sunlight position until they’ve perked up. We ensure plants have moisture when we dispatch them so only water them if the soil is dried out – sometimes plants wilt a little where they have sweated in the box and what they most need is fresh air around them rather than more water! Usually if a plant is going to recover it will look better in a few days with some air around it (at least during the growing season).

• If in any doubt at all about what to do, please get in touch with us. We know that some plant sellers will tell you to sit and watch a plant you know is clearly dead to see if you can see signs of recovery before sending out replacements or issuing a refund. We’ve been there and we know it’s not a great place to be! However we do have to recognise that plants have amazing powers of recovery and often do happily and quickly perk up, so it’s always worth having a go for a few days to see. That said, if you do have concerns please don’t hesitate to contact us. We may advise you to wait a little, but we won’t ask you to do so unreasonably and we will always offer advice about how best to ensure they recover.

• Think carefully about what to do with your plants when they arrive. In general we keep plants under protection over winter, so plants of all sizes will need some hardening off or protection during the remaining cold season before planting out. At other times of the year all of our larger plants (1 litre and up) are grown in the open and so shouldn’t need hardening off, apart from in early spring. Smaller plants in 9cm pots may be kept under cover year round, and so we would always advise being safe and hardening them off at any stage of the season before planting them.