Shipping policy

Canwood Botanical is a trading name of DM Tools Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 13391167. Registered office: 7 Bell Yard, London WC2A 2JR, United Kingdom.

We grow and pack everything ourselves. Because we are sending living plants rather than ordinary parcels, how and when we dispatch matters — please read this before ordering.

Where we deliver

We deliver to England, Wales and mainland Scotland.

We cannot deliver to Northern Ireland. Checkout will not accept a Northern Irish address. Moving plants and seed from Great Britain to Northern Ireland is subject to separate plant health requirements that we are not currently set up for.

Living plants and remote addresses. We are not able to send living plants to the Scottish Highlands and Islands, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands or the Isles of Scilly — these routes take too long for a plant to travel safely. Checkout may still accept an order for these areas. If you place one we cannot fulfil, we will contact you promptly and refund you in full. Seeds and dry goods are unaffected and can go anywhere we deliver.

We are not able to send plants or seeds outside the UK. Plant health rules restrict moving live plants and seed across borders, and we are not registered to issue the certificates required.

Delivery charges

Delivery is calculated at checkout, based on what is in your basket, and shown in full before you pay.

Seeds and dry goods — £2.95. Free on orders over £30.
Plants — £6.95. Free on orders over £60.

If your basket contains both seeds and plants, both charges apply, because the two are packed and posted differently. Checkout will always show you the exact total before you commit — and if you would rather not pay twice, order them separately, or email us and we will sort it out.

We charge close to what delivery actually costs us. Plants travel in bespoke packaging that holds the pot upright and protects the foliage, which costs more than a standard parcel — and is the reason they arrive in good condition.

When we dispatch

Seeds and dry goods are dispatched within 1–2 working days, any weekday.

Living plants are dispatched Monday to Wednesday only. We do this deliberately: a plant posted on a Thursday or Friday can sit in a dark depot over the weekend, and that is the most common reason plants arrive dead. If you order after Wednesday, your plants will go out on the following Monday.

If your order contains both seeds and plants, we will normally send everything together on the next plant dispatch day. If you need the seeds sooner, email us and we will split the order at no extra cost.

Once your order is on its way we will email you a dispatch confirmation with tracking where available.

How long delivery takes

Most orders arrive within 1–3 working days of dispatch. Delivery estimates are given in good faith and are not guaranteed times.

Orders are delivered within 30 days unless we have agreed otherwise with you. If we cannot meet that, you may cancel and receive a full refund.

Weather holds

We will delay your plants if the weather would kill them.

Hard frost and heatwaves are both fatal to plants in transit — a parcel can sit in an unheated van overnight or in full sun on a doorstep. When conditions are dangerous we hold dispatch until it is safe, and we will email you to explain.

We would much rather send your plants a week late and alive. If a hold does not suit you, tell us and we will refund you in full.

Who carries the risk

Until your parcel reaches you, it is our responsibility. If it is lost in the post, or the plants are damaged in transit, that is ours to put right, not yours. Contact us and we will refund or replace.

There is one exception. If you ask us or the carrier to leave your parcel in a safe place, with a neighbour, or at a collection point, responsibility passes to you once it has been left there as instructed.

Please think carefully before choosing a safe place for living plants. A box left in a porch, a shed or a wheelie bin for three days in summer will not contain a living plant by the time you open it, and we cannot be responsible for that.

Please be in, or plan for it

Living plants should be unpacked the day they arrive. Please order when you can receive the parcel, or give us a safe-place instruction at checkout that is shaded, sheltered and somewhere you will check the same day.

Please make sure your delivery address is complete and correct. If delivery fails because the address was wrong or incomplete, or because a parcel was not collected after the carrier left a card, we may charge the cost of sending it again.

When your plants arrive

Please open the box straight away, even if you cannot plant immediately.

Unpack the plants and stand them upright somewhere sheltered and out of direct sun.
Water them — they will almost certainly be dry after their journey.
Let them settle for a day or two before planting out, and harden off gradually if they have been grown under cover.

Some wilting, leaf drop and bent stems after transit are normal and usually resolve within a week or two. If something looks genuinely wrong, photograph it and email us within 48 hours at hello@canwoodbotanical.com. The sooner we see it, the easier it is for us to tell transit damage from anything else, and the more likely we are to be able to help.

Delays outside our control

We are not liable for delays caused by events outside our reasonable control, including carrier disruption, extreme weather, crop failure or disease, plant health restrictions, or industrial action. We will contact you as soon as we can, and if the delay is substantial you may cancel and receive a full refund for anything not yet delivered.