Vendors in Europe?

[Danica]

Could you please recommend some good vendors in Europe? I've never ordered orchids online before. Also, is it dangerous to ship plants in winter? Will they freeze? Should I wait for spring to come?

[ingse]

Its too late to buy and ship tropical plants now, so its better to wait until the end of april. There are a lot of good vendors in Europe. My favorites are Schwerter, Akerne, Karge, Roellke and Andreas Stockelbusch in Germany.

[Ray]

If packed properly, and with the addition of heat packs, plants can be safely shipped year round.

I have shipped them to Alaska in February.

[camille1585]

I agree with Ray, shipping in the winter is generally fine if they have heat packs. Schwerter is a very good place to order from in that respect. If they judge it to be too cold to ship even with heat packs, then they halt orders as long as necessary. You can also try to time your orders with the weather. I look at the weather forecast for the coming week, and if it's not too bad then I order. Otherwise for other growers I generally shop from (Nardotto e Capello in Italy, Claessen in Netherlands, Popow in Germany) I email ahead to ask their opinion if I'm not sure.

[flhiker]

Here's a European search engine. just type in the name of the plant your interested in and it will give you a list of vendors that sell it.

Google Custom Search - Orchid Vendors in the European Union

[ingse]

I have recived orchids in very bad shape, because they have been exposed to too low temperatures.
Its not fun to watch Vandas, that did cost a small fortune, slowly die.

[camille1585]

But you are in Norway, there is a huge difference between your winter temperatures and ours. For you I can understand that the plants are more likely to suffer.
On my side I have ordered several times during winters, and never had any damaged plants. Perhaps it's also because the plants usually arrive in 4-5 days (from Germany) and next day delivery from the dutch growers. But like I said, it helps to be smart by ordering outside of very cold periods, even if it means waiting over a month.

[Danica]

Thank you all very much for your answers! I don't know how long will they travel, and i don't want to risk it, so I'll wait until spring. I freeze whenever leaving house, maybe that's why I'm so scared. Thanks again! You people really are great, I'm learning so much from you.