Solution to problems ‘will not be available in the near future’
Swiss fruit specialist Lubera stops plant deliveries to UK gardeners, blaming Brexit, the firm’s founder, Markus Kobelt, has announced. The UK gardening website, lubera.co.uk, carries this message: ‘Due to Brexit, we are not able to deliver to the UK. We are working on a solution on how we can bring Lubera plants to the UK, directly to homes.”
Breeder Marcus Kobelt added: “In the name of biosecurity and Brexit, Great Britain is closing itself off from plant exchange.
‘Noah’s Ark’
“English breeders are asking us to act as a Noah’s Ark to keep plants on the continent so they can be propagated here. Plant freedom remains our real motive at Lubera. If plant persecution continues like this, we will soon have to choose that as our official slogan.
“From now on, we can no longer send plants to the UK, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This hurts me personally because I am a gardener who feels at home in the UK.
Importance of imported and immigrant plants
“It is not the British flora that makes the UK the motherland of all gardeners. The imported and immigrant plants that have enriched the diversity of the island’s nature and gardeners for over 1,000 years.
“We are working on a solution on how we can continue to bring a wide range of Lubera plants to the UK and directly to our customers’ homes. Keep on planting plants, continue to garden and don’t be afraid (certainly not of plants…) I would like to say thank you to you all for your support over the years, and we hope to see you again in the future!”
‘Plant phobia among humans’
Mr Kobelt spoke of ‘plant phobia among humans taking on threatening proportions’ and underlined the following problems in horticulture as he sees them:
- Any plant-related allergy is blamed on the plant.
- Plant transport across Europe is regulated with ‘rather crazy’ plant passports, now to be discontinued in the UK because they are already far too uncertain.
- Plant bans in Switzerland are as ridiculous as they are threatening (Buddleja as a state-threatening plant).
- An increasing number of customer questions see plants mainly as a danger.
- Successful immigrant plants, which increase the biological mass and produce oxygen, are fought almost militarily with draconian measures.
- Human waste threatens to suffocate the biological world, first and foremost, plants. However, we are concerned with keeping the supposed plant threat at bay. The war against plants is, in fact, directed against ourselves.
