Buying Plants and Seeds Across the U.S.–Canada Border
Prepare the exact plant or seed details, check current import and destination rules, and identify when a separate CITES permit review may apply.
Read guideA plant’s range, the origin of the seed or cutting, the place it was grown, and the meaning of a label are related questions, but they are not the same claim. This guide helps you read each one separately and decide what to verify for your garden.
Choose the question you have
- For a county, state, province, or regional range claim, start with What does native to your county mean?.
- For “source-identified,” “local ecotype,” or local seed language, read Source-identified seed versus local ecotype.
- To distinguish a nursery’s location from a plant’s source, see Grown in versus collected from native material.
- If wildlife value is part of your decision, compare Cultivar versus straight species for native wildlife gardens.
- Before ordering, use the native plant provenance checklist to compare names, origin statements, lot records, and unknowns.
- If a shipment crosses the U.S.–Canada border, use Buying plants and seeds across the U.S.–Canada border and check the current official requirements for the exact item.
- If a label names an NRCS release class, understand the NRCS conservation plant release classes.
Keep the claims separate
A range source can support where a species is reported as native at a particular geographic scale. It does not identify the parent population for a retail lot. A collection location describes a source; a production location describes where later growing or propagation happened. A certification or release class describes a defined program and does not, by itself, prove county-level nativity, local adaptation, or a wildlife outcome.
Evidence also has limits. Maps and records can be incomplete or use different geographic units and definitions. A missing county record is not proof that a plant never occurred there. “Local” has no single distance that applies to every species, site, and purpose. For buying decisions, the useful next step is to ask for the exact plant identity, the scope and source of the range claim, the lot’s documented origin, and what remains unknown.