Buying rare pothos in Canada

Most rare pothos cultivars (the Teruno series included) were bred in Japan, and most of the plants sold in North America trace back to imports. If you're in Canada and hunting for one, you have two options: import it yourself (or buy from a US seller, which is still an import), or find one already growing on Canadian soil. Having done both sides of this, here's the honest comparison.

What importing a plant into Canada actually involves

Live plants entering Canada are regulated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). For a typical houseplant purchase from abroad, that means some combination of:

• A phytosanitary certificate issued by the plant health authority in the origin country, certifying the plant is pest- and disease-free. Sellers charge for this, often $20–60 on top of the plant.
• Import requirements on your side. Depending on origin and plant type, you may need to arrange an import permit and the shipment can be subject to inspection on arrival.
• Bare-root shipping. Plants generally must ship without soil, which is harder on the plant than travelling in a nursery pot.
• Time in transit and in customs. International shipping plus a possible inspection hold means a live cutting can spend one to three weeks in a box.

None of this is impossible (collectors do it all the time), but every step adds cost, delay, and risk to a living thing in a dark envelope.

The cold problem

The paperwork is actually the manageable part. The bigger issue for Canadian buyers is weather. A cutting crossing the Pacific or sitting in a customs facility in January is exposed to freezing temperatures that tropical plants simply don't survive. Heat packs help but only last so long, and most international sellers won't guarantee live arrival to Canada in winter; the risk is priced onto you.

The practical result: for much of the year, importing rare tropicals into Canada is a gamble.

What buying domestic skips

A cutting that's already growing in Canada:

• crosses no border: no phytosanitary certificate, no permits, no CFIA inspection, no customs holds;
• ships in days, not weeks: my cuttings go out via Canada Post and typically arrive within the week;
• never leaves the climate zone: domestic mail spends far less time exposed, and within-Canada shipping is dramatically gentler in winter;
• costs what it says: no surprise fees, no exchange rates, no certificate surcharges.

There's also a quieter benefit: a plant propagated in Canada has already proven it thrives in the conditions your home actually has, drier winter air, shorter winter days and all.

What to look for in any rare cutting seller

Wherever you buy, a good listing should tell you:

1. Exactly what you're getting: a cutting with a visible, viable node (roots grow from nodes, not from leaves or bare stem).
2. How it's packed: the node should travel wrapped in something moist and sealed, not loose in a box.
3. When it ships: sellers who ship early in the week are protecting your cutting from spending a weekend in a warehouse.
4. What happens if something goes wrong: a clear replacement policy for tracked shipping.

Those four points are exactly how I run my shop: every Teruno cutting is taken from my own mother plants in Squamish, BC, wrapped in a moist paper towel with biodegradable packaging, shipped on Mondays, and covered by a replacement guarantee on tracked Xpresspost orders. The details are on the FAQ page.

The bottom line

If a cultivar is only available overseas, importing may be worth the gamble in the right season. But when a Canadian-grown cutting exists, it's the better deal on every axis: cheaper in practice, faster, safer for the plant, and zero paperwork. That's the entire reason I grow the Teruno series here.