Detailled Requirements to Consider

Apart from the passion for a specific plant and a keen willingness to research information about that plant, there is a little bit more required if you want to pursuit registering a National Plant Collection.

First of all you should become a member of Plant Heritage, that really goes without saying. Make yourself familiar with your local group within the organisation and perhaps start talking to fellow collectors and committee members. They usually have lots of passion for their own collection, but most of all can share their experience first hand as they went through the same process.

If you are still determined to make your plant collection official, then follow these steps as stated on the NCCPG website:

1. Fill in a simple Proposal form and send it back to Plant Heritage. At this stage you do not need to have a large collection of plants. Do have a look at our detailed Information sheet.
2. Get in touch with your local coordinator who will be able to help you through the process, or with our friendly Conservation team.
3. The Proposal is passed on to our Plant Conservation Committee who will provide advice, direction and contacts.
4. Once the collection is ready you will be able to fill an Application form, which gives a full picture of the collection: types of labels and records, local climate, facilities, contacts with other growers, research undertaken, etc.
5. Your local coordinator will visit and review your collection so that it can be presented a second time to the Plant Conservation Committee, who will decide to award you National Collection status.

(I would imagine that sounds more scary than it really is. I will happily share my personal experience on that matter when it comes to that. For now I am still researching... so please read on.)

From the NCCPG twitter

OK, so now we know what to do in what order. But still not quite sure what exactly is involved to run a National Collection. I will enlighten you. These detailled requirements have been copied from the application form which can be found on the Plant Heritage Website.

• The applicant must check that they have chosen the most appropriate Category for the Collection, a Collection may cover more than one category, but one must be selected as the primary one.
• A substantial number of the available taxa within the agreed scope should be held in the Collection, as determined by prior agreement with the Plant Conservation Committee.*
• Applicants and Collection Holders are encouraged to ensure that their Collection is as complete as possible within the agreed scope.
• There is no minimum number of taxa to be held in a Collection but for species where there is limited taxonomic diversity, a greater level of genotypic or geographic diversity would be expected.*
• In most cases the Collection should include at least 3 plants of each taxon for annuals, tender and hardy perennials, and at least 1 for trees & shrubs, with evidence of on-going propagation.*
• The plants should be, within reason, free from pests & diseases and physiological disorders.
• The site should be weed free and allow sufficient space for the development of the Collection.
• Cultural practices should be appropriate to the Collection and the area.
• The plants should be in a permanent position and the Collection needs to have been established for a certain amount of time before it can be considered by the Plant Conservation Committee.
Guideline establishment periods:
• 2-5 flowering seasons – annuals, herbaceous plants;
• 3-5 growing seasons – fast growing trees & shrubs;
• 5-10 growing seasons – slow growing trees and shrubs.
• Labelling must be permanent and visible to visitors, including name and accession number as a minimum. A robust back-up labelling system is required in case of the loss of labels. If security is a problem, plants may be numbered in conjunction with interpretative material for visitors.
• The minimum amount of information held in the Collection records should be the full name of the plant, accession number, date of acquisition and source. Collector’s numbers and changes in nomenclature should also be included if appropriate.
• A written succession plan detailing what will happen to both plants and records should the Collection Holder be unable to maintain them.

Also to consider:

• A Collection Holder agrees to grant reasonable access (paying or not) at relevant times of year through open days or by appointment; and access at any time of year for authorised officers of Plant Heritage by prior agreement.
• Within reason and in accordance with national and international legislation, the Collection Holder agrees to provide material, either plants or propagules to Plant Heritage or bona fide individuals, commercially, by exchange or as a gift.