First RHS Research Results

With the first research done, I have now got a better idea of what I am aiming for. I spent many, many hours looking up varies information, as outlined in my post "And so it begins..."

Results so far seem encouraging, meaning I have not changed my mind and am still keen to start collecting. I enjoyed the research part so much, it took me right back to my good old University times. Also I have been very easily distracted with tons of ideas whizzing through my head, information I want to add to my files etc, ways of organising the information and structuring tables, displaying info and most of all finding really interesting websites that completely take me away from my original purpose of the research. All too common... so stay focused!

Within the 163 hits on the RHS plant finder I have now added the amount of suppliers per entry. At the same time I have checked each supplier listed based on their internet appearance. Disappointingly many of those suppliers do not always actually offer those plants for sale, or at least not publicly on their website. Either they are not offering an online shop or mail order service all together, in which case I have no means to check the availability of a particular plant, unless I visit in person or ring them up. But even those nurseries that have a plant catalogue online, don't always list those species or cultivars according to the RHS entry. Whether their stock plants have perished or propagation simply has been discontinued as there was very little demand for that plant, it remains unknown. Fact is that those Plant Finder entries turn out rather unreliable and totally outdated.

Tricyrtis flava, from Shikoku-garden.com

However, I did make an interesting find as I was looking through all the suppliers and which Tricyrtis they offer at what prices etc. Crûg Farm stood out the crowd with the most extensive range of Tricyrtis on offer for sale. Not only that, most of those have been collected in the wild, which is what Crûg Farm is well-known for.

I had heard about Crûg Farm many times before, I mean who in the British plant world has not? And yet I know very little about this nursery, assuming their wild collections focused on shrubs mainly and foremostly. Well concerning Tricyrtis this was a fantastic find for me. As there was a potential trip for my wedding anniversary planned, I cleverly arranged it so we are heading to North Wales in May 2017. Well excited! This project reached a whole new level. I have so many questions to ask:

• With such an extensive collection of wild collected material, why haven't they registered Tricyrtis as National Collection?
• Or maybe they had in the past? And simply don't have the time for the research and paperwork anymore, as I would imagine all those other thousand wild collected plants need looking after too.
• Why is there not a single Tricyrtis specimen in the Plant Guardian Scheme listed, as many are inevitably rare?
• Would they be happy to be interviewed on Tricyrtis?
• Would they be happy to share notes of their expeditions? Are there any notes? Photos?
• Are they planning to travel to Japan again with the aim to look at more Tricyrtis? Can I join?

Apart from this mega find, I also noticed during the research that a lot of those RHS entries are listed without any suppliers. So I am wondering: Are those already lost/extinct or is somebody still quietly cultivating some incredibly rare specimen in a private garden, just not commercially? But would then that not fall under the Plant Guardian scheme? And yet there was no Tricyrtis entry on the Plant Guardian list.... mmhh. So many more questions....

Off to more research.