Plant Guardian Scheme

When considering to start a National Plant Collection, sometimes people may already own a few specimen. More often than not, however, people would like to start a collection without any previous accumulation of specimen and the thought of holding an official National Collection is only vague (or daunting). Quite often the first thought is just to collect for the joy of it, rather than with a purely scientific aim.

So not surprisingly I fall into that same category. I would like to start a Tricyrtis collection mostly for the fun of it, so that I can enjoy their diverse beauty in my own private garden. As I would love to learn more about this genus I would then be able to study specimen more in depth right in my backgarden. The thought of making that a National Collection is more a long term goal, thinking years ahead. Although of course, I am very interested in how this whole Collection business works, hence my research so far.

Since 2013 Plant Heritage offers a small scale conservation scheme, where members can register as Plant Guardians. This scheme appeals to those that are not able (or simply do not wish) to cultivate an extensive range of plants within a genus and merely focus on just one ore two species (or cultivars). The only requirement here is that the plant has to be rare of course, so it supports the conservation of that particular plant.

There is a list published on the Plant Heritage Website with entries of all the rare plants which have been added under the Plant Guardian scheme. Interestingly there is not a single Tricyrtis entry to be found.

My thought process takes me towards this scheme at the moment, since I don't own a collection as such yet and only have a couple of rare species in my garden, I am considering registering as Plant Guardian.... I will keep you posted.