|
|
National Plant Collections
Save our Plant Heritage - Pass it on. If you're a gardener, a horticultural enthusiast, or just someone who values our natural and cultural heritage, think about this...our traditional British garden plants are disappearing.
Plants which were once grown in abundance have been lost forever; many others are dwindling fast. The small independent growers who introduced and cultivated hundreds of different plants are gone. And since many never recorded their work, their precious knowledge has died with them.
What is the NCCPG doing about this? Firstly there's our network of 630 National Plant Collections each dedicated to one particular group of plants. Secondly there are our 40 Area Groups throughout Britain. Thirdly there's our Demeter project to record the details of a vast range of plants
Click on the logo above to go through to the NCCPG Website
The NCCPG's mission is to conserve, grow, propagate, document and make available the amazing resource of garden plants that exists in the UK.
Our main conservation vehicle is the NCCPG National Plant Collection® scheme where individuals or organisations undertake to document, develop and preserve a comprehensive collection of one group of plants in trust for the future. Most of the collections are based around a related group, for example a collection of oaks or daffodils. This allows the scheme to develop systematic coverage of cultivated plants in the United Kingdom.
A few collections are of plants introduced by a prolific nursery or plant hunter; The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Arboretum hold a collection of Hillier's introductions.
Who are the Collection Holders?
Collection Holders are a remarkable group of people who voluntarily subscribe to the scheme's ideals and stringent regulations. They come from every sector of horticulture both amateur and professional.
Almost half of the collections are in private ownership and include allotments, back gardens and large estates. Just under a third are found in nurseries, which range from large commercial concerns to the small specialist grower. 21 local authorities are involved in the scheme including Leeds City Council, caring for 11 collections and our newest local authority, Bournemouth Borough Council with their Abelia and Clethra collections.
Universities, agricultural colleges, schools, arboreta and botanic gardens all add to the diversity and there are also a number of collections on properties belonging to English Heritage, The National Trust and The National Trust for Scotland.
What do Collection Holders do?
As already mentioned, they undertake to preserve, grow, propagate, document and make available the plants in their chosen group. But what does this entail? The Requirements of the scheme are demanding and the rigorous application and monitoring procedures ensures that they are all met. Most Collection Holders go beyond our requirements, doing huge amounts of research, providing educational facilities both on and off site, liasing with horticultural organisations and publishing books and articles.
Preserve
Collection Holders will go to great lengths to find and propagate rare plants and they will research solutions to pests and diseases that threaten their plant group. This year Penstemon Collection Holders have been working hard to combat the problem of eelworm. John Vanderplank, the Passiflora Collection Holder, was the only person able to germinate seed of Passiflora cuneata 'Miguel Molinari'. This unusual form is probably either a new species or sub-species however, it has never been named as it is extinct in the wild.
As well as searching out plants in their group, they must also ensure that the ones they hold are protected from extinction. Often Collection Holders will work together swapping plants to make sure there are more copies. The scheme also requires that back-ups be held within each collection. Oak trees need space and it may not be practical to hold a full back up collection, however, Lathyrus spend the winter as seed in the fridge. Collection Holders must propagate their plants so that if an oak tree is hit by lightning, or the fridge fails, the plants are not lost from the collection (and possibly horticulture) forever.
Document
The scheme requires that Collection Holders keep basic records of their plants - their location on the site, where they came from and when they were planted. Records are key to conserving both cultivated and wild plants and many cultivars have been lost simply because a gardener's records were not preserved.
The source of the plant could be a wild collected seed code from a recent expedition, a nursery or Aunt Mavis.
If you are protecting an endangered species in cultivation, the habitat from which it was taken is vital information when using a plant for re-introduction. With each passing generation from the wild parent, the plant will change a little to suit our environment, not the one from which it came.
When preserving garden plants it is important to prove that a plant is truly an old form, not an impostor! This is called verification, and can be done in a number of ways. Comparing a plant to pictures and descriptions in nursery catalogues or books can be used; alternatively the plant's history may give some clues. Did it come complete with name from the first nursery that released that plant? If this is so then the name is probably correct. Has it been authenticated by someone that knew the original plant when it was introduced? Was it found growing quietly in a long gone plant breeder's garden?
We recently won a Heritage Lottery Grant to develop a Horticultural Database to help Collection Holders record their work on their computers. This can include plant observations, colour charting, historical research, verification records etc... It is important to capture this information to help the researchers of the future.
Within reason, Collection Holders are required to exchange plant material - the more copies that exist of a plant the safer it is. They do this by selling plants, swapping plants with collectors, taking part in NCCPG Group Plant Sales and the NCCPG Plant Exchange. Most Collection Holders will only give their most difficult plants to collectors with a track record of keeping the easier ones alive!
It is as important to make the Collection Holder's knowledge available, as well as the plants. We help them publish their work through the Plant Heritage Magazine, the NCCPG publications and our website.
National Plant Collection(s)® is a Registered Trade Mark of the NCCPG
Detailed below is summary information on National Plant Collection Holders to give a flavour of the National Collections, the National Plant Collection Holders - please always carefully check the NCCPG website for opening times and facilities.
| You are viewing results 1 to 7 of 7 |
| You are viewing results 1 to 7 of 7 |
|
|
