Our Plant Exchange Scheme is designed to increase the diversity of garden plants available for cultivation and to re-establish plants in danger of being lost.
Through the Scheme Plant Heritage members offer rare and unusual plants freely to other members and can request plants which are difficult to obtain or which have disappeared from the horticulture trade.
All members can participate in the Scheme by contacting the Plant Exchange Organiser in your Area Group. It is a Group activity: each Group has a contact for the Exchange, who is responsible for collecting offers and requests for plants from members of his or her Group, and for distributing any plants subsequently received. It is not an exchange between individuals, but it does give every member an opportunity to share in the work of propagating and distributing rare plants. The criterion for listing a plant is that it should have not more than two entries in the current Plant Finder.
There is no central funding for the Exchange. Any cost incurred by a Group is borne by that Group, and the cost of the overall administration is covered by the Group co-ordinating the Exchange.
No payment is made to the donors of plants, and there is no charge to the recipients. Groups are expected to propagate and distribute the plants they receive: they are free to do this as they wish, and to sell the resultant plants if they choose (providing of course that these are not covered by Plant Breeders’ Rights). Any money so raised belongs to the Group.
PROCEDURE
There are two stages to the Exchange.
Initially, contacts send their Group’s offers and requests lists to the co-ordinating Group before the end of October. These are then checked and collated, and a copy of the combined list is sent to all Groups early in December, for circulation amongst their members. It is also posted on the Plant Heritage website.
Members may now bid, via their contact, for any plant offered, or volunteer to supply any requested. All Groups are welcome to take part at this stage; previous involvement is not necessary. Contacts return their bids and supplies lists to the co-ordinators by the end of February.
It is important to appreciate that there is usually only one of each plant available, and that there may be twenty groups bidding for it. A long list of bids makes it much easier to give a fair allocation to each Group.
The allocation is completed by mid March, when contacts are advised which plants they should send, and which they should receive.
Each Group taking part is responsible for the delivery and collection of its plants at the AGM, or, exceptionally, for arranging to exchange by post.
Many Groups are long standing supporters of the Exchange, and a great many rare and desirable plants have circulated due to their generosity.
If you aren't a member and you have plants to offer or request from the list, contact the Plant Heritage National Office by email, or phone 01483 447540 about joining Plant Heritage.