Plant Heritage
With a long history of horticulture and gardens in Britain and the world in general, there are now thousands of historic plant varieties. Some of these have stood the test of time and are still widely cultivated today. Others though have faded into obscurity and are in danger of being lost forever. Plant Heritage seeks to address this through its National Collections and Plant Guardian Scheme.
Back in 1978 when the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) hosted a conference entitled 'The practical role of gardens in the conservation of rare and threatened plants. With rising costs of production and changing trends of plant marketing, the range of plants offered by nurseries was becoming ever smaller. Added to this the increasing costs of maintaining large private gardens along with botanic gardens and Government establishments, led to a rapid decline in the variety of plants grown.
The RHS subsequently after the conference set up a steering committee to act on the findings of the conference. By 1980 the criteria for National Collections were approved and in 1982 the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG), became a registered charity. The name changed to Plant Heritage in 2009 which is less of a mouth full to say.
In 2019 100,000 plant taxa were held in 650 National Collections by 400 Collection holders. 1,200 plants were nurtured by Plant Guardians and there were 31 local groups across the nation.
In 2021 we started to set up our very own National Collection of Philadelphus bred by Victor Lemoine and his son, from 1883 to early 1930’s. So far, we have obtained eighteen out of a possible fifty varieties. Most of the varieties we do have were only available from one or two nurseries in the U.K. some of which may now be no longer available. The other thirty varieties we hope are still in existence in private collections or possibly someone’s back garden. It may also be possible that the missing varieties are hiding in another country. Early 20th century catalogues from American nurseries show them offering Lemoine’s Philadelphus varieties. It may unfortunately prove the case that some of these historic cultivars are no longer in existence.
More recently I gave two young Deutzia x hybrida ‘Joconde’ plants to the Plant Heritage, Plant Exchange. This enables rare plants to be shared with others and reduces the chances of them being lost. In the case of D ‘Joconde; there is only one supplier in the county. We are fortunate at Whatton to have an old specimen in the garden to propagate from. It is a very beautiful in full flower has been awarded the RHS AGM (Award of Garden Merit) which shows that others think it is well worth growing, as well as me.
All of this helps to ensure that our historical plants will still be available for future generations. As well as being part of our heritage and the stories behind these plants, they are also important for biodiversity and possible contribution to medicine. It may be possible that a particular variety is able to produce a chemical better, for treating cancer than what has been discovered thus far. Some varieties may prove better adapted to climate change. Once a plant is lost it is gone forever. So, the pressure is on to save as much as we can.