Search on for rare plants
Plant Heritage’s annual search for rare or threatened garden or house plants has returned.
Now in its fourth year, the Threatened Plant of the Year 2023 competition will run throughout March, April and May, with the winner announced at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival in July 2023.
Each year the horticultural conservation charity calls for anyone with a love of gardening, plants and flowers to search their own green spaces for hidden gems that could become 2023’s winner.
Anyone can enter (you don’t need to be a National Plant Collection Holder or Plant Heritage member) but all plants submitted must be a named cultivar that has been grown or sold in the UK or Ireland before 2013.
Those interested have until May 20,2023 to submit their entries, before they’re shortlisted by an expert panel from Plant Heritage.
All shortlisted plants will be on display at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival July 4-9, 2023), before the overall winner is presented with an engraved Threatened Plant of the Year 2023 winner’s vase, certificate and special plant label.
To find out more and to enter, visit: www. plantheritage.org.uk/ conservation/threatenedplant-of-the-yearcompetition-2023
Our 2022 winner was a rare peony cared for by one of our Plant Guardians Roz Cooper.
Roz’s garden was the only recorded location of this type of peony, which is one of the reasons it won.
To find out more about Plant Heritage, how to become a Collection Holder, Plant Guardian, or member, visit www.plantheritage. org.uk
And for those who don’t have time or space to start their own collection, you can always sponsor the National Plant Collections instead!
Adela Cragg, sent via email