The man who is sowing the seeds of the future
Specialist growers are working all year round to provide the best of British
Have you ever wondered where seed companies source their seeds? Most buy by the containerful from giant commercial wholesalers and growers in China, New Zealand or Holland. Legislation is complicated, with multinationals accused of monopolising supplies. But Ray Brown at Plant World Seeds, who has been selling more than 3,000 varieties of flower and vegetable seed to grateful gardeners for the past 25 years, travels the world to discover new and unusual varieties, then he breeds new varieties himself. Over the past few decades, Ray has risked life and limb in Mexico, Nepal, and Chile, with all its climatic diversity. Just back from the exposed and barren Falkland Islands, he managed to find interesting pernettya, gunnera and silver grass seed. In the early Eighties, Brown and his family moved from Scotland to warmer climes in Devon, towing a horsebox full of plants behind their Cortina estate. Settling near Newton Abbot, they created a garden, showcasing plants in their continental groups. It was the first international garden of its kind, with an African Garden set on the northern side of a West Country hilltop specialising in dieramas, agapanthus, crocosmias and moraeas; an American Garden home to northern conifers grown from seed, while the southern continent is populated with plants that Brown collected in Chile and Argentina. New Zealand and Australia are represented with indigenous trees, again planted from seed, and the Siberian area shows off plants that were collected when Ray led a month-long seed collecting expedition to Russia, and Sakhalin, a large island off northern Japan. Other parts of the four-acre plot exhibit varieties suitable for Mediterranean, cottage and hot situations, and the whole garden is used as a stock bed for seed collection and division, fuelling the seedsman’s business. Brown says: “When we started, there were few suppliers of rare and unusual plant seed that delivered in small quantities, so as a cottage industry, we collected our own from our garden.” Thanks to the internet, business has boomed, and he now sends out seed all over the world. Collecting and harvesting takes place from May until Christmas, then the seed is cleaned, desiccated and stored at 2C to keep it dormant. Another company that saves its own seed is vegetable specialist Franchi Seeds of Italy, which uses local growers who have been supplying Paolo Arrigi’s family for generations in northern Italy. I always use its vegetable and herb seeds, they come in generous packets and stay fresh for ages (seedsofitaly. com). Or you could save your own seed with advice from The Real Seed Catalogue (realseeds.co.uk) which will supply basic heritage and heirloom varieties that are open-pollinated, and then gallantly offer instructions. Stormy Hall Seeds is part of the Botton Village Camphill Community near Whitby, created to give work opportunities to adults with learning disabilities. Its high standard of farming has been recognised in the national Organic Food Awards, and it offers a range of 250 vegetable, herb and flower seeds, grown and maintained on-site or by other biodynamic growers in Britain. The seed is grown on organic land, is open-pollinated and pure line as an alternative to hybrid varieties (stormy-hallseeds.co.uk). Kings Seeds, in partnership with Suffolk Herbs, is the last surviving wholesale horticultural seed merchant in the country. At a farm in Essex, the company selects and grows many of the flower and vegetable varieties in its catalogue (kingsseeds.com). Silene ‘Ray’s Golden Campion’ – with bright pink flowers on contrasting dark stems with lemon-gold foliage that comes true to seed and flowers for a long season. PlantWorld Gardens are open fromMarch 28 to mid-October. Visit plant-world-seeds.co.uk to viewits seed catalogue. Ray Brownis offering a free packet of seeds to readers who apply for a catalogue by post, adding two first class stamps to cover postage, to PlantWorld (Telegraph Seeds), St Marychurch Rd, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 4SE. Tidying, repotting and feeding my auriculas, and setting them out on the shelves of their theatre.