Plant Heritage is thrilled to have awarded National Plant Collection® status to 30 new collections across the UK in the last 5 months, highlighting the growing popularity of the charity's flagship conservation scheme.
The new National Collections cover a huge diversity of plants, from houseplants and apples to native Welsh ferns. The charity's new chairman, Sir Roderick Newton, has his own collection of 600 bearded Iris varieties, built up over 60 years. There's also a remarkable collection of Camellia sinensis grown for tea production that thrives at Tregothnan Estate in Cornwall.
Pershore College, based in Worcestershire, has been awarded National Plant Collection status for their collection of plants raised by and associated with the college. This includes the beautiful pelargonium 'Pershore Princess' which is not available commercially and a popular choice in Plant Heritage's annual plant exchange for members. The college has done a lot of research to get to this point and National Collection status highlights their important contribution to plant breeding over the years.
Held either in homes, gardens, greenhouse or on allotments by passionate individuals, or at nurseries, garden centres, arboretums or botanical gardens, the National Plant Collections (of which there are over 730) contain nearly 100,000 plants. Encouraging people to grow a wide variety of plants is good for biodiversity, and the plants in the National Collections can help us to find varieties that are resilient to the challenges of climate change.
Pelargonium 'Pershore Princess'
Margaret Stone
Corylopsis Glabrescens 'Lemon Drop'
Diane Corbett
NEW National Plant Collections awarded June 2025
- Ajuga species & cultivars held by Surrey Group, Plant Heritage
- Camellia sasanqua & Camellia sinensis, Tregothnan Estate, Cornwall
- Camellia (heritage collection) at Worth Park, Sussex
- Cymbidium, The Mathers Foundation, Sussex
- Eriosyce, Victoria Davies, Sussex
- Iris – Bearded irises of the early 20th Century, Sir Roderick Newton, Suffolk
- Malus domestica (Gloucestershire apple cultivars), Gloucestershire Orchards Trust
- Pershore College (plants raised by and associated with), Worcestershire
- Philadelphus (bred by Lemoine), Whatton House, Leicestershire
- Pinguicula (Mexican S. American), Wack’s Wicked Plants, Yorkshire
- Sarracenia purpurea & rosea, Paul Katz, Norfolk
- Stapeliads, Clive Russell, Dorset
- Tetrapanax, English Heritage Walmer Castle, Kent
- Veronica longifolia & Veronica spicata, Penny Whitehurst, Staffordshire
and September 2025
- Asimina triloba (North American pawpaw) Stuart Senior, Somerset
- Bistorta amplexicaulis, Helen Picton and Ross Barbour, Old Court Nurseries & Picton Gardens, Worcestershire
- Cacti (as mentioned by Richard Evans Schultes), George Holmes, Gloucestershire
- Corylopsis species and cultivars, Diane Corbett, Pembrokeshire
- Dierama species, University of Exeter, Devon
- Dionaea muscipula cultivars & hybrids, Ian Ladd, North Lincolnshire
- Ferns (British native and naturalised aliens), Dr Alison Evans, Lancashire
- Ferns (Polypodiopsida) Native Welsh species, Treborth Botanic Garden, Gwynedd
- Malus domestica (17th Century cultivars), Hatfield Park, Hertfordshire
- Nymphaea (Ken Warner Memorial collection), Graham Warner at Herstmonceux Castle, Sussex
- Origanum vulgare cultivars, David Barrett, Gwynedd
- Orobanche, University of Oxford Botanic Garden & Arboretum, Oxfordshire
- Pelargonium Deacon cultivars, Stella Abrahams, Hertfordshire
- Philadelphus (bred by Lemoine), Richard Marshall, Gloucestershire
- Sequoia sempervirens & cultivars, RHS Garden, Wisley, Surrey.
The existing collection of Oncidium held by The Mathers Foundation in Sussex has also been awarded scientific status