Plant Heritage calls for threatened plants to be entered into a new competition, with the winner crowned at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival in July

Plant Heritage calls for threatened plants to be entered into a new competition, with the winner crowned at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival in July

From the 1^st February 2020 Plant Heritage, the world’s leading cultivated plant conservation charity, is calling for threatened plants to be entered into their new ‘Threatened Plant of the Year’ competition.

The competition, which is being launched at the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival (6-12 July), will showcase rare and unusual plants – specifically cultivars grown or sold before 2005 in the UK or Ireland that are not currently supplied commercially or haven’t been consistently available.

Applications will be open from Saturday 1^st February until Friday 29^th April 2020, and Plant Heritage invites all of its National Plant Collection Holders, Plant Guardians, members, and those exhibiting at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2020 to take part. Cultivars from any plant group can be entered. Each plant entered will be judged by an expert panel from Plant Heritage, with the top shortlisted plants being displayed at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival in July. The winner will be crowned at the festival and will be the first to receive and raise the new Threatened Plant of the Year trophy.

To take part, applications, including a photo of the plant if possible, need to be submitted online or via a paper form, the latter available to download from Plant Heritage’s website, or by contacting Plant Heritage on info@plantheritage.org.uk or 01483 447 540.

Vicki Cooke, Plant Conservation Manager, Plant Heritage says: “The colourful Chrysanthemum ‘Spartan Linnet’, which is being nurtured by one of our Plant Guardians, has been identified as ‘Threatened in Cultivation’ by our Threatened Plants Programme. It is rarely available commercially, thus qualifying it as an entrant for our new Threatened Plant of the Year competition. There are so many interesting plants out there and we would love to showcase these in front of the crowds at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, so we really hope lots of people take part!”