The Persephone plant records system was developed by the charity Plant Heritage to record comprehensive information about the plants held in the National Plant Collections®.
The current version of the database, Persephone 2.0 was launched in March 2022 and built on nine years' experience with Persephone 1.0, which was originally written by then postgraduate computer science student Toby Ross, working on a shoestring budget.
Initially designed to record key data about the National Plant Collections, the online database has been refined and continually upgraded. It's now the perfect tool to record and organise the vast amount of information that can be associated with a plant collection, whatever shape or size it takes - be it a National Plant Collection, in a members' private garden, or belonging to a large botanical institution. Historical research, taxonomic revisions, breeding history, mapping and images can all be safely recorded alongside the plant lists and accession data.
Persephone 2.0 is delivered as a partnership between Plant Heritage and a web and database design company. This combines our expertise working with collections and plant data, with the latest in database design and functionality.
In 2023, Plant Heritage was awarded the UK IT Award Charity (Third Sector) Project of the Year prize by the British Computer Society. The judges commended Plant Heritage for demonstrating what can be achieved on a modest budget by a strong team of volunteers and staff working together for the common good.
The Persephone database is also available on subscription to record plants in any garden, anywhere.