Proposed EU Plant Reproductive Material legislation

I don't fully understand the consequences of this, but I hope gardeners can continue to do what they've always done without this affecting them! I assume it means we wouldn't be able to swap seeds/plants?

One size fits all never works...... thanks S. Gran, I wonder if moongrower & bulbaholic will see this, I think they belong to the club

Hi Scotsgran ...
Thanks for giving the details in this blog.

hi there i to iam like louisa on this one and i to iam assuming it would mean no one could swap seeds/plants?
until i join GoY i had no idea people would swap their seeds and plants.... people always seemed distance in this area to me.

Pamg, yes Mg and Bb will see it as they are The National Secretary and the Book Man respectively. They are very active in SRGC. Louisa and Marybells I think we would have far fewer plants available to us if organisations had not send out collectors to find and bring back new plants in the past. People think this was only done in the past but it is still happening today. I'm sure Mg and Bb will not be offended if I tell you that last year they were on holiday abroad and brought back seeds which they donated to the SRGC seed exchange. There are restrictions all over the world on what can and what cannot be collected. The amateurs who do bring back seeds are well educated in knowing those regulations or can find someone to keep them right. They do this to help fellow gardeners have access to plants which would be outwith their orbit. No money changes hand except the donations to help cover the organisations cost of packaging and postage. The donor gives a donation including paying the postage to send in their donation. If the SRGC had to spend between £300 and £500 to register the plants can you imagine the big hole there would be in our fund of knowledge if these donations dried up. Its not just rock and alpine plants which are affected. It is all plants. The SRGC is asking that organisations such as ours be allowed to continue to educate, investigate etc as is allowed at the present time.

Marybells
it would potentially affect us all ,if only these EU departments employed just one or two with half a brain it would be a big help.
Amateurs like myself have given and exchanged seed for as far back as people have grown plants, that's why we are able to grow so many different ones now.
If you are a member of a society or group such as the AGS SRGC or RHS they all have yearly seed exchanges.
I have the AGS (alpine Garden Society) list in front of me and there are 5480 species and Varieties offered this year of which a member is allotted a set number of their choice.
B

Well i never would have know this depth to things :-( thank you for information Bjs.

I'll get on to my MEP about this immediately, Scotsgran.
Understandably, commercial growers have to protect their interests, but blanket legislation like this is ill-concieved, draconian and likely to see innocent & unwitting folk prosecuted for trying to be kind and helpful.
It's unfair and unjustifiable!

Yes, seen by Mg & Bb!

Our gardens would be poorer places without the victorian plant hunters.......

There is a list of MEP's in the piece I posted above. It would be helpful if we contact the people mentioned as they will be the ones on the Committee dealing with the legislation. Pamg I hope our grandkids will be able to say thank goodness for the plant hunters of the late 20th and early 21st century who are still hard at it finding new plants. Mouldy I don't think it is the commercial growers who are behind this because many of them are totally supportive of the "amateur" fraternity. There is legislation to protect plant breeders when they introduce new varieties (cultivars).

I will write to my MEP (after I find out who it is !)