Sourcing, record-keeping and passing on

Finding genuinely rare plants requires detective work. The Heritage Seed Library, Real Seeds, Pennard Plants and specialist nurseries like Thornhayes (fruit), Binny Plants (perennials) and Edulis (edibles) supply open-pollinated and heritage stock. Avoid websites that use 'rare' as a marketing term for renamed common cultivars or recent introductions. Check the RHS Plant Finder for synonyms and correct nomenclature. Join regional groups like apple identification days, seed-swap meets and Hardy Plant Society local groups — these networks are where serious conservation happens.

Once you acquire a rare plant, your first duty is to keep it alive, which means understanding its needs precisely. Read historical references (old RHS journals, Victorian gardening manuals available online) to learn how it was grown originally. Some heritage roses are own-root and sucker freely; modern grafted cultivars don't. Some heritage beans are day-length sensitive and won't pod in southern England. Record the source, exact name, planting date, soil pH, and any quirks in a dedicated notebook or spreadsheet. Photograph the plant at key stages. This documentation becomes the plant's passport when you propagate.

Propagation is the whole point. Grow at least three specimens of each rarity so disease or accident doesn't erase it from your collection. Save seed from the healthiest plants; store in paper envelopes labelled with name, source and date, kept in an airtight tin in a cool dark cupboard. Take cuttings, divide clumps, learn to graft if you're growing heritage fruit. Then give plants away. Offer divisions at village fêtes, seed swaps, allotment open days. Upload your collection to online databases like the European Native Seed Conservation Network or PlantSearch. Every gardener who grows a plant you propagated is a backup copy, a living insurance against loss.