National collections programs

Alan Meerow miaam@ars-grin.gov
Mon, 14 Jun 2004 04:09:17 PDT
Mary Sue,

One, the NPGS is not trying to compete with nurseries, and two, there are a
sum total of two people responsible for preparing distributions.  If a
request is perceived as not having genuine research interest (i.e., from a
breeder, grower, scientist), the request will usually only be filled if the
material is unavailable commercially.  I know of few requests that have been
turned down.

Alan
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mary Sue Ittner" <msittner@mcn.org>
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2004 1:34 PM
Subject: Re: [pbs] National collections programs


> Dear Alan & all,
>
> I looked at the collections page on your web site:
> http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/holdings.html
>
> As expected in an agricultural site it appears a lot of the holdings are
> crops. It doesn't look like there are a lot of bulbs. Allium, as a source
> of food, makes sense. Would the emphasis be on collecting ones that were
> eaten? Looking through some of the species held at Pullman with a quick
> browse I saw they they are not holding many of the Pacific northwest
> species I grow.
>
> What do you mean by this statement?
> >The distribution system is not sufficiently peopled to handle lot's of
> >hobbyist requests, but genuine research requests and grower requests are
> >taken seriously.
> Does it mean that if someone wants to do research on a particular genus or
> species that they can request material and receive it? What is the
> difference between a hobbyist and a grower? I'm not planning on requesting
> anything. I am just curious.
>
> We have a number of members of this list who are National Plant Collection
> holders in the UK. We visited a couple of them on our trip. Dave Fenwick
> holds Crocosmia (including Chasmanthe) and Tulbaghia and he has recently
> been approved to add Amaryllis, x Amarygia, x Amarine and x Amarcrinum. I
> may be leaving out others he has. It was so interesting to meet him and
see
> how he grows things. Unfortunately early May is not the time to go to see
> his plants as only a couple were in bloom, but as some of you who have
been
> reading my notes over the years know I really love getting to meet the
> people just as much as seeing the plants. One of the things that most
> intrigued me at Dave's was the greenhouse he had created on one of his
> holdings. He had built and designed it out of mostly recycled materials
and
> it works really well for him. When he has time maybe he will tells us
about
> it. Bob took a picture of it from the inside. If people are interested I
> could add it to the wiki.
>
> I think Australia has a collections program too and some of our members
may
> be holders.
>
> All this discussion has made me think of a topic of the week that we could
> do. Since I am having a little trouble filling the slots you may see it
> appear soon one of these weeks. I think it would be very helpful to
> identify people who we associated with a particular genus. I know over the
> years I have paid attention when someone speaks up about a genus they are
> especially interested in and then I know whom to contact if I can't figure
> out a question on my own. So in the next couple of weeks be thinking about
> whom you associate with a genus and perhaps we can get together a list of
> resource people when I announce that topic.
>
> For instance: Allium -- Mark McDonough
>
> Mary Sue
>
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