Judy, I've been a member of the Cyclamen Society for 25 years, and yes, there was a bit of difficulty for a couple years. However, it's free and easy to get the Small Lots of Seed Permits to send to the Society. Yes, there are a couple little hoops to go through, i.e. a list of all seed shipped by them to you has to be in the packet and the packet has to go to a port of entry for inspection. But that's really all there is to it. You do need to renew the permit every three years, again, no fuss, no muss. It has worked quite reliably. I have heard some complaints about ports of entry on the east coast, but my seed comes through Seattle and they have actually gone so far as to track me down by phone when the packet had more than 50?envelopes of seed, and ask!! me which ones I could do without. To say that I was astonished is putting it mildly, but I thanked the officer profusely for taking the time to call me! E-mail me privately if you want to know the necessary procedures. Robin Hansen robin@hansennursery.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Judy Glattstein To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 10:13 AM Subject: [pbs] Botanic Gardens and Seed Exchanges I remember when the New York Botanical Garden used to have an Index Seminum, ditto the Leyden Botanic Garden. Budget cuts, staffing changes - seem to be a thing of the past. I used to belong to the Cyclamen Society, in large part for their seed exchange. USDA rules made it so onerous for them that I was told members from the USA could no longer participate. Someone offered to collate requests, receive on bulk shipment and resend but that never worked out. As many members are well aware, the best seed exchanges are those run by NARGS (North American Rock Garden Society), AGS (Alpine Garden Society, SRGC (Scottish Rock Garden Club.) Their net is wide flung and includes numerous plants that grow below the tree line. Superb sources for many diverse plants, including geophytic genera. Still, it is a pity that botanic gardens with Index Seminum are a vanishing / vanished option. Judy in New Jersey where the last 3 days have produced over 4 inches of rain, no end in sight as forecasts for the remainder of the week are for more rain - and this is not even a hurricane. We need better distribution, would love to send some of this to Texas where it would be received with delight _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com/ Version: 10.0.1392 / Virus Database: 1520/3878 - Release Date: 09/05/11