I propagate Penstemon Barrettiae (bought from a nursery with permission to propagate). In the wild, this flower grows only in 10 square miles of the Columbia Basin as an endemic, so I could not agree more about the dangers of only having plants in one place. However, there are a couple of reasons I can think of why the imposed laws may be needed. American Chestnuts, mostly gone from an imported fungus. Accidentally imported insects cause monumental damage as well. Scots broom, deliberately imported, has been spreading like wildfire here, including in the Redwood forests I just visited in Oregon and California. We are now trying to eradicate Murder Wasps from Washington. These originate in Asia and are absolutely deadly to local bees that have no ability to deal with these wasps. One nest was found last October and eradicated. We have no idea how many more might be here though. So it goes. Lesley On Mon, May 10, 2021 at 9:41 AM Robert Lauf via pbs < pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > Uli makes a number of excellent points. We all, to some extent, have a > selfish reason for sharing our prized plants, namely it gives us a bit of > an insurance policy. Even the best grower can lose something because of a > late freeze, animal damage, or whatever, so its always good to share things > widely and preserve the gene bank. You might need a piece back sometime! > Sharing also helps us push the boundaries of our knowledge of hardiness. > I'm now growing things I never thought would be hardy here if not for the > risk-free opportunity afforded by SX/BX. > Does anyone know a plant fanatic in the diplomatic corps? Perhaps we will > be reduced to moving seeds and bulbs in diplomatic pouches! > This is all so ironic in view of the tons of cocaine and fentenyl flooding > across our borders, and the hundreds of thousands of people flooding into > the EU and bringing tuberculosis along for the ride. But the bureaucrats > are worrying about an envelope of seeds. When those Amazon scammers were > sending packs of seeds to everyone, presumably from China, how many were > intercepted by CBP or APHIS? Few to none as I recall. A few years ago I > ordered a pack of seeds from Oz and the envelope came right to my door. No > permit, no certificates, no anything. Do the EU people really open every > padded envelope that comes in from overseas? > Can some EU members advise on what is the likely treatment of a padded > envelope coming from the US with a customs declaration that says "Research > specimens - no commercial value" "Product samples - no commercial value" > or some such? Seems like the worst they can do is toss it in the > incinerator. > Bob cool and rainy Zone 7 > On Monday, May 10, 2021, 12:03:46 PM EDT, Uli via pbs < > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > > Dear All, > > Further to my email to the list I want to write that it was never my > intention to offend anybody who had in fact re-donated material to the > BX which I had sent before, hopefully I could solve this by private > correspondence. I want to raise awareness that I might not be able to > donate seed in the future due to the legal frame in my new home country > Portugal. Different EU countries may handle the new rules differently, > i.e. more liberally but here I am confronted with a stiff bureaucracy. > > The problem is not getting seed into the USA, so the discussion about > small lots import licence does not help. The problem is getting it out > of the EU. Importing seeds INTO the EU has become practically impossible > by Jan 1st 2020, and from Jan 1st 2021 exporting OUT of the EU is > practically impossible for private entities. A private person will not > get a phytosanitary certificate which is now required for exporting any > plant material including seed. The donation of bulbs to the USA has > become impossible for quite some time due to US legislation. I am of > course writing about the official legal frame. Inside the EU everything > remains possible so I am only too glad we set up an EU-BX. The loss of > the United Kingdom due to Brexit is another point to digest, though. > > My email also did not have the intention to want plants back. This of > course can happen but I would not do it this way. > > This is an appeal to grow on and share what you have. I do not criticize > anybody who loses plants, who am I? But be aware of a world getting > narrower and poorer every day, species getting lost every day, so you > may have something that is more precious than you might think. Grow it > on and share it! > > > Bye for now > > > Uli > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>