Adding

We thought we had done our buying for the season but misjudged the timing of the RHS plantfinder release. After much debate we decided to locate the remaining MTB's not already in our collection of 44. We actually don't need them to meet the Plant Heritage requirement of 75% of those listed in the Plant Finder but we'd like to be holding them, and the other 48 listed but now not available. It's a slow process in the end.

My collection partner has done the lion's share of the phoning round this time which is a good thing as she is a real people person and finding out all sorts of useful information during her telephonic tour of iris suppliers.

One of the key things we discover, which in reality is not news but a confirmation, is that plants identified in the Plant Finder may or may not actually be for sale, grown by or even known by the nursery! claiming to stock it. Which makes one wonder about a) how the RHS go about updating the plant finder on a yearly basis? b) how nurseries check what they are listed for in the PF? c) whether anyone (RHS) ever does a spot check on the listings accuracy? d) why PH use it as a guide when it is apparently well known (several nurseries have pointed to the consistent inaccuracy of it) that it is not accurate.

With nurseries holding 000's of plants one can imagine it is quite an onerous task to update it, though some clearly do. I also imagine it is a good selling tool and know designers and landscapers use it to locate plants for clients and expect lots of individuals do the very same.

After the phone around we are 4 iris varieties closer to our target, slightly wiser about where to source from and a little surprised that this blog is being read!