What is the proper way, (if any!) to receive permission to collect and purchase seed from plants in the Botanical Garden? I am quite interested in acquiring some stewartia seed, for e.g., which has been difficult or impossible to source from the normal commercial sites. I can certainly do the collecting, and would be more than willing to pay a reasonable amount for the seed. I know the friends of the garden do some collecting for small packets in the store there, but I would be looking for more "commercial" quantities of some things that are tough to source elsewhere. Glen
Glen, Sorry for the delay in response. I only remembered my intent to answer this after seeing another post of yours. First of all, check out the right-hand sidebar on this page: UBC Botanical Garden Collections Data Typically, the plant material in the garden is only available for research purposes, and one of the reasons for this is that we are bound by the Convention on Biological Diversity, and in particular for this scenario: We generally don't have the resources to handle requests for commercialization as the cost to abide is prohibitive for a small institution like ours. I'm not saying it's impossible, and I suppose the best avenue would be to contact Douglas Justice privately, but I think for a small amount of seed, the rationale would have to be quite compelling. I should end by saying that plants for sale at the Perennial Plant Sale and seed in the Shop are checked to the best of our ability to ensure that patents are respected and that the CBD is honoured.
