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The National Council for the Conservation of Plants & Gardens (NCCPG) celebrates its 30th birthday this year.

Some of the plants in the Council's National Plant Collections also celebrate ‘significant’ anniversaries this year. Here are a few examples.

A juicy start - Citrus sinensis ‘Valencia’

National Plant Collection Holder of Citrus, Terry Read in Norfolk, tells the story about this well-traveled, well-known orange. “Thomas Rivers of Sawbridgeworth collected this large sweet orange from the Azores in the 1860s. He named it ‘Excelsior’ and sent it to S B Parsons of Long Island, New York, who in turn sent it to California in 1878, where the citrus industry was in its infancy. The Californian growers changed its name to one they thought more marketable - ‘Valencia Late’. Over time the Valencian orange has become the most planted around the world. It is important as a late orange, with easily peeled moderately thin rind, well coloured and flavoured flesh and few seeds. It also has a very high juice content. It has produced some half a dozen clones with slightly variable characteristics from the mother plant, of which ‘Delicia’ is probably the best being virtually seedless.”

Climbing into the history books - Clematis ‘Jackmanii’

Clematis ‘Jackmanii’ was bred by Jackmans of Woking in 1858, relates Raymond Evison, National Collection Holder for Clematis in Guernsey. “It was exhibited in London for the first time in 1862,” he adds. Raymond will be exhibiting many pre-1900 Clematis introductions at the RHS Floral Celebration at the Inner Temple in London in September. Raymond Evison was on the Working Group that helped set up NCCPG in 1978. He also became one of the early Collection Holders.

Thyme out of time

Margaret Easter, National Plant Collection Holder for Thymus, is currently writing NCCPG’s next booklet on the genus and has been involved in much DNA work in the last year. Margaret reports that some of the most well-known thymes available in garden centres today have their anniversaries alongside NCCPG. In 2008, it is 75 years since the introduction of Thymus citriodorus 'Silver Queen' and T. pulegioides 'Aureus', and 50 years since the introduction of T. citriodorus 'Golden Queen' and T. vulgaris 'Dorcas White'.

Going, going, gone?

Showing the near disappearance of historic cultivars outside of NCCPG National Collections, Stephen Harding, Head Gardener at Heaselands, holder of the NCCPG National Collection of Knaphill and Mollis Rhododendron, reports on their National Plant Collection. “This year marks the 75th anniversary of the house and gardens at Heaselands, Haywards Heath. Of the plants within our National Collections of Knaphill and Mollis deciduous azaleas, all of the original mollis types were planted 50 years ago in 1958. Most of these were purchased from Hillier Nurseries and Charles Hill Nurseries. At that time, they were a very rare plant to own and difficult to find in commercial production in the UK.

“Twenty-five years ago in 1983, Sir Richard’s grandmother, the late Joan Kleinwort, decided to apply for National Collection status for her collection of 80 azaleas. This number rose to more than 200 by the end of 1983. Today, we have more than 300 varieties of azalea within the collections. Many of the plants have the original labels still attached as they were made from lead and should last forever.

“Perhaps the most rare of all the varieties is ‘Canasta’, a plant raised at Exbury in 1958. It is confirmed by several experts to be the only plant in existence - not just in the UK, but Europe as well. We have a single specimen in a pot, which gets treated with ‘kid gloves’. It has a wonderful scent and a colour of burnt orange.”

NCCPG National Plant Collection Holders maintain 100,000 plants in their 650 Collections across the UK and Ireland, each with its own story to tell, and each just as much a part of our social, economic, cultural and horticultural history and future.