The Ashgrove Seed Bank

Housed in a converted dairy on the edge of the Ashgrove estate, the Ashgrove Seed Bank stores seeds from wild plants found across the surrounding county. It was founded by a group of amateur botanists who were concerned that several local wildflowers had not been recorded for many years, and it now holds samples from more than six hundred species. Most are common, but around fifty are classed by the bank as locally rare.

Seeds reach the bank after being collected by trained volunteers, who may take no more than a fifth of the seed available from any single population so that the plants in the wild are not harmed. The seeds are then cleaned, counted and dried slowly before being sealed in foil packets and placed in freezers. Not every species can be stored this way. The seeds of a few plants, including some that grow beside the county's rivers, die if they are dried, so the bank keeps living plants of these species in a small nursery instead.

Stored seed is tested every few years by germinating a small sample. If fewer than three-quarters of the sample sprout, the bank tries to collect fresh seed from the wild. For some species this has become difficult: one species of marsh orchid has not been seen at its only known site for four years, and the bank now has no source of its seed other than the store.

The bank's director believes that its most important role is not storage but reintroduction. Last year, seedlings raised from stored seed were planted on two nature reserves, and early surveys suggest that most survived their first winter. She admits, however, that it will be several years before anyone knows whether the plants can sustain themselves without help.

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