Bear with me – this is not the usual ‘all royalties are theft’ complaint.  I don’t really object to people earning royalties from introducing a new plant. The sums are usually pennies per plant so the actual royalty cost makes no material difference to the retail price of a plant. And if Elizabeth Macgregor earns herself a nice pension through royalties for Anemone ‘White Swan’, well, she’s earned it through years of hard graft. I might need the same income source one day so I’m not about to knock it.

No, my grouse is with the system for collecting royalties for Plant Breeders’ Rights licenced plants. Or rather the complete lack of one. If this is unfamiliar territory for you, let me explain. 
I have a large clump of Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ in the garden. I can dig it up and replant divisions in the garden, but I can’t dig it up, divide and sell the offspring because it is a licenced, PBR plant. I can only buy this plant from approved sources who pay a per plant royalty to the breeder. The royalty usually adds between 10 and 25 pence to the wholesale price so the cost is not a big deal. No, the big issue is supply. It’s fine if your preferred wholesaler keeps a regular stock. But it’s a complete pain in the neck if you sell more than you expect and can’t source more. It’s like having a well of spring water in your garden, but having to buy the same spring water in bottles from a supplier who only delivers twice a year. Inevitably when I see stock available I end up over-ordering to avoid running out. It’s not great for my cash flow and potentially deprives other nurseries (and thus their customers) of stock.
Let’s take another example – Geranium ‘Orkney Cherry’. Very nice plant, drapes itself prettily over the edges of paths. I have a large and much admired clump in the garden.  I buy my bought-in plants from four regular wholesale suppliers, but none of these are approved stockists, so to get Orkney Cherry for my customers I need to open an account with a new supplier, meet their minimum order conditions  and pay cash up front because I’m a new customer. It’s not ideal. Another is Pulmonaria ‘Victorian Brooch’. I brought this lovely plant with me from my old house because I liked it so much. It is also subject to plant breeders’ rights. But it is not on any supplier listings anywhere and even the breeder seems to have removed it from their wholesale listings. But it is still illegal for me to dig it up and propagate it.
Perhaps more frustrating still are plants which are ridiculously easy to propagate vegetatively, yet which I must still buy from an approved wholesaler, incurring unnecessary transport costs and requiring me to purchase plants grown in peat which I prefer not to use. Two perfect examples are Persicaria ‘Red Dragon’ and Campanula ‘Purple Sensation’
And (oh yes, there’s more), try finding out – definitively – whether a plant is subject to PBR.  Try finding out who the rights holder is – and when the expiry date is. Try emailing them to ask which UK wholesalers stock their plant. Try pretending you are a nursery and asking them for permission to propagate their plant and pay them a royalty. Go on. Just pick a plant, any plant and see how long it takes and how far you get. 
Inevitably, the breeders and the first line bulk propagators invest a great deal in each new plant and promote it heavily to wholesalers and the buyers of garden centre chains. This takes cash and resources and the supply chain is narrow. It’s one reason why some easy to grow perennials are £8.99 in garden centres. 
The present system is a creaking muddle. It means that breeders miss out on royalties and the buying public miss out on great plants or pay over the odds.
So that’s my complaint. But I try never to complain without proposing a solution. My solution is to set up an organisation like the Performing Rights Association.  Create a central online listing of all ornamental PBR plants with owner and expiry date. The system should be paid for by a percentage of royalties collected. Let any nursery propagate any plant. Require them to complete a return listing any plant they have propagated from the list and distribute the royalties to the rights holder. Spot check for transgressions (as now). 
It would create a proper market in great plants, increase royalties for the smaller breeder, reduce the supply bottleneck which drives up prices to consumers and leave nurseries free to grow in their choice of growing medium.
There. Rant over. Now – how to actually do something about it…. Shall I just propagate a few PBR plants and try posting a cheque to the holder? Believe me, easier said than done…..
September 17, 2011