This guidance was last updated on 30 September 2023.  

Seed donations from members in the UK: seed donation from UK members is entirely unaffected; you can send seed in as normal. Seed from UK members becomes increasingly important to us as donations from the rest of the World become more and more difficult to manage. 

Seed donations from members in Other countries: The UK authorities now require all seed being sent to the UK from other countries to have a phytosanitary certificate from the donor country. We know that the cost of certificates, and the ease of obtaining them, varies greatly from country to country. We have been working on a means to solve this problem, at least for some seed donations, and hope to manage a co-ordinated approach for the USA, Canada, and the EU.

From members in Germany, Austria and Czechia: We are delighted to say that Katharina Briese, an SRGC member from Germany, has volunteered to coordinate and collate all the seed donations from members in Germany, Austria and Czechia. She will obtain a single phytosanitary certificate and forward the seed to the exchange. We are really grateful to Katharina for this, and want to let you know the procedures for this year: 

First, you must, please, email and Katharina at with a list of your seed donations by 15th October 2023. This will enable Katharina to prepare a list for the phytosanitary certificate, and will enable us to ensure that your seed donations appear in the seed list.

Please send your clean, dry seed (no wet packs please) by 31st October 2023 

to: Katharina Briese, Am Mutterheim 3, Bad Pyrmont 31812, Deutschland. 

Send an alphabetical list of seed with your parcel. Please use glassine envelopes if you have them, and send modest, not huge volumes of seed. If you have larger volumes of special seed you wish to send, please email us at .

From members in OTHER EU countries (NOT Germany, Austria and Czechia): We are delighted to say that Ashley Allshire, an SRGC member from Ireland, has volunteered to coordinate and collate all the seed donations from members in all other EU countries. He will obtain a single phytosanitary certificate and forward the seed to the exchange. We are really grateful to Ashley for this, and want to let you know the procedures for this year: 

First, you must, please, email and Ashley at with a list of your seed donations by 15th October 2023. This will enable Ashley to prepare a list for the phytosanitary certificate, and will enable us to ensure that your seed donations appear in the seed list.

Please send your clean, dry seed (no wet packs please) by 15th October 2023 (Yes, different date to other EU countries!)

to: Ashley Allshire, Leemount Cottage, Coachford, Co. Cork P12 XT54, Ireland 

Send an alphabetical list of seed with your parcel. Please use glassine envelopes if you have them, and send modest, not huge volumes of seed. If you have larger volumes of special seed you wish to send, please email us at .

From members in the USA: We are delighted to say that Marc Rosenblum, an SRGC member from Oregon, has volunteered to coordinate and collate all the seed donations from US members, obtain a single phytosanitary certificate and forward the seed to the exchange. We are really grateful to Marc for this, and want to let you know the procedures for this year: 

First, you must, please, email and Marc at with an alphabetical list of the full scientific name of each of your seed donations by 20th September 2023. This will enable Marc to ensure that your seed is on the US Phytosanitary Certificate Included Taxa Database, and will enable us to ensure that your seed donations appear in the seed list. 

Please send your clean, dry seed (no wet packs please) by 31st October 2023 to: 

Marc Rosenblum, 821 Parry Rd, Falls City, OR 97344 . 

Send an alphabetical list of seed with your parcel. Please use glassine envelopes if you have them, and send modest, not huge volumes of seed. If you have larger volumes of special seed you wish to send, please email us at . 

Please note that we will always be more interested in American seed, and less interested in plants common in British or European gardens. Seed despatch to the USA from the SRGC Exchange is not affected by these changes; this will operate in the normal way. You will need to send your ’Small lots of Seed Permit’ and green & yellow labels with your seed orders; please do not send these to Marc with your seed donation.

From members in Canada: Marc Rosenblum (see above) has also offered to deal with Canadian seed donations through the US system. If Canadian members wish to take advantage of this offer, all of the details outlined above will apply to you as well. Canadian members will, however, need to send donations to Mark under his US ‘Small Lots’ permit, which enables him to import the seed from Canada. If you wish to do this, please email Marc at   and ask him to email you his permit and a green and yellow sticker for you to print out at home. This permit will enable you to send up to fifty small packets of clean dry seed to Marc. When you wish to send your seed, you must tape the green and yellow sticker over an address label for Marc Rosenblum, 821 Parry Rd, Falls City, OR 97344, USA; and place an alphabetical list of the full scientific name of all seeds enclosed, and the permit [all pages] in the envelope with the seeds, so APHIS can forward the seed to him after inspection.

From members in ALL other Overseas countries: At the moment we do not have similar offers to coordinate seed donations from other countries. If you are prepared to volunteer to coordinate seed donations from your country (or several EU countries) and arrange for a phytosanitary inspection, we’d be really pleased to hear from you.

We appreciate that phytosanitary certificates will incur extra costs; if you might be prepared to handle seed from a group of members in your country as a way of minimising costs, we would be pleased to hear from you at . If you are considering sending us a large or unusual donation, again, please contact us before you send. Please do read the instructions on seed donations below before sending seed to the exchange.

Instructions for sending seed to SRGC: Please send fresh clean seed as early as possible (no later than 31 October 2023) to:Drs Ian and Carole Bainbridge, 01557 814141, Luckie Harg’s, Anwoth Road, Gatehouse of Fleet, Castle Douglas, DG7 2EF, Scotland..  On each packet please write the full name of the species, where it was collected (if wild), and your name or initials. Put all seed of one type in one packet, using small packets when possible (avoid big packets!). Supply a list of donated seed in alphabetical order. Note your email, phone number and membership number in case we have queries, and provide comments on any new or rare seed.

Happy seed collecting, and we hope the new arrangements work well. Once again, many thanks for your efforts in donating seed to SRGC.

Late seed This can be accepted if a list has been received by post or email by 31 October 2023. The seed list is compiled on 1st November, so late seed may not make the exchange.

Banned Seed Some incoming seed is banned by the UK authorities.  Click here for a pdf list of the banned species.. Please do not send seed of these species as your shipment may be destroyed on entry to the UK.