Patented Plants
jbest123
16 years ago
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Charlie
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoCharlie
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
are patented plants ruining horticulture?
Comments (22)"And plants can be a named cultivar without being patented." This was kind of my point. There had been for over a hundred years before the craze of patenting really took hold in the 1990s. Classic varieties like the pastel Chrysanthemum 'Mary Stoker' moved from producer to producer and slowly acquired the reputation they have as time-tested varieties. If 'Mary Stoker' had been patented, it's possible the original producer would have thought after a couple years "OK, people are tired of Mary Stocker, we better start offering the brighter more saturated 'Mary's Daughter'" and the better plant would have been lost to commerce eventually. I was using a bit of hyperbole to say it is ruining horticulture, but I don't think it's a good trend, overall. Nurseries that grow their own plants on a purely ad hoc basis (i.e. and e.g., don't have any patented varieties...think the former Seneca Hill Perennials) tend to struggle anyhow. It's not like they were really posing a threat to huge mega producers like Sunny Border, Monrovia, etc. A lot of those producers breed their own plants. So the only ones they have to worry about poaching their strains is another large wholesaler. But somehow this didn't affect the industry as a whole until about 1990. (there were patented varieties before then but it was very uncommon) As for the species vs. cultivar debate, I do think it's valid to bring that up too. I like to have a mix of species and cultivars. A garden entirely of flashy cultivars would not be to my liking. In the world of rhododendrons, for example, people like Frank Fujioka and Jim Barlup have bred utterly amazing looking plants, but if you know rhododendrons, you wouldn't think in a million years that nature could have produced something similar. So, I see such plants as more of a accent to have here and there. I'd say in my perennial bed I only have a few plants that are obviously hybridized but they have their place. For example the Gaillardia called 'Tokajer' which is one of the only Asteraceae I grew that definitely looked hybridized. I don't care, for example, for the new strange Echinaceas. But the 2 plants I mentioned had serious ornamental appeal and it's a shame some small fry isn't allowed to continue propagating them for the handful of people who still want them. Maybe I'm complaining more about the nature of the licensing and whatnot than the notion of patenting itself....See MoreFun Website for Newly Patented Plants
Comments (2)I love gawking at the new introduction plants. Here's another site for your enjoyment Here is a link that might be useful: Pride of Place Plants...See MorePatented plants?
Comments (13)You probably do have some patented broms, HDD. I think there are a number of them, including Neo. carolinae Tricolor 'Perfecta'. I don't know of any enforcing that goes on with the propagation of that thing-- just about everyone has it. 'Ultima' is patented but I didn't find that out until after I bought a pup at a convention. There was no tag saying that, and it hasn't stopped me from selling pups either. I don't think anyone is going to go after the small grower, so I don't worry about it. I seem to remember hearing that Neo. carolinae 'Mother' had a patent covering not only it but also all of its offspring, making it illegal to use any of them for breeding. 'Mother' itself is seldom seen; the people who have it don't seem inclined to share it, but its babies are everywhere, so I don't know how you can control that. We grow a lot of Globbas too, and several years ago we tried to purchase some corms of the 'Jungle Jewels' series, which are patented. This in and of itself seemed odd to me because I had always assumed that a patented plant had to be a hybrid or sport or a GMO of some sort, but these are wild-collected species, so how can anyone hold a patent on them? At any rate, the grower/patentholder (who happens to be a friend of my husband's) gave us a stern lecture about not propagating them, and when Ken told him we wanted to try them as cut flowers he said no, we couldn't do that either! He never did send us the plants, I guess he figured we weren't to be trusted, LOL! Fortunately for us, we already had a couple of unpatented clones of that same species that we like better anyway, so we'll stick with those. Renaming and selling patented plants goes on all the time, sadly. From what I've heard pretty much all of the major tissue culture labs are guilty of this. David Shiigi had a lawsuit over a lab that released his Guz. 'Puna Gold' under another name. I don't know what the outcome of that suit was, but it's hardly an isolated incident....See MorePatented Plants
Comments (18)Please read the following info about MONSANTO, the company that thinks they can own life. A LONG and informative article from Vanity Fair A comprehensive "Roundup" of Monsanto's tactics Monsanto's slanted, misleading response which doesn't even address that they sue farmer's who don't even grow their products for "stealing" that which the wind blew to their fields, ruining the farmers' clean crops and livelihood! Refuse to buy patented plants or seeds from companies owned by Monsanto (which is the vast majority of them, as Monsanto has bought up a substantial number of seed companies). Purchase from companies who refuse to use GM plants and seeds, and who readily state this in their info. Thanks! Diane Here is a link that might be useful: IonPlants - Food Politics and more...See Morebrandon7 TN_zone7
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agopaul122
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10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoUser
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agobrandon7 TN_zone7
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoUser
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agobrandon7 TN_zone7
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoPanhandleLady_6b
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agobrandon7 TN_zone7
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoPanhandleLady_6b
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agobrandon7 TN_zone7
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoPanhandleLady_6b
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agobrandon7 TN_zone7
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoPanhandleLady_6b
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoJoan Terflinger
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8 years agoCatrina's Garden
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