Desiderata

Desiderata are plants that you are looking to add to your collection, but are difficult to find. They may have once been sold commercially but are no longer available, or you have records of them from historical sources but no current growing locations.

If you were a user of Persephone 1, then all your Desiderata plants have been transferred to Persephone 2 as Not in Collection. Use Not in Collection for plants that you have no intention of adding to your collection - either because they are not available or growable in the UK, are parents of hybrids in your collection, or are plants you know you can source but haven't got round to yet. These will appear in your main plant list in blue text. 

Persephone 2 handles Desiderata in a different way. Any plant that you want to share with other users and Plant Heritage staff as a plant that you would like help to find, should be added to the Desiderata collection, accessible on the left hand menu or on the dashboard.

You can only add Desiderata plants if you hold a full National Plant Collection.

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Adding plants

To add a Desiderata plant, go to the Desiderata page and on the Action button, select Add new plant. The plant name form will open and you can fill in the various fields and Save. 

You can check the name against the RHS and Kew databases. If there are any suppliers listed in the RHS Find a Plant, this will appear as part of the RHS name check.

In the Notes tabs you can add any extra information about the plant. This could include a description, where it was last grown or the last known supplier. 

Note that there are two notes boxes, one for information that will be visible to any user who views the collection (see below) and one where you can record private notes.

Please also remember to select which collection your desiderata applies for - there is a dropdown box called Desiderata Collection at the top of the notes fields from which you can select the correct collection.

If you have a file that gives more information about the plant, this can be uploaded on the Files tab and can be made private if you wish.

All this information (apart from anything in the private notes field and any files marked private) will be visible (but not editable) by anyone else looking at the Desiderata collection. 

Once you have added a plant to the Desiderata, you will get a link to this under your collections list.

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Viewing plants

The main page lists all the plants in the scheme. If you want to just view your plants, go to the dropdown next to the search and click My Desiderata.

If you want to search for a particular plant group, use the Keyword search. You can search on any part of the plant name.

If you are looking through this collection and find a plant listed that you have, go to the Action button next to the plant name. There is an option I have this plant! which will take you through to a contact form to let the conservation team know. They will pass on your enquiry to the person looking for the plant.