At Scotia Seeds we use our years of experience in seed technology to ensure that the wildflower seed we supply has traceable origin and is of the highest quality.

 FIND OUT MORE about wildflower seed testing at our website:

Seed Quality

We test all of the seed that we produce in our laboratory for germination and purity to ensure that they have reached our stringent standards.

To test germination we use growing tests to find out what percentage of the seed produces a healthy seedling. We also test purity – how much material such as leaf, stem, stones or soil can be found in a sample of seed. Germination and purity can be combined to give a picture of how much live seed you are buying.

Our Laboratory

Our laboratory at Scotia Seeds specialises in testing the seeds of wildflowers and trees. We follow the methods of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) and use their rules for seed testing where they apply to wildflowers. In addition for most of the species we test we have developed our own procedures in a research programme funded by a SMART Award from the Scottish Executive.

Origin

The seed that we produce here at Scotia Seeds is from crops grown from original seed collections made in the wild.

Small collections are made and are recorded in our Accession Register with the date of collection, six figure map reference, a note of the collector and details of the area of collection.

Seed from these original collections is sown here on our farm in Angus as a crop, which is used to grow more plants for seed as necessary. This is restricted to a small number of generations to ensure that the plants keep their wild characteristics. From these small plots of plants, we harvest wildflower seed for sale as individual species or to be used in meadow mixes. (Please note that the grass seed in our meadow mixes is of species native to Scotland but from cultivated rather than wild origin. There are also a very small number of wildflowers within mixes that are not from our production. The origin of all of the seed we sell is described on the mix sheets)

The seed of a small number of species that we sell is collected for sale directly from the wild. It is recorded as above.

At all stages we can trace back seed that we produce to an original collection in the wild.

We are signatories to the Flora Locale Code of Practice for Growers and suppliers of Native Flora.