Some recent gardening headlines have featured EU legislation that supposedly could see people banned from 'buying favourite iris, lavender and clematis plants'.
The Daily Mail said that proposals had been put forward by Europe to create a plant register of thousands of plants that would turn into a bureaucratic nightmare.
Other newspapers wrote similar pieces, with Conservative MEP, Vicky Ford, being often quoted as a strong opponent of the plans.
On her own website, Vicky Ford has written: "Gardeners, seed companies and plant growers are concerned that the EU's draft proposals for regulating Plant Reproductive Material calls for all plant varieties to be listed on an official register. It would also make it illegal to sell unregistered varieties.
"This goes much further than existing rules which only require certain vegetable and food crop seeds to be registered.
"It would add huge administration costs and could mean growers start to limit varieties, thus affecting biodiversity too."
There is a section on the European Commission website covering the ideas and proposals behind the Plant Reproductive Material legislation, which has been put forward due to changes in food production and environmental knowledge.
The intention is to update the existing legislation that dates from 30 to 40 years ago, as well as look at ways to fight the threat from invasive species and ultimately protect consumers.
It is interesting that this issue has gained awareness at the same time as an outbreak of Legionella longbeachae has occurred in Scotland, which has been linked to gardening compost.
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