The
Award of Garden Merit

Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for
plants by the British
Royal Horticultural Society

Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based
on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions.
Contents
1 History
2 Similar awards
3 Reviews
3.1 Rescission
4 Criteria
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
History[edit]
The
Award of Garden Merit

Award of Garden Merit is a mark of quality awarded, since 1922, to
garden plants (including trees, vegetables and decorative plants) by
the United Kingdom,
Royal Horticultural Society

Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Awards are made
annually after plant trials intended to judge the plants' performance
under UK growing conditions. Trials may last for one or more years,
depending on the type of plant being tried out, and may be performed
at Royal Horticulture Society Garden in Wisley and other gardens or
after observation of plants in specialist collections. Trial reports
are made available as booklets and on the website. Awards are reviewed
annually in case plants have become unavailable horticulturally, or
have been superseded by better cultivars.
Similar awards[edit]
The award should not be confused with the Royal Horticulture Society's
Award of Merit (AM), given to plants deemed 'of great merit for
exhibition' i.e. for show, not garden, plants.[1]
Since 1989,
France

France has had similar awards called the Mérites de
Courson, but these are drawn from a limited number of plants submitted
by nurserymen to juries at the twice-yearly Journées des Plantes de
Courson and awards are based solely on the opinions of the jury
members as to the plants' likely performance in French gardens, rather
than on extensive trials.
Reviews[edit]
The
Award of Garden Merit

Award of Garden Merit was reviewed in 1992, to increase its
usefulness and prestige. Field trial results gained weight in the
assessments and existing AGM plants were reviewed in the light of more
recent experience. The AGMs were to be reviewed at 10 year intervals
from 1992, but this frequency has been increased to annually. The
2012/13 review, with advice from experts such as Royal Horticultural
Society's plant committees, specialist societies, Plant Heritage
National Collection holders and others, resulted in many changes.
Nearly 1,900 plants lost their merit awards and more than 1,400 plants
gained awards; the list included 7,073 plants after the review.[2]
Rescission[edit]
Plants may be added to the
Royal Horticultural Society

Royal Horticultural Society 'Sunset List'
for rescission for several reasons, including unavailability to
gardeners, better plants becoming available, affliction by pests or
diseases, or insufficient uniformity. [2]
Criteria[edit]
To qualify for an Award of Garden Merit, a plant
must be available horticulturally
must be of outstanding excellence for garden decoration or use
must be of good constitution
must not require highly specialist growing conditions or care
must not be particularly susceptible to any pest or disease
must not be subject to an unreasonable degree of reversion.
The "Award of Garden Merit" symbol represents a cup-shaped trophy with
handles. It is cited together with a hardiness rating as follows:[2]
H1 Requires a heated glasshouse
H1a Warmer than 15C/59F: tropical plants for indoors and heated
greenhouses
H1b 10C/50F to 15C/59F: subtropical plants for indoors and heated
greenhouses
H1c 5C/41F to 10C/50F: warm temperate plants that can go outdoors in
summer
H2 1C/34F to 5C/41F: plants that need a frost-free greenhouse in
winter
H3 -5C/23F to 1C/34F: hardy outside in some regions or situations, or
which - while usually grown outside in summer - need frost protection
in winter (e.g. dahlias)
H4 -10C/14F to -5C/23F: plants hardy outside in most of the UK in an
average winter
H5 -15C/5F to -10C/14F: plants hardy outside in most of the UK in
severe winters
H6 -20C/-4F to -15C/5F: plants hardy outside in the UK and northern
Europe
H7 Colder than -20C/-4F: plants hardy outside in the severest European
climates
Echeveria "Perle Von Nürnberg" A winner of the Award of Garden merit.
See also[edit]
List of
Award of Garden Merit

Award of Garden Merit flowering cherries
List of
Award of Garden Merit

Award of Garden Merit magnolias
List of
Award of Garden Merit

Award of Garden Merit roses
List of
Award of Garden Merit

Award of Garden Merit sweet peas
References[edit]
^ RHS Plant Finder 2005-2006, Dorling Kindersley (2005)
ISBN 1-4053-0736-6
^ a b c Rice, Graham (20 Mar 2013). "RHS overhauls its plant awards
system". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
RHS Plant Finder 2005–2006, Dorling Kindersley (2005)
ISBN 1-4053-0736-6
External links[edit]
The Royal Horticultural Society's website - Search facility for AGM
plants
RHS AGM Plant Awards
RHS Plant Committees
Search for AGM plants The Royal Horticultural Society