Donations for the 2026 Seed List
(Note for our British members: please see special instructions below.)
Please send the seeds to the Seed List Manager:
Matthieu Thomas
5 rue du 3e corps U.S.
52200 Langres
France
In order to prepare the seeds and the list, please send your donations no later than 30th September 2026. Any seeds arriving later than that will be stored and included in the 2027 list.
When sending donations from countries outside the European Union, including Switzerland and Great Britain, please use an ordinary flat envelope (not a padded one), and please declare “private gift of no commercial value” to make the process as straightforward as possible. Once the donation arrives, you will be notified by e-mail.
Please ensure that we know who the donation is from and label the seeds with the names of the taxa and as much background information as possible such as origin, if known. Please count the seeds and write the number on the seed sachet. Indicate if the seeds were produced by hand-pollination (HP), open pollination (OP) or field collected (FC). If you are not certain, please just note OP.
Here is a short video with instructions on how to hand-pollinate pelargoniums. Note that if pollination is not controlled then there is some likelihood that your seeds are not species seeds but in fact chance hybrids, which may lead to some disappointment and certainly plants being mislabelled. Please ensure that for donation, only hand-pollinated seeds are labelled as such.
Information for our British members
Following the introduction of phytosanitary border checks between the EU and Great Britain, we have devised the following process. As the procedures are new for everyone, we do ask for your understanding and patience. Not that Northern Irish members are exempt from this process and continue to donate and order freely
Seed donations: please do consider donating seeds – in 2023, the IGG received three donations from Britain, and we are very grateful for these. However, if the number of donations is low, the cost of obtaining a phyto in the UK (ca. £200) may not be sensible, so do please be generous. Also, to help with the phytoinspection, we request that all seeds are cleaned of any chaff and debris.
Please send your donations, by 31 August 2026, to
David Carver
Ripley House, Green lane
Buckland Monachorum
Yelverton
Devon PL20 7NP
Seed orders: after we collect your orders, we will aggregate them and request a phyto certificate in the EU. After this is obtained, we will send the seeds in a single parcel to David, such that these are distributed to our members in Britain. This will take some time, presumably 2-3 months after the seed list is released in mid-October.
Seed ordering
Please note that it is currently not possible to place a seed order. Here are the usual instructions to prepare yourself ahead of time.
The following needs to be strictly observed when ordering seeds:
- We only accept orders by email to matthieu.thomas.pro@gmail.com. No other form of communication is acceptable.
- Include your name and postal address in your order. Orders must include this information in Latin script, line by line exactly as it needs to be written on an envelope.
- DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY IN ADVANCE!
- Send the order as a line-by-line single-column list of IGG reference numbers.
- The maximum number of packets that can be ordered per member is 20.
- Several donations contain very few seeds so you are recommended to add several substitutes in case your first choice is sold out. In the Seed List this is clarified as “Very few seeds!”.
- In case of multiple donations per taxon, you are recommended to list several numbers in a line separated by hyphens to indicate acceptable substitutes of a specific taxon (e.g. 3246-3247-3248). By doing so you will have a better chance of achieving the best outcome of your seed order.
- Don’t hesitate to order seeds from the 2025 seed list. Geraniaceae seeds are viable for many years.
- Do not list one reference number more than once and the same taxon more than twice. The latter is possible only if the donors are different.
- You may place one order once per year regardless of the number of seed packets you receive. It is not possible to send one order that is then followed by a second order to receive the maximum number of packets. Make full use of the opportunity to list substitutes (point 6 and 7).
- The deadline for sending orders is 22nd November 2026 3pm CET.
Thank you for closely observing the above points. The IGG is volunteer-run and administering the Seed List is a major operation for us. By following the rules you get seeds faster and enable us to do our work more efficiently.
A packet will contain a minimum of 2 seeds, so you have a good chance of success! Mostly, there will be many more.
We charge £0.30 per packet of seeds and £2.00 will be added for postage wherever you are. This is only to cover the cost of administering the seeds. Donors will receive a free packet of seeds for each packet they donated, however, donors still pay for the postage.
Seed orders from members who donate seeds of at least 5 taxa will be handled as a priority. If you are such a donor, please ensure that we receive your order within the first week after the seed list release. Thereafter, we will tend to the rest of the orders, in the order of receipt. Last year most orders were received within the first 24 hours, so speed is recommended! We will work through the orders as quickly as possible and we will inform you by e-mail about how much to pay and instructions for payment by PayPal.
Unless otherwise agreed, seeds will be sent in a padded envelope, individually labelled with the IGG reference numbers. Please advise us of any other arrangements that might suit you or your national regulations better, e.g. a normal flat envelope, names of species names written on each bag or in a separate list.
Some countries have strict rules on seed imports.
Australia
There are lists of permitted seed available to which we will refer to ensure nothing is sent with a prohibited species name.
China
IGG members speaking Chinese please download the Instructions for ordering in Chinese.
New Zealand
Please follow the regulations available in a separate document.
UK
British regulations for seed imports have changed recently. We will provide a phytosanitary certificate for the entire batch of British seed orders. Once these arrive to Britain, they will be dispatched by David Carver to individual addresses, any queries please direct to David.
There are no restrictions on seed imports from the EU to Northern Ireland.
USA
Members should obtain an import permit for small lots of seed obtainable from APHIS, please see this separate link. The IGG will not send seed until the permit is available, but please note that your seeds will be reserved and set aside. In case of questions, please consult Peter Liekkiö, IGG Representative North America.
Due to changes in the CITES III appendix, seeds of Sarcocaulon herrei, S. multifidum, S. patersonii, Pelargonium crassicaule and P. triste can only be distributed to members within the EU.
Note that we will observe regulations, so please do not ask us to send seeds without the necessary permits.
Where donors have not supplied information regarding pollination, it should be assumed the seed has been “open pollinated”.
Please note that Monsonia sect. Sarcocaulon seeds are listed as Sarcocaulon.
Double or triple capital letters at the end of the list represent the seed donor.
Seed germination
You may wish to use the following method of seed pre-germination that works well for some of us – the “Movitz” method.
Good luck and good growing!
Disclaimers
We cannot take the responsibility if seeds fail to arrive due to import irregularities, postal errors, confiscation or destruction by customs, and other issues outside our control. Thank you for your understanding.
We rely on donors to correctly label seeds and pollination standards but the IGG cannot be responsible for incorrect identification, failure to germinate, or hybrid origin.
Although members who have donated seed will have done their best to name their plants accurately, there is no guarantee given regarding nomenclature. If you have any doubts when the plant has matured, please photograph a flower, a leaf and also a general view then post in the IGG website Forum.
Payments
Payments are only accepted by Paypal, please follow the link below and ensure that your name can be identified from the Paypal payment.
PayPal does not allow making donations from some countries, e.g. China. In such a case, please pay the amount due to paypal@geraniaceae-group.org directly through your PayPal account.
PayPal不允许某些国家捐款，比如中国。在这种情况下，请直接通过您的PayPal帐户将应付款项支付给paypal@geraniaceae-group.org