The Berry Botanic Garden houses the largest collection of seeds of rare plants in the Pacific Northwest. When a botanist in Oregon, Washington, or Idaho collects seeds of a rare plant, they send them to the Berry Garden for long term storage. The conservation staff here at the garden also collect seeds during their summer field studies. We receive thousands of seeds for well-studied species, while for a rare species from a remote location we are lucky to receive a few dozen seeds.
Some seeds can survive for hundreds of years if they are kept dry and cool.
As long as people have propagated plants, they have worked on techniques to make seeds last longer. Modern seed storage is based on the same principles used by native peoples when they placed their seed reserves in sealed jars in caves under the earth. Modern technology allows us to control the storage conditions more precisely. As soon as we receive seeds, we place them in our specially designed seed storage vault. Like a museum vault for the storage of precious objects, our vault protects the seeds from the day to day effects of water and heat and from catastrophic events like fires.