Thanks to the enormous kindness of a friend, I yesterday received from Germany no fewer than 5000 Neem seeds.
What's Neem? It's a legendary plant from Asia. Its leaves especially are a fabled 'cure all' for every manner of human ailment and garden affliction. Dandruff, mouth odour, veruccas, pest control, insect repellant, weed killer... you name it. (And the fruit is delicious too.) It's so valuable that a US firm tried to patent the seed! (Didn't work.)
It grows in the tropics as a 30-foot shade tree, and in temperate climes grows indoors as a bushy indoor plant. It will also grow outdoors in a - well-insulated - polytunnel.
In the UK, there's one at the HDRA, plus three at Kew Gardens, and one - wot I gave him - in Bob Flowerdew's banana polytunnel. But otherwise, this incredible plant is totally unheard of in the UK or Europe!
You can read more about Neem at www.neemfoundation.org
The seed doesn't store. It should stay viable for another two months, but - given postal delays already - it needs to be germinated quickly.
So if you would like some free Neem seed, please e-mail me - quickly! Simply give me your snail mail address. I won't be mailing the seed much after October, because its viability will decline, I suspect.
No, there's no catch - you can check me out (John Yeoman) at Daves Garden. (When you receive the seed, a postage stamp or two, or a Euro note, to defray my postage is all I request.) Fact is, I just can't bear to see that rare seed wasted. There's no way I can propagate 5000 Neem seeds by myself - in ten days!
Big caveat: I can't legally mail these seeds into the US or Australia, because of phytosanitation laws. But US folk can get Neem in the US from: www.neemtreefarms.com
Ask for Vicki and say John Yeoman sent you! (These are lovely people.)
Anyone in Europe like some free Neem seed?
patent the seeds or the tree? That was in the news recently here. Havent they now decided to pay the locals?
Hello John, I would be grateful for some seeds. email already on its way
Dimitri
Thanks, folk, for all your replies. All the Neem has now been sent. I apologise to those in the US & Canada who requested seed. Phytosanitation laws mean I dare not send seed to certain countries. It's legal for me in the UK to mail them, but you could cop a fine if you receive them!