The Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (AGM) helps gardeners make informed choices about plants. This award indicates that the plant is recommended by the RHS.
What is the AGM?
With more than 100,000 plants available in the UK alone, how can you tell which plants are the best for all-round garden value? The RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) exists to help gardeners make that choice.
Criteria
The AGM is intended to be of practical value to the home gardener. It is awarded therefore only to a plant that meets the following criteria:
It must be of outstanding excellence for ordinary garden decoration or use
It must be available
It must be of good constitution
It must not require highly specialist growing conditions or care
It must not be particularly susceptible to any pest or disease
It must not be subject to an unreasonable degree of reversion in its vegetative or floral characteristics
Plants of all kinds can be considered for the AGM, including fruit and vegetables. An AGM plant may be cultivated for use or decoration. It can be hardy throughout the British Isles, or suitable only for cultivation under heated glass. It can range in size from Sequoiadendron giganteum to Cornus canadensis. Though growing conditions and plant types may vary, the purpose of the award is always the same: to highlight the best plants available to the home gardener.