Lynn, I may have confused you by showing all one type of plant like the hardy hibiscus. The "Patented" box is available in the Misc. section to be used with all plants. Here's another example using a different genus of plant:

Wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei var. radicans 'Bushel of Gold')

Thank you to both Dave and Tee. I finally see the Patent checkbox under Misc.
I think this cold has affected my eye site and brain function.

SongofJoy said:Does this need a databox to check off or ?

This is what the US Patent Office has to say about patented plants and I want to note patented plants in some entries:

"Propagation of patented plants in any way, shape or form without the owner's permission or until the patent term has expired, is strictly prohibited by federal law. Patents are for 17 or 20 years and are not renewable."

I thought that only asexual propagation could be prohibited (cuttings & root division).

I thought that it was always legal to produce and plant seeds, even deliberately, even if you bagged the blooms of a protected/patented plant and self-pollinated it.

I actually thought you could do all that, and even legally sell the somewhat random seed that resulted.

I realize those seeds aren't likely to "come true" to their parent, and that the result would probably not be commercially competitive with the protected variety - it might not even be recognizable as related.

It could take me days to find the quote that led me to this belief, but hopefully someone will say yes or no.

It's pretty academic for me since I almost never buy a plant, let alone a PPAF plant ... but I trade for seeds all the time, for example:
May Night Salvia / Salvia x sylvestris 'Mainacht'
Perennial Plant of the Year for 1997

introduced by the German horticulturist Karl Foerster in 1956.
I guess it's been around long enough for any patent to expire:

Even the F2 offspring of an F1 outcross can be pretty ...

I was thinking the same thing you so eloquently wrote Rick. I remember reading an article about a potato grower collecting seed at years end and planting out the following. Monsanto inspectors took samples of his crop, which they were entitled by law to do, and discovered he was growing a hybrid potato with a Monsanto gene tagged gene. Apparently his neighbor farmer was growing Monsantos patented potato and the bees did their thing. Monsanto took the farmer to court and won. I don't know how that applies to most garden plants or their patents but I'll see if I can find the article.

edit: might have been corn. Scary stuff.

>> Apparently his neighbor farmer was growing Monsantos patented potato and the bees did their thing. Monsanto took the farmer to court and won.

Gee, I wish the farmer could have taken Monsanto to court and won, for polluting his seedstock!

As far as I know, you can do anything you want if you don't get caught or ratted out. I imagine [asexual reproduction] might have been what the writer was talking about in context. However, the point of the question and the thread is what to do with a Patent box and patent information in the database. Ya'll ethicists can debate the other stuff.