17 Nov, 2023

Plant Heritage and NXT scoop UK IT Award

NXT’s clients at Plant Heritage have won one of the top awards at the UK IT Industry Awards 2023 for its innovative plant recording software Persephone, which holds vital information about any plant, in any garden, anywhere.

This plant recording web application was developed by the NXT Digital Solutions team in 2022 and has been evolving since launch. NXT have been working with Plant Heritage since 2018 supporting all applications and website projects. 

Plant Heritage 45th Anniversary

Plant Heritage are a leading horticultural conservation charity that champions and conserves garden plants to ensure they remain in cultivation and don’t become lost from our gardens. The National Plant Collections – of which there are now over 700 – are a vital resource the heart of the charity and keep thousands of different plant groups alive which might be threatened by climate change, emerging pests and diseases or changing trends.

The Charity (Third Sector) Project of the Year prize is awarded to the ‘most outstanding project in the charitable sector…

The Charity (Third Sector) Project of the Year prize is awarded to the ‘most outstanding project in the charitable sector…if it uses IT to benefit the organisation or its clients’, with Plant Heritage going up against many much bigger organisations. Against all odds, the charity came out on top as charity sector award winners

Initially designed to record key data about the National Plant Collections, the online application has now grown to contain information about any plant, in any garden, anywhere.

Plant Heritage and NXT scoop UK IT Award

Ellie Taylor (Host) with Vicki Cooke (Plant Conservation Manager) and Penny Ross (Persephone Project Manager) from Plant Heritage - winners of Charity (Third Sector) Project of the Year at the UK IT Awards 2023. Credit: UK IT Awards.


Designed to be used by professional horticulturalists or amateur gardeners, Persephone prides itself on being accessible, flexible and easy to use. Its design-led interface makes it a joy to use, and it even automatically formats and corrects plant names too, which not only saves time but also aids learning. It’s now a one-stop-shop for plant recording, which is an essential part of curating a garden and helps ensure that valuable plant records are not lost.

More insights