In order to quality for a plant patent, the applicant must have successfully reproduced the plant via asexual methods. Many people are not sure of what asexual reproduction means, but generally it results in a next generation of plants that are an exact replica, in appearance and nursery plant genes, as the mother plant. This is in contrast to reproduction in a sexual way, in which the offspring are not an exact replica. Animals engage in sexual reproduction, and nursery plant offspring varies in appearance from their parents. Examples of what the Patent Office considers to be asexual reproduction in plants include bulbs, grafts, runners, cuttings from roots, plants created in the layering process, or corms.
Other than using photographs, some people seeking plant patents use regular colored drawings to show the Patent Office the plant they are describing--even hiring a professional artist to produce these drawings for them. In this aspect, plant patents have both components to design and nursery plant utility patents.
You now have the knowledge that you need to decide if a plant patent is for you.