Third Czech International Rock Garden Conference -May 2017

[ranunculus]

Excellent news, it was wonderful to meet Martin at Tromso and to be given a guided tour of this magnificent horticultural mecca by such a knowledgeable and charming host.  Attending this conference will be an honour and a privilege.

[Maggi Young]

 Bill McGregor gave us a super talk on the 2nd Czech conference and the garden visits last night at the Aberdeen Scottish Rock Garden Club meeting - brought back many very happy memories. Anyone who is able to attend the 3rd Czech Conference in 2017 should book as soon as that option opens!

[Maggi Young]

Scottish Rock Garden Club colleague and great friend - ZZ is the next speaker announced for the 3rd Czech Conference......

"First speaker from the Czech republic and also one of the comittee Zdeněk Zvolánek (CZ) – The Crevice Garden and its Plants.

Different designs of crevice beds in Czechia and the gardens of Western Europe. New happy saxatile plants for this technique of cultivation.

The speaker is retired architect rock gardening at Beauty Slope in Czech Karst, village of  Karlík near Prague. He is an internationally recognized lecturer, horticultural writer, Prague Show Arranger and the editor of two journals. He is known as an apostle preaching crevice gardening.

Crevice gardens are not a new way of growing alpine plants; William Robinson mentioned them as early as 1870. But there is a renewed interest in them, particularly among Western European and North American gardeners, stemming largely, we think, from the greater access in recent years to the expertise of Czech gardeners who have been practicing and refining the art of their construction for more than 40 years. None has had a greater influence in this regard than Zdeněk Zvolánek, who has designed and built crevice beds varying in size from those in small troughs to the 3 acre crevice garden at the Montreal Botanic Garden, and the wonderful Bangsbo Garden in  Denmark and in a wide range of climates on a varying range of soil types in N. America and Europe. He is, quite simply, a master of the craft who has studied both the aesthetics and practicalities of crevice garden construction very thoroughly. He has distilled his knowledge for the booklet of the Alpine Garden Society called “ The Crevice Garden and its Plants”. But Zdeněk is not just an excellent craftsman in rock work; he is also a very knowledgeable and well travelled plantsman who has introduced many exciting new plants to cultivation. He cares deeply about the plants and gives considerable thought to ensuring that in their placement in the crevice garden he is taking account of their ecological requirements, as gleaned from information about the habitats in which they grow. He will show various styles in crevice garden construction including soft travertine (tufa) beds and the end result, crevices full of happy and healthy plants."



 ZZ- a co-editor of the International Rock Gardener - shown hear admiring a plant of Saxifraga ´Křivoklát´

[Maggi Young]

Next speaker announced....
Vojtěch Holubec (Czech republic) is a researcher and head of agricultural plant Gene bank. He is also part of the committee. He has been interested in alpines and botany since his 11 years. He loves mountains and he travels extensively to photograph plants and wild habitats, recently mainly to China and Central Asia. He got obsessed in crevice rock garden construction, he constructed main rock gardens in the show garden of Rock Garden Club Prague (RGCP) and in the International Horticultural Exhibition IGA Erfurt, Germany. He headed shows of the RGCP and served as the President of RGCP for 6 years. Together with his wife Lenka they run seed and plant propagation nursery. He published 2 books on Rock Garden construction with Ota Vlasak and The Flowers of the Caucasus  with Pavel Křivka. He was awarded by Lyttel Trophy by AGS in 2010.

[fermi de Sousa]

Next speaker announced....
Vojtěch Holubec ....

Well, that should've been a "given"
Shaping up as a wonderful conference!
BTW the Conference Website seems to be down at present - must be too many people clicking on to check it out
cheers
fermi

[Maggi Young]

For those interested in learning a bit more about the reactions to the two previous conferences you can see lots in these threads - for 2007 - http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=471.0
and 2013  - http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10484.0

 

[Susann]

Is there anyone/anyones that could consider to share room with me? If so, please send a PM to me.
Thank you

[Maggi Young]

LATEST NEWS: Conference prices

Early fee: 390 EUR before 31.12.2016
Late fee: 410 EUR after 1.1.2017

The participant's registration fee includes morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch on Thursday till Monday (lunch boxes Saturday and Sunday), evening meal on Wednesday,Thursday, Friday & Sunday; Garden Tour and coach transport during the Garden Tour but does not include accommodation.

The registration will be open on 1st of July 2016.

[Maggi Young]

Jiří Papoušek (Czech Republic) –is one of the committee but not a  speaker for this conference. But you may try to persuade him for some bonus lecture 

He visits European mountains regularly every year, his favourite place is area of Lago di Garda in the Northern Italy. He is enthusiastic grower of cushion plants, dwarf conifers and especially daphnes. In his garden there are crevices rock gardens, various planted troughs, collection of dwarf conifers and daphnes, woodland area with peat blocks and Alpine tunnel with tufa wall.
He is also known under his nickname Alpine parrot. He is member of Prague Rock Garden Club, SRGC and NZAGS. He has 30 years of experience of growing and exhibiting alpines at Prague Rock Gardens shows.

[Maggi Young]

Next speaker is Bob Wallis ....

"Bob Wallis (England) - “Flying to the Heights of Turkey: some highlights of the mountains”
I am a retired research scientist and, with my wife Rannveig, have been growing and showing alpines for more than 45 years. I cannot give up research, so now I am spending my retirement wandering all over the World looking at plants, and particularly bulbs, in the wild and trying to identify them. To this end we have published 2 new species of Fritillaria in Turkey and re-appraised the taxonomy of a third. We have visited Turkey more than 20 times and have fallen in love with the diverse bulbous plants which inhabit the snowy slopes."

[Maggi Young]

"This week we want to introduce you the conference team. Some of them you may not know yet. But we are all looking forward to meet you and prepare the best conference possible "


Team members:

Zdeněk Zvolánek
Jiří Papoušek
Vojtěch Holubec
Petr Diviš
Ludmila Papoušková
Kateřina Papoušková
Zdenka Kosourová


Clockwise from front left in the picture...... Ludmila, whose birthday it is today! 
 Petr, almost hidden, then Jiří , Zdeněk,  Zdenka and Vojtěch - it is the lovely Kateřina who is missing - behind the camera!

[Lesley Cox]

Is there anyone/anyones that could consider to share room with me? If so, please send a PM to me.
Thank you

Oh Susann, if only I could, I'd be thrilled to share with you. We got on all right last time didn't we, and Angie too? I'd give anything I had to be able to attend. I'll try a lottery ticket each week up until the booking time.

[Maggi Young]

3rd Czech International Rock Garden conference in Prague 10-15th May 2017 added 2 new photos.
1 hr ·

Brigitte Fiebig and Michael Mauser ( Germany)- Persian treasures for the Alpinehouse - Tracing Dionysias in Iran (Impressions of Dionysias in their natural habitat from trips in 2015 and 2016)

Michael Mauser is an experienced landscape gardener and has been working at the Botanical Garden of Tübingen since 2003. He is in charge of the geographical part of the rockgarden, the alpinehouse and the Dionysia-collection. By visiting various expert growers of Dionysias in Europe he has gained experience in the cultivation of this precious genus.



Brigitte Fiebig is the horticultural manager of the Botanical Garden of the University of Tübingen. As an enthusiastic plantswoman she is thrilled to see plants all over the world.

[Maggi Young]

Henrik Zetterlund (Sweden) - "My favorite bulbs and how I use them in different gardens"

Henrik Zetterlund has more than 40 years of experience of the different aspects of a botanical garden. Starting in the tropical green-houses and later specializing in the cultivation of alpines and bulbs. Over the years a huge collection of bulbs has been built up in GBG. Starting with the contributions from the late Per Wendelbo. Completed by his successors in GBG of which HZ is one.

Henrik has been supervising the total renovation of the GBG rock-garden as well as the alpine houses and other areas of GBG.

More than 30 collection trips have brought many introductions of alpines and geophytes to the GBG. Corydalis henrikii, C. zetterlundii, Crocus henrikii and Dionysia zetterlundii are some examples.

[Maggi Young]

From ZZ - re 3rd Czech International Rock Garden conference in Prague 10-15th May 2017....

The late Ota Vlasák built a crevice garden with bold layers close to us in town of Dobřichovice ( the owner is Ota´s friend Jirka Pospíšil). Next year the Conference plan is to go there with buses.......



Remember, registration for this event will open on 1st July - we think demand will be high - so be quick to register your intention to attend @czrgs......   http://www.czrgs.cz/
https://www.facebook.com/czrgs