Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Administration => Notice Board => Topic started by: Maggi Young on August 29, 2025, 09:38:03 AM
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Perthshire Rock Garden Club
Affiliated to the Scottish Rock Garden Club
PERTH GROUP TALKS PROGRAMME 2025-2026
Tues 2nd Sept – ‘The Explorer’s Garden’, Caroline Bavey
Tues 7th October- ‘Kanchenjunga from 3 sides’, David Rankin (plus plants for sale)
Tues 4th November- ‘Alpines at the RBGE Past Present & Future’, Scott Cook
Tues 2nd December- ‘Flower to Seed to Garden’ Ian & Carole Bainbridge
Tues 6th Jan 2026- AGM & Member’s slides
Tues 3rd Feb 2026- ‘The Tangled Bank Project, re-modelling St Andrews Botanic Gardens’ Harry Watkins
Tues 3rd March – ‘Alpines & Orchids in the Vercors’ (SE France), Michael Almond
Tues 7th April- ‘Developing the Garden at Kirklands’, Peter Hart
(All Perth Meetings-1st Tuesday each Month. In person.
7.30pm entry £3
Visitors & New members are very welcome.
We encourage you to bring a Plant for our Plant Raffle
Venue: Assembly Hall North Inch Community Campus.)
There will also be a Zoom programme of talks from Nov 2025 to Feb 2026. Full details to follow.
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West of Scotland Rock Garden Club
LOCAL GROUP TALKS PROGRAMME FOR 2025/26
Monday 13 October 2025 at 2pm “Explorers’ Garden, Pitlochry” Caroline Bavey, Landscape & Garden Manager
Monday 10 November at 2pm “Starting Again” Ian and Carol Bainbridge, Gatehouse of Fleet
Monday 8 December at 2pm AGM and short talks by members on a variety of topics
2026
Monday 12 January at 7.15pm ON ZOOM “Alpines for the Time Challenged!” Tony Goode, Norwich
Monday 9 February at 7.15pm ON ZOOM “Southern Alps of New Zealand” Brian Huntley, Durham
Monday 9 March at 2pm "The Arctic Riviera" Kathleen Cartwright, Gartocharn
Monday 13 April at 2pm “Building and Planting a Crevice Garden” Neil Huntley, Hartside Nursery (Plants for sale)
For questions on meetings, and details of Zoom links, please contact Meetings Secretary Jackie Thomlinson (contact details on the main SRGC website).
Meetings are on the second Monday of the month at 2pm in Baljaffray Parish Church (in the back hall), Grampian Way, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 4RN.
This is 2 miles west of Milngavie next to Baljaffray shopping centre where there is plenty of parking.
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Edinburgh and Lothians Group
August
Sat 16-Aug-25 4pm BST Meet Edinburgh Saughton Gardens: guided tour
2025 Events
Tue 14-Oct-25 7.30 pm BST Meet Edinburgh Karakol: Przewalski, paths and plants - Frazer Henderson
Sat 8-Nov-25 9.30 am GMT Meet Edinburgh The Future for Plants: Focus on Conservation Horticulture - Conference with tour of RBGE See side panel on Edinburgh page for details
2026 Events
Tue 10-Mar-26 7.30 pm GMT Meet Edinburgh The Japanese Garden at Cowden - Nicola Dibley; plus AGM
Relevant for SRGC Members:
The Future for Plants: Focus on Conservation Horticulture
Lectures and garden tours at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
9.30 am, Saturday, 8th November, 2025
All welcome. Free admission
Programme
9.30 am Arrival, with coffee/tea available
10 am Welcome
10.05 am Planting to assist recovery
Erin O'Hare, Jennifer Baker, Pablo Bell Molina & Max Coleman
Erin O'Hare, Jennifer Baker and Pablo Bell Molina (RBGE) are responsible for the conservation horticulture of ten threatened plants being assisted through the Scottish Plant Recovery programme. Max Coleman (RBGE) is helping to share stories of the recovery work and has an interest in ‘wilding’ as a way to conserve plants.
11.15 am Comfort Break
11.25 am Renewing historic rock gardens
David Rankin
Rocky displays of alpine plants at shows for Kevock Garden Plants led to requests for help with rock gardens. David and Stella Rankin, and others from the Kevock team, have been delighted to have these experiences. Not just rock gardens, and not just historic. But always challenging, and always rewarding. The work involves compromises, with the rock originally used or available now, with the plants desired or available, with the intended use of the gardens - and with the owners, and the depths of their pockets! David is a former President of the SRGC.
12.30 pm Guided Tour of the Rock Garden
John Mitchell and Scott Cook
John Mitchell, Supervisor of the Alpine department and the Rock Garden, has travelled extensively to various alpine regions worldwide, sharing knowledge and seeking plants for the RBGE. He is a respected figure in the world of alpines, frequently leading plant tours, delivering engaging lectures, and serving as a judge at shows. Scott Cook, Senior Horticulturalist, oversees the daily care of alpine plants, manages the alpine houses and propagation unit, and produces stunning displays that highlight diverse and remarkable specimens from mountainous areas around the globe.
1.15 pm time for lunch or further exploration of the RGBE.
2 pm Where have all the primroses gone?
John Richards
John Richards is Emeritus Professor of Botany at the University of Newcastle, where his research interests centre on the evolution and genetics of plant breeding systems. He is a well-known, acknowledged authority on the genera Primula and Taraxacum (dandelions!). John is a keen grower of alpines in his Hexham garden and has travelled the world to see plants in their native habitats. He is also a judge and exhibitor of alpine plants and was previously President of the AGS (2003-6).
3.15 pm Review & Close
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Main SRGC:
Autumn & winter 2025-6: Celebrating Scotland's rock gardeners and gardens
Everyone is invited to enjoy a series of talks on Zoom to brighten the dark days.
Details on how to join the online meeting will be available nearer to the date. See https://www.srgc.net underb local groups
Date Time Type Organiser Details Notes
Future
2025 Events
Thu 6-Nov-25 7.30pm GMT Talk(O) SRGC Branklyn Garden, past, present and future - Jim Jermyn ZOOM
Thu 4-Dec-25 7.30pm GMT Talk(O) SRGC Scotland's showiest alpines - looking at plants at our shows - Stan da Prato ZOOM
Future
2026 Events
Thu 8-Jan-26 7.30pm GMT Talk(O) SRGC A life of plants, people and gardens (including Roscoeas!) - Colin Crosbie ZOOM
Thu 5-Feb-26 7.30pm GMT Talk(O) SRGC Nature - Gardener's tutor II - how observing plants in the wild can guide growing them at home - Ian Young ZOOM
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From Margaret Thorne:
Please join us for the first Scottish Borders Rock Garden Group meeting of our 2025/26 programme. Our speaker will be Dave Millward, SRGC stalwart, who will present "Fire and ice: springtime in southern Chile" - some of the exciting alpines of the Andean volcanoes south of Santiago, including rosulate violas, oxalis and calceolarias and an incredible array of orchids. There are also insights into the 'primaeval' monkey puzzle forests and the rare Valdivian (temperate) rainforest. Lots of lovely alpines, but also much that we grow in our gardens, including Crinodendron, Embothrium, Tropaeolum, Gaultheria, Escallonia and Fuchsia.
The meeting will take place at 2pm at Bowden Village Hall, Bowden, Scottish Borders (3 miles south of Melrose, 2 miles west of Newtown St Boswells).
Admission is still only £2 which includes tea or coffee and home baking at the end of the meeting as well as a ticket for the raffle. There will also be plants for sale.
Everyone welcome. We look forward to seeing you there.