Local SRGC Group Programmes 2025-26

[Maggi Young]

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.

[Maggi Young]

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.

[Maggi Young]

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

--------------------

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

[Maggi Young]

 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.

[Maggi Young]

 Scottish Borders Rock Garden Group:2025- 2026 programme

Scottish Borders Rock Garden Group 
affiliated to the Scottish Rock Garden Club


Scottish Borders Rock Garden Group - Bowden Village Hall, Bowden, Melrose, TD6 0SN.
Meetings are on the first Wednesday of the month at 2pm.

Admission only £2 which includes a ticket for our raffle as well as tea or coffee and home baking, courtesy of members’ donations and dispensed by Alice’s team from Gattonside. Group plant sales at every meeting, thanks to Jim and Margaret, and show plants on view too. Everyone is welcome and we look forward to seeing you there.
David & Margaret Thorne, Joint Conveners

Wednesday 3rd September 2025
Fire & Ice: springtime in Southern Chile
David Millward

Wednesday 1st October 2025
Garden Tales from Bradley Brook Farm
Mike Dale

Wednesday 5th November 2025
A tour of the Borders with a focus on NTG gardens and wild flowers in the region.
Colin Wren, NTS 

Wednesday 3rd December 2025
Buried Treasures - Bulbs at RBGE
Scott Cook

Wednesday 7th January 2026
Speaker to be confirmed

Wednesday 4th February 2026
Addressing climate resilience through redesign.
Harry Watkins, St Andrews Botanic Garden 

Wednesday 4th March 2026
Sardinia
Michael Almond 

Wednesday 1st April 2026
European Alpines in Nature -A new Look
Jim Jermyn 

[Maggi Young]

The North Northumberland Rock Garden Group
(Affiliated to the Scottish Rock Garden Club
 and the Royal Horticultural Society)

Winter Programme 2025/26
 
All winter talks are held at:
Lowick Village Hall. TD15 2UA (unless otherwise stated)

Annual Membership is still £10pp and I will email about renewal separately.

Thursday 18th September 2025
Please note that we are holding our AGM in December this year
2.15pm   Crimes behind the Compost Heap – Life and Death in your Garden                              - Stan da Prato
4.00pm   Produce and Plant Sale-
Please bring along small amounts of garden produce, plants or preserves for sale. Please can members take home any unsold goods.

Thursday 16th October
2.15pm   My Kind of Gardening         - Tom Pattinson

Thursday 4th December
12.30pm   Pooled buffet lunch – please bring a small amount of food to share
2.00pm   AGM
2.30pm   Different Types of Alpine Gardens   - Mike Dale
Tea/coffee with mince pies and a Raffle

Thursday 15th January   -ZOOM Presentation
2.15pm   Prague Rock Garden Conference and Garden Tour, May 2023
      Arguably the best Rock Gardeners in the World   - Cliff Booker

Thursday 19th February   -ZOOM Presentation
2.15pm    Waves of Colour            - Ian Young

Thursday 19th March
2.15pm   The Andes                  - Helen Picton

Thursday 16th April
2.15pm   How Low Can You Grow? Gorgeous Ground Cover for Smaller Spaces                  - Brian and Kathy Pike
4.00pm   Plant and Produce Sale-
      

Non-members are welcome to join us for 2 meetings for free, before joining


 
Group Convenor:
(2025) Jen Croall
Southlaws House, Swinton, Duns, TD11 3HZ
Mob. 07971908471
jdcroall@btinternet.com

Secretary:
(2022) Gordon Cameron
Westhills House, Rothbury, Morpeth, NE65 7YR
Mob. 07713019967
gordon@westhillshouse.co.uk

Treasurer:
(2025) Alan Briggs
Beechburn, Bowden, Berwick upon Tweed, TD15 2TW
alan.atrb@gmail.com

Committee:
(2022) Alison McCormick
(2022) Gillian Wheeler
(2020) Mercy Collin
(2023) Christine McCreath
(2023) Jill Thomasson