AGS Young Person’s Weekend

The AGS Young Person’s Weekend aims to bring together young gardeners, students, writers and horticulturists with an interest and passion for alpine plants. Amateurs and professionals alike are very welcome to attend.

The main purpose of the Alpine Garden Society is to educate its members and the general public in all matters relating to alpine plants and rock gardening. We are also passionate about the conservation of alpine plants and the environment they live in. As a registered charity, we fund education, cultivation and conservation projects across the UK and abroad. Our society organises the AGS Young Person’s Weekend with the aim to bring together the next generation of alpine gardeners.

The AGS Young Person’s Weekend 2023 will take place between 15-18 June 2023 in the Lake District, UK.

The group will visit gardens and natural reserves in the Lake District. Places at the weekend will be once more partly subsidised by our Society.

The programme will include a day visit to Mardale Mountain Meadow. The project aims to restore upland alpine plant communities in an exclosure within the larger Haweswater estate.

Apart from exploring natural habitats, participants will also have the opportunity to visit gardens and nurseries in the area. Of particular interest will be a visit to Hartside Nurseries where Carole and Ian Bainbridge will run an active workshop on crevice garden building. During the day, they will be showing all the stages involved, from the start to the final top dressing. Carole and Ian are both former presidents of the SRGC, and live and garden in Galloway in south-west Scotland. They have built four crevice beds in their Galloway garden over the last few years.

Once again, the AGS Young Person’s Weekend 2023 would not have been possible without the financial support offered by the Hendry Fund.

You can no longer book a place at the AGS Young Person’s Weekend 2023. However, if you would like to know more about future events please fill in the form at the bottom of this page.

AGS Young Person’s Weekend 2024 – Alpines in Scotland

AGS Young Person’s Weekend 2025 – Alpine Gardens in the Czech Republic

The first AGS Young Person’s Weekend took place between 24-26 June 2022 in North Wales, UK.

A group of amateur alpine growers, horticultural students and young professionals gathered together to discuss, study and look for alpine plants in the wild. The first evening was dedicated to a series of short talks. On the second day the group went to see plants in the wild: alpines on Cwm Idwal in the morning and orchids on the sand dunes at Aberffraw in the evening. Despite inclement weather all participants at the AGS Young Person’s Weekend enjoyed the trek in the Welsh mountains and discovering native alpines in their natural habitat.

On Sunday morning the group visited Aberconwy nurseries. Tim Lever and his mum, Rachel welcomed everyone taking part on the AGS Young Person’s Weekend. Participants were able to learn how alpines are grown at the nursery, from propagation techniques, to pest control and specific soil mixtures. The nursery is home to thousands of species and cultivars of alpine plants and many were still in flower.

The event would not have been possible without the financial support offered by the Hendry Fund.

If you want to learn more about the AGS Young Person’s Weekend or to express your interest in taking part in future editions, please fill in the form below.