AGS members can attend our regular Zoom lectures free of charge. However, to register interest, they must log-in and “purchase” a free ticket.

Tickets for non-members will cost £9 for each talk.

Links for the Zoom meetings will be sent with the purchase confirmation email.

How to build a crevice garden, Paul Spriggs
Tuesday 21 November 2023, 7.30 pm GMT

Paul Spriggs learned how to build crevice gardens directly from one the innovators, Zdenek Zvolanek. In the past decade and a half, he has built crevice gardens in public parks and private homes that range in size from small feature troughs, to large installations involving many tonnes of stone. He has a passion for all wild plants especially those of dwarf stature, and collects and cultivates them at various gardens in his hometown of Victoria, BC, Canada. He is an avid plant explorer, photographer and current President of the Vancouver Island Rock and Alpine Garden Society.

In rock gardening, it’s safe to say that, from an aesthetic point of view, we experience the good, the bad, and the downright ugly! From Farrer’s complaints of Plum Puddings, to the masterpieces seen in public and private gardens throughout the world, the impact of the design can vary greatly depending on whether the “rules” have been followed correctly.

Building a rock garden is easy, but building a beautiful one requires attention to a few design concepts that can help achieve the effect. Join Paul Spriggs as he guides you through the steps needed to create a beautiful crevice garden with real emotional impact.

After purchasing this ticket you will be sent a confirmation email which will include the link for the Zoom meeting.

Working with alpines in the botanical garden of Tübingen – more than cultivation, Michael Mauser
Tuesday 12 December 2023, 7.30 pm GMT

Michael works as horticulturist in the rock garden and alpine house at the botanical garden of Tübingen, specialising in the propagation of alpines and the cultivation of Dionysia and other cushion forming species.

After purchasing this ticket you will be sent a confirmation email which will include the link for the Zoom meeting.

Tufa walls, Jiří Papousek
Tuesday 16 January 2024, 7.30 pm GMT

Jiří lives near Prague, where he has constructed a superb alpine garden with a crevice garden, troughs, a woodland area and an alpine tunnel with tufa walls. Jiří has exhibited at the Prague rock garden shows and he is one of the organisers of the renowned Czech International Rock Garden Conferences.

After purchasing this ticket you will be sent a confirmation email which will include the link for the Zoom meeting.

Rock gardening in Vancouver, Laura Caddy
Tuesday 13 February 2024, 7.30 pm GMT

Laura works as Curator-Horticulturist of the EH Lohbrunner Alpine Garden for the University of British Columbia. The alpine garden is known for its diversity as it holds over 40% of the plant species grown at the UBC Botanical Gardens in Vancouver. In her role, Laura also manages the institutional seed exchange scheme Index Seminum, overseeing the collection, packaging and distribution of seeds collected in the garden and in the wild. Laura is also Speaker Secretary for the Alpine Garden Club of British Columbia.

After purchasing this ticket you will be sent a confirmation email which will include the link for the Zoom meeting.

Growing Alpines in the Schachen Alpine Garden: a satellite garden of the Munich Botanic Garden in the Bavarian Alps, Jenny Wainwright-Klein
Tuesday 19 March 2024, 7.30 pm GMT

The Schachen Alpine Garden was opened in 1901 and is one of the oldest alpine gardens in the European Alps. Situated on the northern flanks of the Wetterstein Range above Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the garden has the ideal combination of a cool, moist summer and snow-covered winter for the cultivation of Meconopsis, Himalayan Primulas, many European alpines, plants from the Lesotho Drakensberg and many more alpine plants. Since the summer of 1994 Jenny has spent her summers working in the Schachen Alpine Garden; during the rest of the year she works in the Alpine propagation unit in the Munich Botanic Garden.

After purchasing this ticket you will be sent a confirmation email which will include the link for the Zoom meeting.

Propagation and cultivation techniques of tricky alpines, Ger van den Beuken
Tuesday 16 April 2024, 7.30 pm BST

Ger runs a small nursery, specializing in rare alpines in the Netherlands. His interest in alpines started about 45 years ago, during his first treks in the mountains. He particularly focused on high alpine vegetation. He became fascinated with the beauty of such wonderful genera as Saxifraga, Androsace, Dionysia and Daphne.

His first impulse and challenge was to start growing the most extreme cushion plants, but as he found out, it was not always easy to achieve in his lowland conditions in the Netherlands. Both he and his wife Mariet have traveled extensively with trips to many European countries, Sierra Nevada, Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, Central and Northern Chile, USA, China, New Zealand and Turkey. Over a number of years he organised nine expeditions to Patagonia, and as a result, he got more and more interested in the fascinating vegetation of Argentina and Chile.

As a lecturer he has featured on speaker tours in the US with NARGS and in Scotland with the SRGC, and in New Zealand with NZAGS. He gave many other lectures in England, Germany, Scandinavia, Scotland, Czech Republic and Belgium, as well as for the Dutch Alpine Garden Society. Topics included the different cultivation aspects of alpines or reports of his plant expeditions.

He was recently president of the Dutch Alpine Garden Society (NRV), a position he had proudly held before. Additionally he has been the vice-president of the Saxifraga Society in England for about 20 years. When he can take valuable time away from his nursery (usually in the winter), he spends as much time as possible writing articles for the different societies, accompanied by the baroque music of his favourite composer; Johann Sebastian Bach.

After purchasing this ticket you will be sent a confirmation email which will include the link for the Zoom meeting.

PREVIOUS ONLINE PLANT AND GARDENING LECTURES

Some of our past lectures as well as other videos on various aspects of alpine gardening are now available to watch on our YouTube Channel.

Botanical tour through the South Island of New Zealand, Harry Jans

Dionysias in Iran – travelling with the CIA, Jiří Papoušek

Cultivation of a selection of Patagonian alpines, Dr. Martin Sheader

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