Launching on Social Media (Twitter, Instagram and Friends of AGS Facebook group) at 6am (UK time) on Thursday 12 May 2022, the competition invites you to enter photos of your alpine plants in flower.

How do I Enter the Competition?

Step 1: Take photos of your rock and alpine plants

This can be of a single plant in your garden or in a pot, a close-up of an alpine flower, or a photo of a group of beautiful alpines in flower in your garden. It’s up to you!

Virtual Alpine Flower Show

Alpines are not only true alpine and mountain plants, but also small hardy herbaceous plants, hardy and half-hardy bulbs, hardy ferns, hardy succulents and small shrubs; any plants suitable for a rockery or alpine house. If you’re still unsure you’re welcome to view the Society’s full definition of a rock plant or the list of alpine plant genera on our encyclopaedia. We’re also happy for you to enter your plant and allow us to make the call for you.

Step 2: Upload a photo to social media

Create a post on Twitter, Instagram or Friends of AGS Facebook Group and attach your chosen plant photo to it. Add the plant name in the text box – don’t know the Latin name? No problem! Pop the common name in. Haven’t a clue what the name is? Enter with no name! We’d rather see your beautiful plants than have them excluded because you’ve lost the label. As an added bonus, if our judges know the name, they’ll add it for you during the judging process!

Step 3: Tag the AGS and a friend and publish

Arguably the most important step of all – you need to tag the Alpine Garden Society account in your post when publishing so we know you’ve entered!

How to do it? Start your post with the following text:

“For a chance to win a copy of The Crevice Garden book and a free ticket for an AGS Zoom talk this autumn, here’s my entry in the @AlpineGardenSoc #VirtualAlpineFlowerShow“. 

Don’t forget to tag your friends in your post!

What are the Virtual Alpine Flower Show prizes?

We have 10 prizes to give away to 9 very lucky winners!

Nine prizes will be awarded with 1 winner for each class on each AGS Social Media Platform (Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) for the following categories:

• • Best single plant entry, where the whole plant can be seen, showing flowers, stems and leaves (in the garden or in a container);
  • Best group of alpine plants growing in a permanent garden setting;
  • Best close-up, showing the whole flowering portion of the plant. Entrants do not need to indicate which category they are entering in their Twitter post – our judges will decide during the judging process to make entering easy.

The prizes will be a free ticket to the subject of your choice in our upcoming series of AGS Zoom Lectures starting in September. The winner of the Best in Show will receive a free copy of The Crevice Garden book (worth £25).

What’s the competition deadline?

It’s 11pm (UK time) on Wednesday 18th May 2022. So get your entries in before then to be in with a chance of winning a prize!

Winners will be announced on each Social Media channel on Sunday 22nd May 2022. Your handle will be tagged in the post to alert you to your amazing achievement, so keep an eye on your mentions on this date.

For more information, see the competition terms and conditions.

Can I enter more than one plant?

Absolutely! You can enter as many times as you like. Just be sure to create a new post for each new entry, following the 3 steps above. Simple!

When does my photograph need to have been taken?

The short answer is: Now.

The slightly longer answer is plant photos need to have been taken in May 2022.

This is because we want the competition to reflect the beautiful rock plants that are in flower now, while the competition is live, to keep the competition current.

Do I need to choose a class to enter?

If you’re one of our members who’s familiar with flower shows, you may wonder whether you need to choose a class into which to enter your plant.

The answer is no!

As long as your entry is of a rock plant (or plants) in flower, it’s in with a chance – just follow the 3 steps above to enter it into the competition

Do I need a social media account to enter?

Yes, you do. It’s easy to sign up for an account and does not require much personal information to do so.

Getting your plant to look its best

If you’re planning to enter a plant in a container and you fancy going to whole flower show hog, check out this video on how our experts get their plants looking their best.

What are the Terms and Conditions?

You can read the Virtual Flower Show terms and conditions here. We can’t wait to see all of your incredible entries this week!

In the meantime, if you have any questions that are not answered on this page or in our terms and conditions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us on digital@alpinegardensociety.net.

Looking forward to seeing your beautiful plants!

Take a look at some of our previous winning entries…

Follow this link to discover our autumn 2021 winners along with our judge’s comments.