Saturday March 08, 2014
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The Scottish Rock Garden Club
For people who love plants
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Access to our annual Seed Exchange of over 5000 listings
Local Groups in Scotland and the North of England
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The Scottish Rock Garden Club
Scottish Rock Garden Club Established 1933
The Club for people who love plants.
- Plant enthusiasts join together from around the world to share and enjoy a love of plants.
- Amateur or professional, beginner or expert.
- Small garden, large garden, bog garden, woodland garden, raised beds, troughs.
- Dwarf herbaceous, bulbs corms and tubers,trees shrubs,cacti succulents, orchids.
- Displays, Shows, Plant sales and exchanges.
- Meetings, Conferences with world class talks.
- Grants and Award schemes.
- Website and forum.
- Journals and Seed exchange.
You can donate to the SRGC and help us provide even more resources by clicking this button
You don't need to have a Paypal account!
The SRGC Forum
The SRGC Forum provides a place
- for meeting online to bring together the international membership of the Club, for plant related and social interaction, making it a world-wide Local Group!
- to learn more about the plants that interest us
- to share photos and discussion on plants of all types of interest to members, about cultivation, propagation, taxonomy; the list goes on!
- to follow threads on individual genera, specialist groups, gardens, field trips, plant holidays and even recipes!
The Forum provides all the facilities that a local meeting would for members and , in addition, can be read by anyone and registration is also open, ensuring that the SRGC shares this asset as widely as possible.
In the many hundreds of thousands of posts in the Forum, there are countless thousands of photographs of plants, in the wild and in cultivation and reports on natural habitats, from hundreds of members.
This means that the Forum contains a type of informal "Wiki", and provides one of the largest resources of plant information available. This treasure trove is, of course, searchable.
The SRGC Forum: Read it, join it, contribute, learn, enjoy!
Click here to visit the SRGC Forum
The Archibald Archive:
The collected documents of Jim Archibald, one of the foremost independent seed collectors of our time.
Click here to view.
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News from the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society from Stan da Prato:
Caley awards for SRGC stalwarts
On 4th March, 2014, in the RBG Edinburgh hall, three rock garden club activists were presented with awards for services to Scottish horticulture by the outgoing Honorary President of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, Jim McColl and his successor, George Anderson. Shortened versions of their citations follow. The full versions will appear in the ‘Caledonian Gardener’.
On 4th March, 2014, in the RBG Edinburgh hall, three rock garden club activists were presented with awards for services to Scottish horticulture by the outgoing Honorary President of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, Jim McColl and his successor, George Anderson. Shortened versions of their citations follow. The full versions will appear in the ‘Caledonian Gardener’.
Jim Jermyn received the Scottish Horticultural Medal.
Jim is best known to the general public as Show Manager for Gardening Scotland and Ayr Flower Show. He has had a long association with alpines starting at Ingwersen’s Nursery in Sussex. He also spent time at Munich Botanic Garden’s alpine garden in Schachen and in Italy. In Scotland he worked in Jack Drake’s Inshriach Nursery then owned Edrom Nursery in Berwickshire for 20 years and successfully exhibited across the UK, including Chelsea. His two books on cultivating European and Himalayan alpines have become standard reference works. Jim is a member of the RHS/AGS/SRGC Joint Rock Committee and Vice Chairman of the Meconopsis Group. He supports young horticulturalists as a trustee of the Merlin Trust.
George Anderson, Jim Jermyn, Jim McColl
Ian Christie received the Dr Patrick Neil Memorial Medal.
This is the Caley’s oldest award and given for skill in cultivation Ian was inspired by Ascreavie, the garden of the late Major George and Mrs Betty Sherriff. Ably supported by Ann, Ian developed Christie’s nursery into a leading source of alpine and woodland plants. He is a founder member of the Meconopsis Group. He has a collection of over 300 snowdrops. Ian is a past president of the SRGC and recipient of its top award the Golden Jubilee Salver.
He is on the Joint Rock Committee. He has contributed to many of the alpine displays at Gardening Scotland and supported local garden projects most recently the garden commemorating the five Forfar botanists.
He is on the Joint Rock Committee. He has contributed to many of the alpine displays at Gardening Scotland and supported local garden projects most recently the garden commemorating the five Forfar botanists.
George Anderson, Ian Christie, Jim McColl
Jim Colledge received a Certificate of Merit.
After leaving school in Kelso Jim was a seedsman then garden centre manage for a local firm. He and his wife Margaret subsequently ran a very successful florist’s business. He served as a committee member for the Kelso Horticultural Society for 35 years. His cacti and succulents fill two greenhouses from where they regularly emerge to win awards at specialist shows. He has always lived and gardened in Kelso overlooking the River Tweed. He is a founding member of the Scottish Borders branch of the SRGC. Jim and Margaret run a sales table at branch meetings where they sell plants they have grown from seed or cuttings. These sales have raised many hundreds of pounds for branch funds.
George Anderson, Jim Colledge, Jim McColl
Many thanks to Clive Davies of the Caley for these official photos.
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The Scottish Rock Garden Club joins many other gardening organisations in calling for changes to the proposed EU Plant Reproductive Material legislation.
The SRGC is highlighting that the proposed EU Plant Reproductive Material legislation, in its currently-drafted form is likely to have serious unintended consequences for rock gardeners and for the valuable exchange of seeds between individuals and clubs.
The draft legislation, which was said to be intended to improve consumer protection and allow businesses and amateurs to be sure that seed they are buying is true to the label, has raised comprehensive catch-all clauses which mean that ‘home garden’ seeds will be treated in the same way as the most widely-used commercial crops.
The SRGC wishes to raise awareness of the potential negative impacts of the proposed legislation that currently requires ‘breeders’ or sellers to pay a fee of between £300 and £500 to register each plant name. With the thousands of wild species exchanged by seed exchanges, this cost would be totally prohibitive, lead to the loss of seed exchanges and potentially jeopardise ex-situ plant conservation projects.
The SRGC suggests either that this proposed legislation should be rejected, or is amended to exempt non-commercial, amateur and ‘home garden’ seed from the regulations, as is the case in the existing legislation. We suggest that members might like to write to their MEPs, and
- a.let them know that you are very worried by the proposed EU Plant Reproductive Material legislation.
- b.tell them that amateur gardeners should be able to choose any decorative plants they wish to grow in their own gardens (subject to national and/or international pest or conservation legislation), rather than from a list of 'EU-approved' species.
- c.explain that you should continue to be able to buy and exchange small packets of seed suitable for private gardeners, as opposed to seed for large-scale agriculture or horticulture.
- d.If the legislation were to persist, any plant species in the International Plant Nomenclature Index (IPNI) or any variety listed in the UK Royal Horticultural Society’s ‘Plant Finder’ should be considered to have an approved description and registered name.
- e.Ask them to ensure the draft legislation is amended to exempt amateur and non-commercial seed sales and exchanges.
The relevant MEPs within Scotland are (the links give their e-mail addresses)
Dr. Carole Bainbridge, SRGC President.
Further information and discussion on such matters in the SRGC Forum : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10845.0
For other MEPS in other countries:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/map.html
and email addresses for those MEPS closely involved in the relevant committees:
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SRGC Seed Exchange No. 67
Ordering for the SRGC Seed Exchange is closed for the year.
Please do not make any enquiries about delivery of seed orders until AFTER 5th February,
such queries should then be addressed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Seed Exchange notes can be seen here
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SRGC Constitution revised November 2013 click here
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URGENTLY WANTED - SEED DISTRIBUTION TEAM FOR 2014-15
The Edinburgh Group have acted as the SRGC Seed Distribution Team for the last twelve years, and will currently be working hard at the seed distribution. However, they have stated a wish that this should be their last year, so we are looking for another group of members to take over the role of seed distribution. The work takes place mainly in January and February, and the Edinburgh group have found it fun and a sociable business, as well as providing a really important service to the Club.
If anyone thinks they and their local group might like to take over the seed distribution role, they should contact Carole or Ian Bainbridge 0131 445 3268 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further information.
Please bring this request up at all group meetings for discussion.
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International Rock Gardener ISSN 2053-7557
The International Rock Gardener (IRG) is a free monthly e-magazine from the SRGC, published since January 2010. You can download all issues of the IRG from here.
Each issue has a mix of photo based items, our target being a minimum of pots and a maximum of plants in the wild and in gardens, from photographers in different countries.
This is an international celebration, if you will, of mountain plants in habitat and our gardens.
Our aim is to showcase the beauty of the plants, where they are found in nature or as they are used in garden settings and give brief comments on cultivation.
This venture is coordinated and compiled by Margaret Young, Zdenek Zvolánek and Ian Young.
This is an international celebration, if you will, of mountain plants in habitat and our gardens.
Our aim is to showcase the beauty of the plants, where they are found in nature or as they are used in garden settings and give brief comments on cultivation.
This venture is coordinated and compiled by Margaret Young, Zdenek Zvolánek and Ian Young.
The world of rock gardeners is just that: an international community of people with a deep interest in the flora of the mountains and wild places; we aim to provide a regular electronic glimpse of these plants.
YOUR contributions are not only most welcome; we are actively seeking your input which will is key to the vigour of this enterprise.
To submit material for inclusion in an issue of International Rock Gardener contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the subject line “E-Magazine”
A complete Index for the IRG, compiled by Glassford Sprunt, is also available -
click here for the IRG Index.
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SRGC Membership
Reminder Notice October 2013:
Annual SRGC subscriptions became due at the beginning of October - congratulations to those who have already organised their payment ! 
We would like to jog the memories of those who may have forgotten to renew and remind them that unless members renew promptly, their membership will be cancelled in the database and they will have no access to the seed list or exchange.
You can read about the new "online electronic" subscription here.
And you can renew - or join - via this page.
If readers have been considering membership, NOW is a good time to take the plunge - and benefit from the Seed Exchange!
To Join the SRGC or Renew your membership to receive Journals by post, click the link to this page.
No registration is necessary merely to view this site and the forum - it is open to all.
"Postal" membership is for those who wish to receive the printed version of our twice yearly journal and SRGC communications by post.
For "Online electronic" (E-member) membership, which is for those who do not wish to have printed journals but instead prefer to download the Journals in electronic form, please register from the "Register" link at the top of this page, giving your name as well as your postal and email address - following that , when you next Log In on the main page you will be taken to a special page to pay for e-subscription, after that when you are logged in you will have access to the latest Journals.
Secure payment for "Electronic"subscription is by credit or debit card via our Paypal portal. A Paypal account is requested for this service.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Club.
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Important information!!!
N. B. For Forum registration; please follow the links on any Forum page e.g. HERE
Registration from the general site is only for online subscription access.
You may join or renew to subscribe for postal delivery of journals etc. here.
Most of this site and the Forum is viewable without registration. Registration for the forum is only needed to allow you to post.
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SRGC wins Gold at Gardening Scotland Show
31st May 2013
The dedicated team of SRGC volunteers who have worked hard to design, build and complete a stunning display on behalf of the Club at the country’s biggest horticultural show, ‘Gardening Scotland’ have had their efforts recognised by the award of a Gold Medal.
You can read the story of their progress to this success here in the SRGC Forum.
This year the Team, lead by Graham Wenham, in whose garage the project was created, was helped by sponsorship from Brightwater Holidays.
Many congratulations to the Golden SRGC Team – you have made the whole Club proud with your wonderful display. Well Done to all who contributed to this tremendous success!
Gardening Scotland takes place at Ingliston, near Edinburgh from 31st May to 2nd June.
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An article in The Scotsman Magazine of Saturday 16th March 2013 celebrates the 80th anniversary of the SRGC
Gardens: Scotland’s rock stars celebrate 80 years
The article, by Rosemary Free, features Bette Ivey and Ian Christie and can be seen HERE.
The Scotsman is a Scottish newspaper published in Edinburgh since 1817.
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The Scottish Rock Garden Club was featured in the February edition of the Scots Magazine.
"Scots on the Rocks- Growth Areas"
Agnes Stevenson has written an article highlighting the club’s history, the 80th anniversary and the Dunblane Early Dwarf Bulb Display on the 16 th of February 2013. The Scots Magazine is the world's best-selling Scottish-interest publication and has a monthly average readership of over 100,000. The magazine captures the essence of Scotland and offers something for everyone: culture, history, the great outdoors.
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"Finnies - For Life" 2009
"Rock Gardens Extraordinaire" is an article written in 2009 by Margaret Young for a magazine printed for the prestigious Aberdeen company, "Finnies the Jeweller". Finnies, a family run firm, is much involved in charitable work and always seeks to include features about successful Scottish ventures, such as SRGC, in their magazine which has a distribution of around ten thousand copies.
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More Articles...
Some Of Our Plants
Quick Links
The SRGC web site and forum is a large and valuable resource. Here are a few quick links to features you may find interesting!
Seedexchange: We list seeds of over 5000 species annually.
Journal: One of the world's best publications for rock gardeners.
Shows: Every year we hold shows in Scotland and in northern England.
Events: What's happening?
Seeking Plant information?
In addition to the articles on this website, which includes over a hundred of our Journals, the SRGC has a huge resource of thousands of plant photos and information in the pages of the interactive Forum. The Forum is fully searchable and you may well find there all you need to know about a particular plant.
To search the Forum click here
Support The SRGC
We at the Scottish Rock Garden Club pride ourselves in being one of the world's friendliest, most forward looking and open plant societies.
We are constantly looking for ways to be even more open, more inclusive and to provide ever expanding resources for ordinary plant lovers.
If you appreciate our philosophy you can support us by joining the SRGC or by making a donation through Paypal using the button below.
You don't even have to have a Paypal account to donate via Paypal!
Please click here for more details