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The Scottish Rock Garden Club
For people who love plants
Why not join our friendly world wide community of international members?
Receive the twice yearly journal "The Rock Garden"
Access to our annual Seed Exchange of over 5000 listings
Local Groups in Scotland and the North of England
Support our Shows, Conferences, Student Grants and open access Website
Full details of rates and secure online payment facility - click here
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
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The RHS has announced the 2020 People Awards 6th April 2020
We are delighted and proud that J. Ian Young, author, broadcaster, diarist, speaker,
former SRGC President and stalwart of the SRGC over many years in many
capacities, has been awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal.
We congratulate Ian on this honour and also send congatulations to all the RHS Awardees - you can see the list of them HERE in the SRGC Forum.
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ALPINES'21 & CORONAVIRUS (SARS-COV-2 / COVID-19)
The International Rock Garden Conference 2021 - a gathering for lovers of plants, gardens and mountains - was ready to be held held 08-11 May 2021 at Perth Concert Hall, Perth, Scotland, unfortunately, due to the CORONAVIRUS (SARS-COV-2 / COVID-19) and following careful consideration and discussions between the 2021 Conference Committee, the SRGC Council and the AGS, we have taken the unanimous decision to cancel the "Alpines 2021” conference, due to the ongoing coronavirus (SARS-COV-2 / COVID-19) pandemic. We do this with a heavy heart, and hope you understand this was not an easy decision, but it is our belief that the effects of this virus will be felt for a considerable time. International travel, which is an essential part of any international conference is also likely to be curtailed through next year at least. Therefore, cancellation at this time is in the best interests of everyone's health and wellbeing.
The Scottish Rhododendron Society, the Rhododendron Species Conservation Group and the Czech Rock Gardeners Society were pleased to be sponsorship partners to the Conference but understand the reasons to cancel.
REFUNDS
We are arranging for all booked delegates to receive a full refund of their registration fees. We have directly emailed all booked delegates with more information.
CONTACT US
The Alpines 2021 email address will remain active and regularly monitored for some time yet. If there are any problems or queries with your refund, please contact us at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
We know that you will be as disappointed as we are, but we hope we can all meet again when circumstances permit.
Keep well all,
SRGC 2021 Committee
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Site information:
Most of this site and the Forum is viewable without registration. Registration for the forum is only needed to allow you to actually post there.
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 - that is to say, to access a subscription to receive journals online only.Membership: You may join or renew to subscribe for postal delivery of journals etc. here. No website registration is needed for this.
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The SRGC operates various GRANT schemes, including the Diana Aitchison Fund which offers grant aid for horticultural students – read more HERE
The SRGC also grants "Exploration Awards" - next deadline for 2019 application is 15th March - see HERE
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Please be aware that annual SRGC subscriptions for "postal" members are due for renewal on 1st October.
You can renew - or join - and read about the benefits of SRGC membership, for "postal" membership - where you receive the Journal and Secretary's Pages etc by post - and other memberships, via this page.
Please note that there is a special category for postal Junior - for those below the age of 18 in the relevant subscription year: £3 per annum in the UK, £7 per annum overseas. (Please give date of birth)
For Students the SRGC offers a free electronic subscription. Send your application toThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Please give your place of study, the date of end of course of study.)
You can read about the new "online electronic" subscription - where you only access Journals etc online - no journals are posted to you : here.
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Scottish Rock Garden Club is a Charity registered with Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR): SC000942
NOTICES
N.B. Main items of SRGC News can be found here on the main site, and also be found HERE in the forum.
July 2020
Important notice about the SRGC Forum 27th July 2020
As previously advised, the SRGC forum was unavailable over the weekend as essential work was tackled to renew servers - after this work your normal bookmarks will not work directly - the forum will be on www.srgc.org.uk so you will need to make new bookmarks.
Thank you for your patience while this vital work was undertaken.
The Forum is now back to normal and we look forward to meeting you all in the forum soon!
JUNE 2020
SEED EXCHANGE NEWS
NO SRGC SEED EXCHANGE IN 2020-2021
We are very sorry to have to announce that there will be no SRGC Seed Exchange in 2020-2021. The Covid 19 pandemic has led to all sorts of restrictions this year, and after much discussion, the teams responsible for the three elements of the seed exchange have reached the conclusion that it will not be possible to carry out the seed exchange in circumstances which are likely to require social distancing, and may well place limitations on groups of folk gathering indoors. We also recognise that many of the volunteers key in the running of the exchange are among the higher risk segments of the population, and may be reluctant to volunteer in the usual way. So, please accept our apologies, bear with us until 2021, and read on to find out what we are proposing to do.
NEW EU PLANT AND SEED IMPORT REGULATIONS
In December 2019 the EU implemented new plant and seed import regulations, which apply to the UK as much as any other EU member state. Defra have confirmed that these mean that any seed being sent into the EU from other parts of the world now requires a phytosanitary certificate, with no exceptions. This obviously will affect all of those members who are kind enough to donate seed to us from outside the EU, and we will take the opportunity that the 2020-21 cancellation gives us to try to work out ways in which key donations from other parts of the world might continue to be made to us.
As we write, we are also unclear as to what will happen after the UK transition period ends on December 31st and we finally leave the EU. We do not know whether this will mean that from January 2021 we will need to obtain phytosanitary certificates for all seed we send to our members in the EU. Again, we will be keeping in touch with developments and looking for ways in which we can continue to operate the seed exchange in future.
We will update you all with more information on these developments when it becomes available.
2019-2020 REMAINING SEED - OFFER TO UK MEMBERS
After the seed distribution is completed each year, we have some seed left over which normally goes on tour around the SRGC Spring Shows for members to buy. This represents the last 5-10% of the seed we packet, and Ian and Carole Bainbridge have two trays with around 3000 packets of seed sitting unused this year. If any UK member would like some seed, you can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or write to Ian & Carole, address below, with a list of genera you would like, or list large blocks of numbers from the 2019-20 seed list, and your postal address. Seedlist 73 for 2019-2020 can be found here: https://www.srgcseed.net/seedlistarchive.asp
Ian & Carole have agreed they will post out packs of up to 50 packets of seed. In return, members will be asked to make a donation on the SRGC website, details in the box below.
Please pay a donation of at least 20p per packet plus postage costs, using a credit or debit card by clicking on the “Donate” button on the top right hand corner of the srgc.net home page. After entering your payment amount, please then use the “Note” space to type “Seed” so our treasurer can allocate your donation correctly.
We are sorry that this offer is only being made to UK members, but we are not in a position to deal with import permits, customs lists or overseas postage in the current circumstances. In normal years, this seed is only available to UK members at shows, of course.
Email requests to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. are preferred, but you may post requests to:
Ian & Carole Bainbridge, SRGC Seed Offer, Luckie Harg’s, Anwoth, Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway, DG7 2EF.
COLLECTION OF SEED FOR 2021 SHOWS
Even though we will not be running a main exchange in 2020-21, we have been thinking of the ways in which seed might be made available to members.
We are therefore seeking volunteers who might collect some seed to be available for the SRGC shows that we hope will be able to take place in spring 2021. If you are a UK member, you could help us in the following way:
- Collect seed of a few choice or unusual plants from your garden – no more than five types.
- Check that these taxa were on the 2019-20 seed list; we will use the same numbers as last year.
- E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with a note of your 5 items and your postal address, so we can send you labels, glassine envelopes and instructions on packeting and returning seed.
- Make up ten packets of each of your 5 items and send the seed back in to us for collation.
If around 70 members help with this, we can have the normal volume of seed available for the shows in 2021. If we reach this point, the seed collection will then be closed. Neil and Sheila McNulty have offered to manage this process on our behalf; many thanks to them. We realise that if it is not possible to hold the shows, the seed may never be used, and we may have wasted effort, but we think it worthwhile trying.
Ian & Carole Bainbridge on behalf of the SRGC Seed team.
APRIL 2020
The Scottish Rock Garden Club is pleased to announce a new project -This is the Scottish Rock Podcast, the official podcast of The Scottish Rock Garden Club. Grateful thanks are due to Connor Smith for his work on this initiative. We are delighted to add these podcasts to the range of free access resources we offer to all from SRGC.net - such as the Bulb Logs, International Rock Gardener monthly e-magazine and so much more - and we hope plant lovers will enjoy the podcasts!
Reach the podcasts here - or from your usual podcast provider -
https://anchor.fm/connor-smith57
First podcast from Connor is "It's all a little bit Greek"
Well done to Connor for his work on this on behalf of SRGC!
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With the Corona Virus pandemic causing events to be cancelled or postponed across the world, we must expect that news of which events will remain on the calendar to take place to change rapidly.
We will advise here in the Forum of changes to SRGC events, as decided either by government or SRGC decision.
All SRGC Shows and Events have been cancelled meantime, as has the May Mull David Boyd Event, Summer Event and Discussion Weekend and most local group meetings.
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Click here to see SRGC Shows and events in the Forum
SRGC Show Schedules for 2020 : click here to download
Dryas Booklet with SRGC News (January 2020): click here
SRGC Yearbook 2020 : click here
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SRGC has a very useful section on this website of LINKS to sites of interest : there are nearly 260 sites listed, these include Nurseries, Plant Related Web Sites, Miscellaneous Related Info sites (Holidays, Garden Supplies etc.), Plant Societies and Seed Suppliers. Members are invited to submit details of website they feel are missing from the lists. The Links Pages can be found HERE http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?action=links
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ALPINES'21 & CORONAVIRUS (SARS-COV-2 / COVID-19)
The International Rock Garden Conference 2021 - a gathering for lovers of plants, gardens and mountains - was ready to be held held 08-11 May 2021 at Perth Concert Hall, Perth, Scotland, unfortunately, due to the CORONAVIRUS (SARS-COV-2 / COVID-19) and
following careful consideration and discussions between the 2021 Conference Committee, the SRGC Council and the AGS, we have taken the unanimous decision to cancel the "Alpines 2021” conference, due to the ongoing coronavirus (SARS-COV-2 / COVID-19) pandemic. We do this with a heavy heart, and hope you understand this was not an easy decision, but it is our belief that the effects of this virus will be felt for a considerable time. International travel, which is an essential part of any international conference is also likely to be curtailed through next year at least. Therefore, cancellation at this time is in the best interests of everyone's health and wellbeing.
The Scottish Rhododendron Society, the Rhododendron Species Conservation Group and the Czech Rock Gardeners Society were pleased to be sponsorship partners to the Conference but understand the reasons to cancel.
REFUNDS
We are arranging for all booked delegates to receive a full refund of their registration fees. We have directly emailed all booked delegates with more information.
CONTACT US
The Alpines 2021 email address will remain active and regularly monitored for some time yet. If there are any problems or queries with your refund, please contact us at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
We know that you will be as disappointed as we are, but we hope we can all meet again when circumstances permit.
Keep well all.
Best wishes,
SRGC 2021 Committee
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SRGC Subscription Reminder :
Annual subscriptions for postal members become due on 1st October, please renew promptly to be able to take part in the Seed Exchange and retain other membership features. 
It is simple to renew ( or join!) online - see all details here : http://www.srgc.net/site/index.php/extensions/join-renew
For "online, electronic" members - that is, those only gaining access to journals etc online - your memberships run according to your date of subscription and your online profile page will show when you need to renew: http://www.srgc.net/membership/
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2019 - Updated SRGC Privacy Policy re GDPR - click here to read
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The SRGC website contains many resources of to interest and inform plant lovers. For instance.....
The Bulb Log
In 2003 Ian Young started the Bulb Log, as a one year project, with no idea of how popular it would become. It is now in its fifteenth year - faithfully published every week.
Bulb Log main page can be found via this link.
The content remains much as it always has been - a personal diary covering all aspects of the bulbs Ian grows both under glass and in the open garden as well as any other garden plants and projects that he may be working on.
The Bulb Log for 12th July 2017 shows how everyone should have an island, or two ! Plus updates on the new beds @IanYoung is working on - see it via this link.
The Bulb Log is supplemented by a series of videos, listed in the SRGC Forum, here, of course, but also all available on YouTube - over 100 so far - THIS LINK is the main page for those videos.
The International Rock Gardener ( IRG )
Since January 2010 The Scottish Rock Garden Club has presented a monthly online magazine for Rock Gardeners which will be posted as a PDF on the SRGC site at the end of each month.
Every issue of the IRG can be downloaded from this page.
Each issue will have 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 will be 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 with Zdenek Zvolanek 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 hope to provide a regular electronic glimpse of these plants.
YOUR contributions are not only most welcome; we are actively seeking your input which will be key to the vigour of this enterprise.
To submit material for inclusion in the International Rock Gardener This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the subject line "E-Magazine". A full Index to International Rock Gardener, prepared by Glassford Sprunt, is updated each month and is available to download from HERE
You are most welcome to read and, we hope, enjoy all the features provided by the SRGC.
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Links from SRGC to other websites
On this page of the website you can find links to many websites of interest to SRGC members: other plant organisations, nurseries, seed suppliers etc.
For a List of Specialist Plant Nurseries as a pdf, compiled by David Nicholson, you may download that HERE.
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The SRGC Secretary is Hannah Wilson,
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it." target="_blank" title="email SRGC Secretary">who can be contacted by email HERE
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SRGC on Social Media
SRGC is now on Instagram too.
Instagram is an easy way to share images and short content. It will also have a link to the website.To get Instagram just simply download the app to your phone or view on a web page. Our username is srg_club, so you can follow us at https://www.instagram.com/srg_club
SRGC has been on Twitter for some time : https://twitter.com/ScottishRockGC @ScottishRockgc
and also on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/ScottishRockGC/ @ScottishRockGC
- and of course, as ever the SRGC forum http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php is open to all - it is archived and searchable and your contributions are always welcome.
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Volunteers needed for SRGC !!
Volunteer post to fill:
The post of Chair of Local Group Conveners is vacant - please get involved - your Club needs YOUR help to continue its great work.
If you feel you could help out the Club by putting yourself forward for this position or any of the other vacant positions, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Thank you!
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SRGC Electronic Membership
The SRGC Web Team has been working to improve the system for registration and renewal of the electronic subscription to the SRGC – which is for those who wish to access the Journals etc online only, with no postal communication from the club.
For those with current e-subscriptions you may log in on the new online subscriptions pages using your registered email address and current password to access the Members’ section and Journals. For those whose subscriptions have very recently expired - you too may log in on the new online subscriptions pages using your registered email address and current password to renew your membership - after checking that all your address details are correctly entered.
Those people wishing to join the SRGC with an electronic-only subscription please complete a new registration on the new online subscriptions pages.
The new online subscriptions pages are here:http://www.srgc.net/membership/
Please also note that registrations to take part in the SRGC Forum, which is a separate system, must be made from the Forum pages: http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php
Access for all types of membership applications and renewals are available from here or from the drop-down menu under "About Us" at the top of the main web page, where electronic members will also find the link to their special Section "SRGC Online Subscription Pages"
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SRGC GRANTS
Various Grants for Students and for Plant Exploration are available from the SRGC ........ see HERE
Success for expedition with members sponsored by SRGC Exploration Grants
An Expedition to Bhutan, with members Johan Nilson (Gothenburg Botanic Garden), Elspeth Mackintosh (RBG Edinburgh) and Julia Corden (Explorers' Garden, Pitlochry) - all sponsored by the Exploration Fund of SRGC, along with other members, Martin Walsh, Koen Van Poulke and Ann de Rijke have found a beautiful primula last seen decades ago.
Primula sherriffiae in the wild - photo by Sonam Wangchan, who lead the trip
After 81 years Primula sherriffiae has been found on steep mossy cliffs at 2120m in Bhutan.
Also growing on the cliff was Primula ludlowii - As recorded by Sherriff and Ludlow in 1934.
The expedition was lead by Sonam Wangchan owner of Bhutan Excursions. He climbed the cliff to find the plants!
- this message was received from Julia Corden 8th July 2015
Warm congratulations to all members of the expedition!
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Thank you for visiting the SRGC site, please email via the "Contact Us" button from
the menu at the top of this page if you would like to send us your comments.
For postal contact with the SRGC : please write to
Scottish Rock Garden Club, c/o Richard Green,Cedar Cottage,
Balfron Station, Glasgow G63 0SQ
The SRGC is a registered charity: SCO 00942
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Former SRGC President Glassford Sprunt was honoured by the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society with a special presentation at the SRGC Early Bulb Day in recognition of his highly regarded and significant contribution to horticulture and gardening in Scotland. Click here to read more.
The Scottish Horticultural Medal (SHM) is an award first introduced in 1950 to mark the 150th anniversary of the RCHS. The award is strictly limited to a maximum of 50 recipients and is awarded to anyone, anywhere, who has made an outstanding service, professional or amateur, to Scottish Horticulture.
The Caley AGM and award ceremony was held on March 5th.
Congratulations to all the award winners presented with their awards that evening: Carole Baxter, Dr Mark Watson, Lindsay Morrison, Sandra Maclennan, Constance Gilleghan, Jim Laurie, Nan Henderson, Peter Guthrie Finulla McCloskey and Fiona Fitzelle. [Glassford Sprunt received his award at the Dunblane Bulb Day, see below.]
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February 16th 2013: Honour for SRGC stalwart, Glassford Sprunt
At the SRGC Early Bulb Day held in Dunblane on 16th February, the President of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, Pam Whittle, was in attendance to present a Certificate of Merit from the RCHS (or "the Caley" as it is affectionately known) to SRGC past President and devoted supporter, Glassford Sprunt. Many congratulations to Glassford for this honour. Click here to see more.
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For general queries to the SRGC : please email using the "Contact Us" button in the top menu of this page.
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SRGC GRANTS
Various Grants for Students and for Plant Exploration are available from the SRGC ........ see HERE
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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 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
Scottish Rock Garden Club is a Charity registered with Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR): SC000942