A large number of Scottish Rockers and friends attended this

year’s Summer Event, which is fulfilling its role in bringing

members together in Summer time to share their summer

flowering garden plants, listen to inspiring speakers, learn a

bit more, buy plants in flower for their gardens and generally

have a blether about ‘Things in general’. This year’s event

was tinged with sadness at the loss of one the SRGC’s stal-

warts, Viv Chambers from Killearn. Viv was a leading light in

the Glasgow Group for as long as I can remember. He was the

first choice as treasurer for the 1991 International Confer-

ence, Alpines ‘91; on the trips to committee meetings he kept

me entertained with tales of his time in the RAF. He changed

his mind and handed over to Ian Aitchison. His reason? He

said he was getting old, ‘I’ll be nearly 70 when the conference

starts’, he told me. Viv was good for another 25 years, during

which time he kept up his support for the Glasgow group and

shows! Viv was of the generation which built the SRGC into

the leading international horticultural organisation which it is

today. He will be sorely missed. The audience at Saturday's

lecture expressed their sorrow on learning that Viv had died

and on everyone’s behalf I extend our condolences to Anne his

wife.

During the day we had three excellent lectures on what was ultimately a variety of subjects, Willie Campbell on ‘Botanical Trav-

els in search of Plants in Wild Places’ which proved to be looking for Rhododendrons in China and Arunachal Pradesh [India],

Bob Mitchell on ‘Alaska’ and ‘Growing Bulbs at Edinburgh Botanic Gardens’ from Elspeth Mackinosh. This was a very successful

combination, different from my initial idea of concentrating on RBG collecting and growing-on bulbs from John Mitchell and

Elspeth. I then invited Bob [for me always ‘Mr St Andrew’s Botanic Garden’] to talk alongside his son John [Edinburgh Botanic

Garden], as I had not heard them lecture at the same conference. Thanks to all three for making the day so interesting and

especially to Willie for stepping in at the late date. Thanks to the three speakers I now know several things I did not know be-

fore.

Willie ’s talk encompassed several trips. His enthusiasm for and knowledge of Rhododendrons is marvellous. He must also

have boundless energy to complete these trips. Tourism has been developed and encouraged by the Chinese government.

Therefore botanising in China has been made much easier and ‘civilised’ in recent years. Many new hotels and shops have

been built in wild areas. Willie showed us some before and after pictures of some resorts. Good roads and footpaths mean that

older less-able explorers can still get into remote places. Various insects etc. can bite you in the remoter parts of India on the

remoter parts of your body. Willie has a fine pair of legs! Tourism in the Indian Mountains is less well developed. If you want

wild Arunachal Pradesh is for you! If you want Arisaemas , choose the Indian woods. Many members bought some of Willie’s

seed raised Rhododendrons which he brought for sale to members. All were raised at Gargunnock House Gardens where there

is a fine selection from which to choose.

Willie Campbell on the left in front of his Gargunnock grown

Rhododendrons

Alaska is not much further north than Scotland, so said

someone on Saturday. Bob Mitchell took us there in his

excellent presentation. Alaska is bigger than the rest of

continental USA. Full of magnificent mountains, awash

with oil, rich in history but sparsely populated it has yet to

be properly discovered. Along with Bob and Felicity we

took a nice round trip by car, which seems suitable for

most drivers. Starting in Anchorage we travelled north to

Denali National Park, over which towers Mount McKinley

[Denali] 20,301 feet above sea level. Then on to Fairbanks

and a long trip south to Valdez on the coast. Bob and Felic-

ity guided us along much of this scenic route. During the

journey Bob pointed out the various vegetation zones

from sea level to Alpine. Much of the landscape was tun-

dra and marsh, after leaving the forest. Like Scotland, Alas-

ka is home to many circumpolar plants like Moneses uni-

flora and Loiseleuria procumbens. Many ericaceous shrubs and orchids

widespread. For a long time I was sold on Alaska as a summer holiday tar-

get but then he mentioned mosquitoes! They love Anne my wife. I may

have to go to Alaska alone.

The third talk, given by Elspeth Mackintosh, was one that everyone definitely was expecting. Elspeth first showed pictures of

many bulbous plants which John Mitchell had photographed in the Southern former Russian republics—the ‘stans’. These

were some of the pictures we had expected John to tell us about. She described the care with which the plants are collected,

cleaned of soil and packed before being flown back to quarantine in the RBG Ed. In Edinburgh they are inspected for disease

and pests. Then, in the special, secure quarantine house, which has mesh covered doors and windows, every plant which

comes into the gardens must be grown until the plant pathologists are sure they are disease free. Here they grow in plastic

pots. Elspeth is one of the few people who have access to this quarantine house. The plants leave quarantine and go into the

behind the scenes greenhouses and frames where they graduate to clay pots. Elspeth has an enormous amount of work tend-

ing and annually repotting the world renowned collection of bulbs. She talks about the treasured bulbs as if they were her

own dear friends. A good hint for anyone with a very few small bulbs. Elspeth feels they are ‘lonely’ in a flower pot on their

own, so she gives them

similar sized stones for

company. This is a bit

like giving a broody

hen a china egg! When

in flower some fa-

voured potsful are tak-

en to the alpine house

and put on public dis-

play. She rounded off

with a picture of one of

the RBG Ed. Gold med-

al winning displays at

an SRGC show.

Thank you to all three

lecturers for giving

such interesting well

presented talks. We

were well entertained

and left much wiser!

Bob Mitchell on the right chatting to SRGC

President David Rankin

Elspeth Mackintosh , third from the right relaxes before her

super presentstion

Stirling group treasurer, Ann Steele collects money for teas

and lectures. The Summer Event Day is funded by lucky

raffles at each lecture.

THE SRGC IS THE CLUB FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE PLANTS and want to much more about them

Grey hair is not essential for membership but it seems that it is one feature common to the many active intelligent people who want

to enjoy the second half of their lives. Many of our young people are busy working and earning to enable them pay off large mortgag-

es, raising their family, playing with computer games and indulging in wild sports [perhaps!]. Those of us with more time to relax and

ponder the other good things in life, are willing to get up early and drive many miles to listen to erudite, entertaining speakers. Many

SRGC members will base their holiday plans on what they learn at an SRGC lecture. Anyone approaching middle age and lacking stim-

ulating things do, should consider taking up gardening. It prolongs active life, says the Daily Mail. When the love of gardening is

mixed with a desire and ability to travel and to learn, then rock gardening is definitely the most rewarding of all. Nowadays modern

online booking for flights and hotels via the internet helps each one of us to be our own travel agent. The complete encyclopaedic

collection [except for the most recent 3 or 4 editions] of the SRGC journal is available on line. There you can browse 80 years of arti-

cles about mountains and their plants. Not only mountains; virtually every temperate area of the world will have been visited and

written about by an SRGC member. Many things change over time but mountain ranges with their different habitats are almost ex-

actly the same now as when first written about. Hotels and food are arguably better but the same good hospitality is still offered to

travellers in most countries which a rock gardener would want to visit. Armed with a guidebook to wild flowers of the region [most

regions have one in English], a digital camera and an enquiring mind most of can become travellers / explorers / plant hunters. No

need to dig up plants to take home, [its surely illegal anyway]. Nowadays so many are available from our specialist nurseries. Most

of the more difficult to find things will probably be in the SRGC seed list. Tell your friends about the SRGC; better still bring them

along to a meeting. Let them share our enjoyment and enthusiasm for our world of plants.

The display of Julia Corden’s pictures

taken in the Falkland Islands

COLLECTIONS

TOP TO BOTTOM

Margaret & Henry Taylor

Mike Dale

Two from Sue Simpson

MORE

COLLECTIONS

TOP TO BOTTOM

Barry & Cathy Caudwell’s

selection

George Watt’S OAKS

Jean Wyllie’s CYCLAMEN

Anne Leven’s GIN BOTTLES

Roma Fiddes brought this wonderful pan of Cyc-

lamen mirabile, a species which I find difficult to

grow into a large plant. Roma’s plant would be

in line for a Forrest Medal if there were an

SRGC summer show.

Below another view of Jean Wyllie’s Cyclamen. Jean must

hold the record for the length of her showing career. She

is a marvellous supporter of SRGC shows. Below are 3

quite new foliage plants Hypericum x moserianum ’Little

Misstery (sic), [bred in Ireland], American Leucothoe axil-

laris ‘Curly Red’ and Chinese Mucdenia rosii ‘Karasuba’

Mucdenia rosii ‘Karasuba’

Troughs are make excellent mini gardens. both of these are ‘Fish Box’

troughs, made from expanded polystyrene fish boxes. The method is

described by Ian Young on the SRGC web site.— srgc.net. The top one,

a salmon box, is planted with an apparently low growing clone of Gen-

tiana septemfida. The smaller, a haddock fish box is planted with a

mixture of Sempervivums. Even when planted they are relatively light

to carry and because they are made from polystyrene they are good

insulators and water retentive, so don’t dry out like clay pots would.

A collage of George Watt’s oaks. Apparently you can have an oak wood in which

every tree is different! Informative and wonderful. Thanks George!

Mostly

Codonopsis

from

Margaret &

Henry