Gardening societies, particularly for alpine plants
The
Alpine Garden Society is a club
based in England, for those interested in alpine and rock garden plants, small bulbs etc.
There are many local groups with lectures, outings, etc., and alpine flower shows. There
is also a large seed exchange, and all members receive the quarterly bulletin.
The
Scottish Rock Garden Club is a club for those
interested in alpine and rock garden plants, small bulbs etc. It is based in Scotland,
but has members world-wide. It runs a large seed exchange, and publishes a twice-yearly journal.
See also the link to the forum, below.
The
North American Rock Garden Society is the society
for alpine plant lovers in the United States and Canada. It has a seed exchange and a Bulletin, published four times a year, as well as an active forum with masses of archive material.
The
Dutch Rock Garden Society is a club
based in the Netherlands for those interested in alpine and rock garden plants. The website is mainly written in Dutch.
The
Royal Horticultural Society is the main UK society
for all kinds of horticulture. Its
Horticultural Database is particularly useful. The
Plant Finder and Plant Selector are now a single resource, which may help you to find those plants that are not in our catalogue. There are a few! It may also give more information about a particular plant, and it can be used to find plants with various characteristics.
Groups and websites specialising in particular groups of plants
Androsace World is a splendid
compilation of photographs of Androsace species.
Many
arisaemas are shown on Roy Herold's Arisaema pages.
The Pacific Bulb Society is interested in
bulbs and companion plants, specifically those that can be grown in gardens round the Pacific rim, but that
covers just about everywhere. Their web site has masses of useful information, and many excellent
photographs.
The
Cyclamen Society specialises in Cyclamen,
and its website has an extensive collection of photographs.
This
Daphne website is a mine of information about daphnes and has many excellent pictures.
The
Fritillaria Group of the Alpine
Garden Society is for those interested in these bulbs. The web site includes a
picture gallery.
The
Meconopsis Group is dedicated to the study
of Meconopsis, particularly the big blue poppies, and has been instrumental in sorting
out the naming of these beautiful plants.
Meconopsis World is a collection of photographs and information about Meconopsis species, mainly in the wild, intended to help with their identification. It is now part of James Cobb's blog, which covers more than just Meconopsis.
Evelyn Stevens also has a personal website with many pictures of the big blue-flowered Meconopsis.
Penstemons are featured on this privately-run web site, which has many photographs.
Primula World is a superb compilation of photographs of Primula species, mainly in the wild, which now also has links to scans of type specimens and the original descriptions and maps showing where these specimens came from.
Rhododendrons, large and small, are invaluable gardens plants, providing both colour
and structure. Useful web sites include those of the
Scottish Rhododendron Society,
which is also a chapter of the
American Rhododendron Society, and of the
Rhododendron Species Foundation, which has a
large garden in Federal Way, near Seattle.
The
Saxifrage Society is dedicated to Saxifrages
and their relatives, which they say are the best plants in the world. Well, they would,
wouldn't they?
The Rock Garden Plants Database contains a huge
amount of information about alpine plants, and includes a substantial gallery of
photographs.
Publishers of books and magazines about plants
Timber Press publishes many books on
plants and horticulture. They include John Richard's excellent book on
Primulas,
Chris Grey-Wilson's book on Meconopsis, and Robin White's splendid account of Daphnes.
The definitive account of
The Genus Sorbus (rowans) is published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as is the account of The Genus Betula (birches).
Garden photography
Ray Cox Photography.
Ray is a full-time, professional photographer specialising in the gardens and plants of Scotland. He has an impeccable
pedigree, as a member of the Cox family of Rhododendron fame.
Floras - the main botanical guides
The
Flora of China
is the definitive work on Chinese plants - masses of useful information.
The Flora of Nepal is an on-going project, freely available on-line, with a companion volume on the natural history, ecology and human environment of Nepal - which is a book that you have to buy!
Flora Europea is a searchable database of
European plants.
The Flora of North America is an on-going project
producing a definitive flora of North American plants.
The Flora of New Zealand is an electronic version, but the Flora
is also available in paper form.
Discussion forums
The Scottish Rock Garden Club has an extremely lively and active forum, which has accumulated more than
one hundred thousand posts, with hundreds of people on-line each day - and an unbelievable maximum of nearly
800 at once! Click here if you have a few hours to spare.
You have been warned! It is addictive.
The North American Rock Garden Society also has a very active forum. Click here to discover more.
If you have questions for the alpine plant experts, or just want to see their
accumulated wisdom in answers to questions asked by other people, then the
Alpine-L discussion forum is the
place to go.
More links...
Rock Gardeners' Last Resort says
that when your search engines fail, start here. It provides links to an array of botanical and horticultural websites.
Hawthorn Alpine Troughs make troughs for alpines that look
like hypertufa, and therefore, with a bit of imagination, like stone.
The Turf Shop is a Scottish supplier of lawn turf (and if you really must, artificial turf) - and we use them for our design jobs.
Logie Steading is a visitor centre in the Findhorn Valley.
Elmer Aagesen's garden at Hinnerup in Denmark, with lots of high-resolution photos that are slow to load. And it helps if you can read Swedish.
There are also lots of links at Garden Web.
