Reports from the 2nd International Czech Rock Garden Conference and Garden visits

[ChrisB]

The second garden belonged to Mr Bartunek in Zahori.

Lovely well kept rock garden in an L shaped garden full of woodlanders and plenty of frits.

At the side of one of his outbuildings he had erected a tabletop garden packed with interesting alpines.

[ChrisB]

But of most interest to me was his greenhouse, constructed from large preserving jars turned upside down and cemented together to create a double glazed greenhouse wall.  He also had a lot of flopsy bunnies in a compound, but I couldn't get a picture, they were too shy.

He also had a lovely example of P. auricula which I saw again and again around the gardens we visited later.

[Jozef Lemmens]

I also would like to thank everyone for those wonderful days. The pleasant, cheerful and friendly atmosphere is stamped on my memory for ever.
I hope very much to meet you all again, …. somewhere, …. someday (the sooner …  the better    ) .

[angie]

Love the last picture 

Angie 

[ranunculus]

Stunning images, Jozef ... especially the bevy of gentians and forum friends.

[Anton]

Dear All,

Now, as a qualified forum lurker, I have to add my thanks to everyone at the Czech conference for a wonderful time.

Words, as you know, rarely fail me, but I can think of none to tell you properly how warm I felt in all your company, how kind everyone was, what camaraderie there was between people who had never met before, and how generous were our Czech hosts - they deserve the award of the Golden Erythronium for their organisation and the huge effort they made for us all.

I thank you all!

Anton

[ruweiss]

Some pictures from Tabor, our sincerest thanks to the organizers who did such a
splendid job. Another thank to all the rockgardening friends from near and far, you
gave us so much joy during the few days in this warm and friendly atmosphere.
We were so sorry, that we could not join the post conference tour, but on our way
home we made a stop at Pilsen and visited the rockgarden show of the local club.

[ruweiss]

More fine persons:

[ranunculus]

Would it be possible to add some names to the faces seen in these wonderful images please?  Many of us are familiar with most of the faces, but it would be of great assistance to newer and more distant members.

[Tim Ingram]

Chris - thank you for the pictures of Mr Bartunek's garden; this was the one garden we missed on the first day and it would be great to see other photographs. Although we were unable to have Conference proceedings I think there may well be even better e.proceedings posted on the websites and I will try to put names to faces and plants on the AGS site - it would be good to document the event comprehensively, and especially the remarkable gardens we visited.

In the meantime I thought the Show held in Prague was an excellent example of alpine gardeners coming together in a very inclusive way and this picture shows a list of all those people who contributed to the Show. Zdenek said that the Show had been held since the early 1970's and had moved from a previous venue to the present one in 1981 (rocks and all). This is a very different but complementary way of showing plants compared to the Shows in the UK, and ties in with the strong Czech ethos of growing plants in a garden setting which appeals to me very much.

[Tim Ingram]

Has anyone received their plants yet? My box arrived this afternoon, most plants in remarkably good condition considering that they had been sealed up last Friday pm. These are a few pictures and a comparison with the plants brought back in hand luggage. Specially for Cliff, Callianthemum farreri is in the back row in the second picture looking very happy - will it be a form with good blue flowers?

The last picture shows some of the "Witch's Broom" conifers that were so striking in many gardens. We are going to use these on a display at the Kent Garden Show to show that our very small East Kent Group is truly International in its scope! (Or at least some of its members are). A few of the photos of the Czech gardens may also find their way onto the display with suitable and grateful acknowledgement.

[Maggi Young]

Would it be possible to add some names to the faces seen in these wonderful images please?  Many of us are familiar with most of the faces, but it would be of great assistance to newer and more distant members.

Here's an attempt at some names so far, Cliff:

Starting on the previous page, page 22, with Chris B's pic- in reply 322-  labelled Scottish night, but actually of the plant auction - where I was made an honorary member of the Czech  Team with my very own Czech cap.... I auctioned two Trillium rivale from Cyril Lafong and two bulbs of Galanthus 'Elizabeth Harrison' from, Ian Christie - I was greatly assisted by Jiri and Petr, who fanned me well as I worked! I think it looks like we are a new Rap trio!

In Josef Lemmens' pix in reply 332 on page 23 - in pic 2013056-5006  the main folk visible are, left to right - Martin Sheader, Ian Young,
Michael Clement,   Ian Wright,  Cilla from Ireland, Herman Laporte, ( three figures under tree at rear : 2 unknown) and "Leiomerus" (Jan Fouquaert) , Cynthia Sladen, Kay McDowall, Tim Ingram, crouching front right of picture.

20130507-5211  Tim, Ian Y, Liz Mills, Angie, Helen McGregor.

20130507-5239       Zdenek Zvolanek

20130508- 5568   ZZ and Marika - the wife of Peter Divis, one of the Czech Marvels who made the conference such a success who brought her singing group to entertain us in Tabor and also sang to us herself on our last evening.

20130508-5540    Cynthia, Maggi, Fermi and Will

Rudi's pix in reply 336
Tabor 2 Lesley Cox and Maggi

Tabor 3 Chris B, Elena Dobrzhanskaya, Jozef Lemmens, Jiri Papousek

Tabor 5 Carole and Ian Bainbridge

Rudi 337 - Tabor 6   Helen and Bill McGregor, Ian Y. Ian the Christie kind, Lesley Cox.

Tabor 7 Peter Perrin, Paul Sprigs, Peter Korn, ZZ, Cecile Shepard

Tabor 8 - first man escapes me- a Dane?  Ludek Z ( ZZ's brother) Peter P., Fermi

Tabor 9  ZZ, Michal Hoppel,   Michael Mauser,  Ludmila Papousek,, Vojtech and Len,ka Holubec.

Tabor 10 Peter Korn (background Dieter Zschummel)  Michal Hoppel ( background Ludmila Papousek)
Vojtech and Lenka Holubec

[ranunculus]

Many thanks, Maggi ... much appreciated by many, I'm sure.

[angie]

Tim no Boxes yet but hopefully will be with us tomorrow. Your plants look in perfect condition but I did see the time and effort that you took to make sure that your plants arrived safely. I wonder how mine will be 
Happy planting.

Had a nice day out with Maggi and Lesley, so pleased that I got to meet Lesley in person. Have a safe journey home Lesley.

Angie 

[ChrisB]

Tim - no box here yet but it says its in Durham so I'm hoping it arrives tomorrow.  Liz emailed tonight to say hers arrived this afternoon and all but two are 'safe'.  I'll do more from that garden tomorrow....