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

[Arie.v]

We arrived safely on Tuesday evening had a 12 hr flight including a 2 hour stop over and could pickup some Dutch cheese at the Amsterdam airport.
I packed my plants Monday evening, I had to remove all the soil 74 plants in total, wrapped them  first in paper towel and then in stretch and seal
Put them in a plastic container with a lid, kept them in the fridge overnight until we had to leave the hotel Tuesday noon, carried them in my hand luggage.
Arriving in Toronto around 3.00 am Czech time, 9.00 pm Canada time, one hours time to home, back in the fridge, and potted them up the next morning.
Put them in the greenhouse under the bench to keep them out of the sun for a  weekor so, and hopefully they will survive, they all looked very promising.
Border patrol was easy, they never took any plants out to look at.
I think they had no idea what some of the plants were, could not find them on their plant list, but they were on my import permit, and that was all what counts
I think we were past inspection before everybody else got through customs.

We had a wonderful time, and would not hesitate to sign up for another opportunity like that.
Met a lot of nice people, and hopefully will stay in touch through the forum and personal emails.
Had one email from Susann already.

[Maggi Young]

Hi Arie, Glad to hear you and Lee are safely home- and that your plants seem fine after their long journey, too.

What a delight it was to meet you, and so many other new friends from the Forum.

[ChrisB]

My plants arrived this afternoon.  They've been unpacked, watered and put in the shade to get some light.  Most look like they will survive but one box certainly had a bumpy journey.  I'm aiming for an 80% survival .... fingers crossed.  I'd love to go again, am wondering about just a weekend in Prague the weekend of the alpine show at the gardens - but without the rain - 

[Frank Cooper]

My plants are out for delivery so I know what I will be doing today besides unpacking and watering.  Spring is ending now because it has been hot for three days and will be for a week.  I ate a roast beef sandwich with a salad and corn on the cob.  Yum!

[ichristie]

Hello all thanks for all the pictures great to see the buildings and the gardens we only saw the Garden of Jiri and like Tim brought home our plants as hand luggage I potted some and planted the others out we hade plenty rain and cool ( Baltic) weather so everything looks good, cheers Ian the Christie kind

[ChrisB]

Few more pics.  First, for Tim, here are the other pics I took in Mr Bartunek's garden.  It was raining so I didn't take that many, and anyway, I wanted to go take a look at the plants that were available for sale too....

[ChrisB]

From Zahofi we went to Nova Vcelnice and the garden of Milan Odvarka.  The intrepid coach driver took us as far as he dared and let us off.  Later, he had to back the coach down the same trail very carefully.  I was on the pond side of it and was relieved when we got back on the main road....  And the rain had stopped too, a big help!

But Mr Odvarka's garden was enormous, flanked on two sides by dense conifer forrest, and quite soggy in places so we were asked to stay behind him and go in crocodile fashion.  I wondered at the amount of time he had spent creating his masterpiece, full of fascinating plants and shrubs.  He also had plants for sale so everyone dived into the area once we'd seen the garden.  But Mr Odvarka also does wood carving and I was charmed by his butterflies and bird sculptures after I'd got my fill of plants.  He'd arranged labels and bags for transporting the purchases too, I was pleased about that!

There were more witches' brooms in this garden.  I became more and more fascinated with them as the week wore on.

[ChrisB]

More garden views and a wonderful clump of Glaucidium, a sight for sore eyes....

[ChrisB]

After leaving Mr Odvarka's garden our coach got a little lost I think, so by the time we reached the final garden of the day, it was after 6pm.  We were all getting a little tired, but no one wanted to give up the chance to see the garden of Miroslav Stanek.  What a delight it was!  Here I saw more pulsatillas than at the other three combined, they were glorious.  But so were his gentians and many other treats.  And again, plants for sale....
Unfortunately, you don't get the scale of this garden, or the fact that its on a steep slope from my pics, but maybe when others post their pics they will be better.  His tufa area had been planted a long time....

[angie]

Great pictures Christine8)

My boxes arrived today and everything looks well. I will have a busy morning tomorrow.it's rain for tomorrow so I will be happily potting under cover. I kept my favorites in pots and all the other ones I wrapped up in kitchen towelling and then cling film. I hope I don't kill everything.

Gentian I prefer your avatar 

Angie 

[Susann]

After leaving Mr Odvarka's garden... to see the garden of Miroslav Stanek.  What a delight it was!  Here I saw more pulsatillas than at the other three combined, they were glorious. 

Thank you Chris for spending so much time in posting all those beautiful pictures! It is like see everything again, but through someone else´s eyes ( which, by the way, we had an interesting discussion about over an icecream in Roztoky)
However, when I read something about Pulsatilla I just can not resist to answer. So Chris, may I ask you, am I right when I suspect that you are a sleepwalker? Or, if you were awake;  where were you looking when you walked in the middle of Mr Odvarka´s field of Pulsatillas?

[Tim Ingram]

I think we must all have been sleepwalkers Susann! We need to visit the gardens again before too long to see all the plants we missed. I remember Miroslav Stanek's front garden as looking almost impressionistic with pulsatillas, many in seed, tulips and other plants dotted about all over. But I didn't go back to have a proper look. Pulsatillas do look wonderful en masse like this - I tend to grow them in isolation.

[ChrisB]

Day 2 of our garden visits... a brighter day than Monday and we were all anxious to explore more gardens.  Martin Brejnik's rock garden was quite new compared to the ones we had seen Monday.  Zdenek had told us how long he'd been working on it, but I've forgotten by now all that sort of detail.  Probably Tim will have the notes I didn't write so could tell you if you want to know.
What struck me first, before I went through the gate, was the perfume from the wonderful daphnes he had growing there.
And he had plenty of them!  His work is still unfinished, he's still to sort out the pond area and had piles of rocks that are still to be carefully placed.  He also does some wood carving, and there was evidence that he sits in the shade of his trees doing just that some of the time.  He too had plants for sale, and we all enjoyed browsing through them.

[ChrisB]

A few more pics in Martin's garden:

[ChrisB]

Aaah Susann, yes those pulsatillas.  They were divine.  But unfortunately I failed to take photos in the front garden.  Mea culpa!! Mea maxima culpa!!!!!  Did you take any and can you post them please?  I did take a few photos of pulsatillas, but not at that garden.  I'm not posting all the pics I took at each garden, there was so much to see and look at....