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

[arillady]

Olga absolutely stunning photos of Tabor - I could almost be there!

[Maggi Young]

As you might guess, this month's IRG will feature this congress of  many rock gardeners - if I can finally choose the photos! So many to decide between- it was SUCH a magnificent event!

[Arie.v]

As a new kid on the block, and heard and see all those comments, this was the first event we partook in, hope fully it would not be the last, how is anything else going to top this one.
Yes it was unbelievable, meeting all those people and seeing all those beautiful gardens.
I don't know where to start in my garden.
Should I redo my troughs, the rock-garden or the crevice garden and in which order.
I'm already looking for stone, and bought a skid of tufa.

[ChrisB]

Oh my, wish I could order that tufa here, its scarce as hen's teeth.... drool drool....

[Tim Ingram]

A few highlights out of 700 plus photos - the first two are from Ota Vlasek's garden, and the Northern Hemisphere version of a 'vegetable sheep' is around thirty years old! The daphne is probably ten or fifteen years old too and perhaps the finest one I saw (and daphnes were amazing features of all the gardens). The third picture of Paeonia tenuifolia was not even in one of the gardens we visited, just 'bedding out' in a nearby garden! It's easy to see why Paeonia was once regarded as close to, or a member of, the Ranunculaceae; this could be a field of red adonis or anemones - but now peonies are regarded as members of the order Saxifragales and close to crassulas and gooseberries, what hope is there of gardeners making much sense of this?

The last two pictures come from ZZ's garden, our gracious host on our coach - who would dream of a vertical rock face in which to plant out sempervivums?; a pretty good time was being had by all, including the coach driver on the right. How else could you garden on a 45° slope full of rock? Absolutely brilliant.

    Daphne cneorum
    Arenaria lithops
    Paeonia tenuifolia
    Sempervivums
    ZZ's garden

[Olga Bondareva]

Thank you all!  It was a great pleasure to be there, to meet all of you. I see your faces and hear your voices reading posts now. It's a miraculous feeling of small Earth and lots of friends everywhere.

Some fabulous shots Olga.  How did you get the ones from height?  You have such an eye for compositions....

I can fly when needed... 
There is a touristic site at the top of that tower with figured roof. You climb stairway to the top with a room for shooting and buying souvenirs.

[Olga Bondareva]

Do you know Tabor has a Botanical garden? Of course it could not compete with private rock gardens. It's just a place for Horticultural academy students practice.

[Olga Bondareva]

Really brilliant photos! I shall have to go back to Tabor to find all those places I missed. I never knew a dustbin could look so 'right'! I can't resist putting in a picture of two ladies who love pulsatillas...

Thank you Tim.  I am unfaithful to Pulsatillas with a Picea at this image. 

[Maggi Young]

Do you know Tabor has a Botanical garden?

Yes, I knew - but everytime I  began to go there I somehow found myself in the Chocolate shop.........

[Olga Bondareva]

Yes, I knew - but everytime I  began to go there I somehow found myself in the Chocolate shop.........

Maggi, that was not worse I am sure.  Every time I walked along the shop I closed my eyes and tried not to think about chocolate. 

[Susan]

Yes, I knew - but everytime I  began to go there I somehow found myself in the Chocolate shop.........

That's how it is with shoe shops, Maggi.  I was so miserable at not being able to buy plants...... Shoes are a substitute.  Still only managed 2 more pair in Florence, oh and a jacket (or two).  On reflection, plants would have been cheaper.

Lesley, is there anything we should know before we hit security?

Susan

[Peter Maguire]

Lesley, is there anything we should know before we hit security?

Tempting though it may be, actually hitting security may not be helpful, they may get terribly upset. 

Alternatively just aim for a soft spot...... 

[Corrado & Rina]

Unless Susan meant hitting on security .... my friends tell me that the Carabinieri look particularly handsome in the high uniform :-)

[Maggi Young]

I've posted a lot of "people pictures"  to show the assembled International Rock Gardeners, in the IRG section :
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10517.0

[Leiomerus]

Hi everyone !
I enjoyed a wonderful time in the nice country of the Czech.
Very nice people also, those Czech ...
It was my first conference and also the best ....
I met many people with the same interest, so even if we didn't understand each other some time, we didn't even need words to show appreciation to one another.
I also met many interesting plants ....I hope the ones I brought to Belgium appreciate me.
The rock gardens were sometimes amazing with plants that fitted perfectly.
I even saw some rock gardens that were higher than mine...

Many troughs ! I had never seen that many.
Here they would cost a fortune.
In the garden of Miroslav Stanek, I tried to count them, but I stopped at the number of 25.
I  was only taught at school to count till 25 ...

But this trough in the garden of Jiri Sladek was outstanding !
The best of all !