E-magazine feature on SRGC Website

[Maggi Young]

In this edition of IRG, two new Tulipa species from sect. Biflores (subgen. Eriostemones, Liliaceae)  are described from the Zagros Mountains of Iran, and Zhetysu,  Kazakhstan, from Dr Janis Rukšāns (Latvia)  and Dr Dimitri Zubov (Ukraine), who are both passionate scholars of geophytic plants.

Following that is an article on the lovely Saxifraga ludlowii from the famed Czech plantsman, Vojtěch Holubec.

Finally this month there is a review of a new book which is surely going to become a “must have” for all people with a passion to grow plants in a fashion which really suits them! We have eagerly awaited this book by Kenton Seth and Paul Spriggs and its arrival has fulfilled all our most demanding expectations of it.  There is much in it to be useful to any plant lover and the rigour devoted to its production is remarkable. The IRG Team is certainly impressed by it!

Download free here: https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2022Apr291651236666IRG148.pdf


Cover image: Saxifraga ludlowii  grown (in the Tromsř arctic-alpine botanic garden from seed coll. Tibet Rawu 5000m) and photographed by Martin Hajman.

[Maggi Young]

I hope that this month’s IRG provides an interesting range of articles.

 Firstly, we have some terrific photos of Dionysia species in habitat in Iran from Dr Sajad Alipour. These plants are mainly grown in the alpine house in the UK. Luckily there are one or two nurseries selling these plants albeit not in large numbers, so it is not impossible to try one’s hand at growing these often difficult plants.  They can be seen growing well in some Botanic Gardens, such as Gothenburg or Tübingen where there are considerable collections.

 Second article is the description of Crocus dolatyarii – a new species from W Iran from Janis Rukšāns.

 Next up is a book review of Saunders’ Field Guide to the Gladioli of South Africa by David Carver.
 
 Unfortunately, the previous publication of Tulipa brinkii in IRG was precluded by IPNI.org as complying with official naming, so the article, with additions, is repeated here. Thanks to Sjaak de Groot and B.J.M. Zonneveld.

Download IRG 149 here:
https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2022Jun041654351798IRG_149.pdf



Cover image: Dionysia zetterlundii in habitat - photo Sajad Alipour.

[Maggi Young]

Please note- due to technical difficulty- IRG 149, May 2022 may now be downloaded here:
https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2022Jun041654351798IRG_149.pdf

[Maggi Young]

This month’s IRG- No. 150  for June 2022 brings new descriptions of three Puschkinia species from the Iranian Alborz & Zagros mountains and no less than five new Crocus species from north-western & western Iran. Authors are Janis Rukšāns, from Latvia, with Dimitri Zubov, from Ukraine and Janis with Alireza Dolatyari from Iran. Further evidence, if such were needed, of the wealth of plant diversity in Iran.

https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2022Jun231656010077IRG150.pdf


Cover image: Crocus chionophilus - seed capsule and seeds -photo Janis Rukšāns.

[Maggi Young]

IRG 151: A new species of Eranthis from Iran is described by Jānis Rukšāns – this genus is a valuable one for early season colour in the garden and is justly popular for its bright yellow flowers at a time when such colour is so much appreciated. Elsewhere in this issue we have comments on the growing and name changes of Lesquerella, the former name of a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae from the Czech gardener, Zdeněk Řeháček.  Vlastimil Pilous, another Czech, takes as his subject the pipevine, Dutchman's pipe or birthwort, Aristolochia – these are plants with a wide distribution which have previously been much used in medicines, but which are now known to be toxic. The plants are the food of various butterfly larvae, rendering them unpalatable to predators. Aristolochia can be found in many countries though some are now under threat.

Click  this link to download and read for free!!
 https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2022Jul281659003303IRG151.pdf


Eranthis kurdica sp.nov.  on pass near Qamchiyan- cover  image by Jānis Rukšāns

[Maggi Young]

August IRG: We are delighted to present a new Crocus species described from Northern Macedonia by the team of Dr Jānis Rukšāns, from Latvia and Dr Dimitri Zubov, from Ukraine. Jānis says he is transplanting crocuses every day, but the first ones are already starting to bloom.

Second article this month is from the Scot, Connor Smith, about his workplace, the Utrecht Botanic Garden, which is rightly famous for its innovative rock gardens.


Download IRG 152 here- https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2022Aug251661454762IRG_152.pdf


Crocus jostii  -photo by Jānis Rukšāns


Connor is also excited for this event to enjoy: Autumn Plant Market at Utrecht Botanic Garden.
On Saturday 3 September 2022 from 10:00 to 16:30 all are welcome at the best plant market in the centre of the Netherlands! In the Utrecht University Botanic Gardens you will find a fantastic assortment of plants during the Autumn Plant Market 2022.
Around 74 plant sellers from various European countries are  expected, who will undoubtedly bring their own range of plants. In addition to vendors, various plant associations are present whose members will enthusiastically provide you with all possible information about their hobby.
Learn more about the event and those attending, here: https://www.uu.nl/en/events/autumn-plant-market-2022

[Maggi Young]

September IRG 153 :
To read this month's e-magazine :
https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2022Sep291664476951IRG_153.pdf

John and Anita Watson this month contribute an article on a new Viola species from northern Patagonian upland and its eponymic Yramea fritillary butterflies. Elsewhere, we present information from the huge archive of SRGC twice-yearly journals to tempt you to study the wealth of knowledge therein  (all these journals, plus an index, are available to read or download here: https://www.srgc.net/srgcjournal.asp ) - Enjoy!


Cover image: Snow on raised beds and troughs in an Aberdeen garden - photo J.Ian Young

[Maggi Young]

International Rock Gardener e-magazine - October 2022  IRG #154
 This month we celebrate a number of growers & plant explorers who have also been honoured by our friends @ the Alpine Garden Society - Harry Jans, Martin Sheader and Skalničky editor, Zdenek Zvolanek as well as other great alpine growers who have all contributed to a further investigation of South American plants.   We are always pleased to receive the feedback from readers who are excited by the South American flora – there are not too many of us who can afford to make a trip to those far-away lands of botanic delight!

Click here to read,free: https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2022Oct271666892966IRG_154.pdf

Cover image: Gentianella scarlatina photo by Harry Jans.

[Maggi Young]

International Rock Gardener e-magazine - november 2022  IRG #155

In the areas of the world where Autumn-flowering snowdrops are grown, this seems to be a good year for these enchanting little flowers. The major excitement about these bulbs comes in Spring (I was going to write “hysteria”, but thought that was a tad unfair!) but there are Autumn blooming plants within galanthus and other genera too, and these are equally enjoyed by their devotees. I pause here to differentiate once more that there are “true” Autumn Crocus – not the oft repeated common name applied in error over many years to what are actually Autumn flowering Colchicum, also foolishly referred to as “Meadow Saffron” – a mistake that could be fatal. If people are able to learn the name Narcissus or Crocus, I have no sympathy with those who claim it is “too difficult” to educate folks to the proper names of such species.  Rant over – but you will see that I feel strongly on this point. It’s not often that your editor bangs her own drum so I hope readers will understand!

 Anne Wright, whose Dryad nursery is a small-scale mail-order-only nursery based in Tockwith, North Yorkshire, UK, grows and breeds miniature narcissi, snowdrops, and hepaticas. Anne writes here of her choice of her latest series of Galanthus hybrids which will be registered with the Koninklijke Algemeene Vereeniging Voor Bloembollencultuur Royal General Bulb Growers' Association (KAVB).  Anne’s attention to detail in her hybridisation projects is focussed and involves constant monitoring and she clearly excels in this.
The nursery was set up originally simply as a way of disposing of excess bulbs from her hobby, and still has this function, but she also now propagates the plants especially for the nursery list.

The next writer on Galanthus is a new contributor this month, Tim (Timothy) Calkins, from America who names a Galanthus reginae-olgae cultivar. Tim has been developing his garden in Reston, Virginia, USA for 30 years, trying to change a suburban yard of under 1/3 acre (0.12 hectare) of sun-baked, grass-covered clay into a variety of garden environments.  It includes raised vegetable beds, trough gardens, a small orchard, a small bog, and a mix of sunny borders and shaded areas for winter blooms, spring ephemerals and woodland perennials.  Particular enthusiasms include galanthus (he grows 19 species and several hundred cultivars), rain lilies (zephyranthes and habranthus), narcissus, and a growing collection of lycoris.  Something is in bloom, if not every day of the year, at least every month.
Final item this month is a brief plant portrait of Primula frondosa, from a Czech friend, Zdeněk Řeháček.

Download the IRG here https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2022Nov241669317506IRG_155.pdf


Cover image: Galanthus ‘Dryad Princess’ – photo by Anne Wright.

[Maggi Young]

International Rock Gardener e-magazine - December 2022  IRG #156

In IRG this month we have articles from John and Anita Watson, reporting on their long history with the flora of Chile, and plant portraits singing the praises of various plants much loved by alpine growers, from Cyril Lafong, in Scotland, Pavel Holík and from Zdeněk Zvolánek in Czechia – all originally published in Skalničky, the bulletin of Klub skalničkářů Praha. The plants featured are Campanula tommasiniana, Daphne ‘Colinton Crown’, and some Juno irises. The final piece this month is a report from Dr Tristan Hatton-Ellis from Wales, on the propagation of Hardy Orchids from seed using the ‘Cardboard Method’.

Download here:  https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2022Dec291672326639IRG_156.pdf


Cover image:  Alstroemeria ligtu subsp. incarnata F. & W. 11091. Photographed on 30 December 2005 by Ana Rosa Flores. 

As ever,  the IRG and the print journal of SRGC - The Rock Garden - actively seek contributions to our pages.

If you enjoy reading the IRG and  TRG – why not put pen to paper – or more likely fingers to the keyboard – and join their number?

Email your proposals to Margaret Young, editor@internationalrockgardener.net  or TRG editor,  anton.edwards@icloud.com - or both!!

[Maggi Young]

As we enter a new year I have the misfortune to tell you all that, at the moment, there are no articles awaiting publication in the IRG.  There are various articles that have been promised over the years but I have little expectation that these will now appear.   I am aware of some authors working on future pieces, but there is no certainty of when these might arrive.  Of course, I realise that other publications often suffer similar problems, but my fear is that the IRG - with its unique feature  for "our kind of plants" of being free to download to be read by anyone in the world - will cease to exist - at least in its current monthly format. What a sad state of affairs!

Of course, there are a myriad of pretty pictures being shown on social media but where is the information about those plants that can truly help, guide and enthuse folk to try to grow them themselves?  Even when some info is attached, it can be well nigh impossible to find it during a later search.

So often it is stated that gardeners are the most generous of people, willing to help beginners etc  - but without articles in our various journals, where are these folk to find the  information when they need it?

So - if you have any advice to impart to other plant lovers - please do write it down - whether for the IRG (and I know that many authors like the fact that "their" info is freely available ) or for  the SRGC's printed journal - and take the time to fully share any expertise - or describe pitfalls - to enlighten others.

Information  from experts and beginners alike - often the latter being the most helpful - is very much needed. Please support the SRGC and IRG by getting involved and spreading the delight of plants to as many people as possible!

IRG 157 January 2023
  We have two articles this month, firstly from Jānis Rukšāns on a new crocus hybrid raised by Dirk Schnabel in Germany and secondly, a report from Panayoti Kelaidis on the Patagonian plants which are doing well in the Denver Botanic Garden.


A selected clone of Crocus x schnabelii - photo by Dirk Schnabel

Download IRG 157 here: https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2023Jan261674733906157_IRG.pdf

[Maggi Young]

IRG 158 did not appear in February 2023 because there were no articles
submitted. Once more I stress to all readers that without your submissions
there can be no IRG. The IRG has brought diverse articles on practical
projects to inspire you in your own garden, travelogues and botanical articles
on new cultivars or species, newly described, over the last ten years. The
magazine has been brought free to the internet and reaches an enormous
world-wide audience – if you value this at all, please support the IRG by sending in your ideas for
articles of general interest to this email address: editor@internationalrockgardener.net

 If you are also interested in your idea being
forwarded to the editor of the SRGC print journal, The Rock Garden, just let me know and I will
pass it on! It will be a delight to hear from you!

Happily, for this issue, I have now had a note from our Polish correspondent, Dr Krzysztof (Chris)
Ciesielski, about a Galanthus he is naming. Like many of us, Chris felt that much
of his life, particularly outside work, was put on hold during the Corona Virus pandemic. He was
looking forward to a snowdrop hunting expedition in March with his wife, as they explore to find
new variations in the wild. We are also lucky enough to have news of some newly named
Galanthus from the bulb collection of Dr Dimitri Zubov, in Kyiv, Ukraine, a country that many of us
feel great sympathy with, in their current fight against aggressors.
 Margaret Young, Editor International Rock Gardener.

Download the latest IRG on srgc.org.uk  here: https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2023Mar311680276840IRG158.pdf

On srgc.net the link for IRG 158, March 2023 is :
 https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/230331121959IRG158.pdf



Snowdrops in an Aberdeen wood - photo J. Ian Young

[Maggi Young]

Email to contact re submissions to IRG is faulty in  IRG 158 - write instead to info@srgc.org.uk Thank you!

[Maggi Young]

Latest issue of International Rock Gardener e-magazine online now with an article from Crassulaceae enthusiast Marco Cristini,  on the Aeoniums of the Canary Island archipelago. 


Click here to read :  https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/230428094725IRG%20159.pdf

 or at  https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2023Apr281682673662IRG_159.pdf

Cover image: Aeonium valverdense photo by Marco Cristini.

[Maggi Young]

10th May 2023
New IRG e-magazine is loaded online early to celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the founding of the Scottish Rock Garden Club. Click to download: https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/230510160918IRG%20160.pdf

It is a pleasure once more to have an article by those two indefatigable independent researchers and plantsmen, from Latvia and Ukraine - Jānis Rukšāns, Dr. biol. h.c. and Dimitri Zubov, PhD. In this issue they address the subject of two new geophyte species in the Scilloideae subfamily (Asparagaceae) growing in the Alborz and Zagros mountains in N and W Iran are described and illustrated. The differences between new species from the genera of Puschkinia and Fessia and taxa related to them are also discussed. Photographs and keys to the species identification and distribution maps are provided.


Cover image: Puschkinia advayana – photo by Jānis Rukšāns.

alternative site to download : https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2023May101683731824IRG_160.pdf