We are a group of Rock Garden enthusiasts with nearly 200 members, mostly in Michigan. We focus on plants of the Alpine regions of the world but never turn down a chance to grow any unique or interesting plant. Why not join us? More...

Future Local Events



New events are posted once the time and place is fixed, usually just after a Newsletter has been distributed to the membership. We have posted a video of the most recent lecture by Tony Reznicek; see below for details under Nov. 20, 2021.

Matthaei-Nichols Botanical Gardens and Arboretum are now open again. The outdoor trails are open; see their web site for more details. University of Michigan closed many of its operations because of COVID; consult their main site for any more details of how they are navigating the COVID times.


National Events

See the NARGS website or the Quarterly for details.

Previous Great Lakes Chapter Events

Click upon a [year number] to toggle visibility of the annual events list:


[2023]

Saturday, October 7, 2023 Fall Meeting with Barbara Cooper and Bella Seiden

MEETING: 9:30 AM – ca. 12:00 PM
PLACE: Matthaei Botanical Gardens Auditorium (1800 N Dixboro Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105)
PROGRAM: 10:00 AM – "Flora of the Turkish Silk Road”
We’ll have coffee and breakfast snacks.

Turkey is a country of rich physical and ancient cultural diversity straddling Europe and Asia. Bella and Barbara’s trip to Turkey in the spring of 2019 was an adventure with many surprises and much beauty. As they travelled along parts of the ancient Silk Road they saw mountains, volcanoes, steppe, beautiful rich valleys, rivers and lakes. Each of these areas is home to incredible flora, much of it endemic and fascinating cultural sites. Their presentation will offer some of the highlights of this trip.

Barbara Cooper and Bella Seiden have been gardening together in Toronto for more than 25 years. They have a plant collector’s garden in an urban setting, where they have constructed a tufa garden, crevice and rock garden as well as perennial beds. Over the years they have developed an interest in seeing plants in their natural habitat and have traveled several times to South America, South Africa, and Turkey. They are members of the Ontario Rock Garden and Hardy Plant Society where they are responsible for the Speaker’s Programme.

Saturday, September 16, 2023 Fall Meeting, Plant Sale, & Garden Tour

MEETING: 11:30 AM – ca. 3:00 PM
PLACE: Ed and Colleen Weiss’s garden (1005 Fairmount Drive, Ann Arbor MI 48105)
For traffic notes see the 2022 Fall Plant Sale insert!
11:30 – ca. 1:30 tour the garden.
BAG LUNCH: At your convenience while touring the garden
PLANT SALE: 1:30 PM

Saturday, May 13, 2023 Spring Meeting, Plant Sale, & Garden Tour

This meeting will be special. We’ll be visiting Benedict’s Nursery, in northern Indiana. If you have been there, you will know it is a major destination for display gardens and great plants. So be prepared to be amazed – and get some super plants above and beyond our spring sale! To make things more convenient, as it is a long drive, we’re looking to charter a bus. So simply don’t miss it.
All the details for both spring meetings are in our Spring Newsletter; so click this link.

Saturday, April 8, 2023 Spring Meeting at Matthaei Botanical Garden

We have the good fortune to have had, through the NARGS Speakers Tour, Ian and Carole Bainbridge from Great Britain. Due to a morning event in the Matthaei Auditorium, we were there for their Lectures only after lunch:
2:00 PM: World of Bulbs
4:00 PM: A garden from scratch: development of our Galloway garden since 2010

Drs. Carole and Ian Bainbridge, from southwest Scotland, are keen Rock Gardeners, active for many years in the Scottish Rock Garden Club in various capacities. For over forty years they have travelled extensively around the world in search of alpine plants. Since their retirements, they have been working on their Galloway garden, started from scratch in 2010, after they moved from Edinburgh after 31 years [see]. Ian’s career was in nature conservation and ecology and ended as Chief Ecological Adviser to the Sottish Government, and Head of Science at the Scottish nature conservation agency. Carole followed her degree in biology working in various positions including the European Commission. She eventually retrained in garden design and had her own company. We are very fortunate to have had two talks from such knowledgeable and world-travelled gardeners!

Saturday, January 21, 2023 Annual Winter Potluck, in person

Auditorium at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 1800 N Dixboro Rd, Ann Arbor
10:30 AM: GLC-NARGS Board Meeting Earlier time than usual by 30 minutes
12:00 Noon: Potluck Lunch (see notes by Julie Caroff in Newsletter)
  1:00 PM: Brief membership business Meeting
  1:30 PM: Sean Zera
       Irises (and More) of Primorye (Russia)
Sean is our Vice-president and in 2019, on behalf of the American Iris Society, had the opportunity to accompany a group of Russian and Mongolian botanists on a trip to collect wild iris species in Primorye, the southeasternmost region of Russia. He shared photos of the locations visited and of numerous plants, many of which are familiar as garden plants or as East Asian counterparts of our native species.

See also the 2023 Winter Newsletter.

March, 2023 Seed Exchange

GLC did the second round of the NARGS seed exchange for one more turn, again in Tony's giant garage.


[2022]


[2021]


[2020]


[2019]


[2018]


[2017]

News

8 Sept 2023: 2023 Fall Newsletter from Tony Reznicek

15 July 2023: From Jacques Thompson: blog posting "The Red Menace"

10 June 2023: From Jacques Thompson: blog posting "Approaching Mid June"

26 Mar 2023: 2023 Spring Newsletter from Tony Reznicek

16 Mar 2022: PDF of Cactus Lecture by Dave Hinch and Vince Russo posted

12 Mar 2022: Cactus Meeting held at Matthaei BG

Announcements included:

  SeedEx—Holly Pilon still needs volunteers with half job already done

  A stipend for first-time AGM attendance was announced; to apply contact the GLC Chair or Treasurer

  The Azary Garden project will be restarting in the Spring; to volunteer contact Tony Reznicek

  For the Azary Project more tufa will be obtained from the Sandusky OH area; members who wish to join a convoy down there to get their own tufa should contact Linda Gates.

6 Mar 2022: New GLC Blog posting from Jacques Thompson

1 Mar 2022: SeedEx—Holly Pilon needs volunteers

The surplus seed round ordering starts on Tuesday, March 1 and we will have our first work day on Saturday, March 5, 1-4pm. Our workday schedule after the 5th goes as follows:
Tue and Thu, March 8 & 10, 1-4pm
Wed March 9, 6-8pm
Sun March 13, 1-4pm
Tue and Thu, March 15 & 17, 1-4pm
Wed, March 16, 6-8pm
Sat, March 19, 1-4pm
Tue, March 22, 1-4pm
For details and to volunteer see the Winter Newsletter.

28 Feb 2022: new GLC Winter Newsletter posted.

Plant Image List: Hamamelis xintermedia ‘Orange Peel’; Galanthus woronowii; Eranthis hyemalis; Adonis 'Fukujukai'; Mahonia bealii; Illicium floridanum; Arum dioscoridis; Cylindropuntia davisii.

Jan and Feb 2022: new GLC Blog postings from Jacques Thompson

Tony Reznicek received 2017 NARGS Edgar T. Wherry Award

Read Encomium

Spring Photos: Jacques Thompson (03 Mar 2020)

  • Eranthis a wood lot full

    Eranthis hyemalis: wood lot full

  • Eranthis in a wood lot

    Eranthis hyemalis:

  • Eranthis in a wood lot seen by Jacques Thompson and Don Lafond

    Eranthis hyemalis: seen by Jacques Thompson and Don Lafond

  • Eranthis in a wood lot seen by Jacques Thompson and Don Lafond

    Eranthis hyemalis: seen by Jacques Thompson and Don Lafond

  • Eranthis in a wood lot seen by Jacques Thompson and Don Lafond

    Eranthis hyemalis: seen by Jacques Thompson and Don Lafond

  • Eranthis in a wood lot seen by Jacques Thompson and Don Lafond

    Eranthis hyemalis: seen by Jacques Thompson and Don Lafond

  • Eranthis hyemalis: an almost white form

    Eranthis hyemalis: an almost white form

  • Eranthis hyemalis: in the Ions' garden Mar 08

    Eranthis hyemalis: in the Ions' garden Mar 08

  • The same space in the Ions' garden 16 Mar 2015

    The same space in the Ions' garden 16 Mar 2015

  • Eranthis hyemalis: a green one, from a GLC sale, in the Ions' garden

    Eranthis hyemalis: a green one, from a GLC sale, in the Ions' garden, 12 Mar 2020

  • Eranthis hyemalis: the green one, in the Ions' garden 15 Mar 2023

    Eranthis hyemalis: the green one, in the Ions' garden, 15 Mar 2023

  • Two Daphnes showing different icing 24 Feb 2023

    Two Daphnes showing different icing 24 Feb 2023

  • A green Trillium in Northern Michigan 10 May 2015

    A green Trillium in Northern Michigan 10 May 2015.

  • Eranthis hyemalis: the green one two back, from a GLC sale, in the Ions' garden, 19 Mar 2021;noe 'Peony Envy'

    The green one two back, from a GLC sale, in the Ions' garden, 20 Mar 2021; now Eranthis hyemalis 'Peony Envy'.

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