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


With the easing of the restrictions on assembly due to COVID-19 mitigation we have returned to holding meetings and lectures, still within the public health policies recommended by the State of Michigan and the US CDC.

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

Auditorium at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 1800 N Dixboro Rd, Ann Arbor
11:00 AM: GLC-NARGS Board Meeting
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 will share photos of the locations visited and of numerous plants, many of which will be familiar as garden plants or as East Asian counterparts of our native species.

See also the 2023 Winter Newsletter.

March, 2023 Seed Exchange

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

Saturday, April 8, 2023 Spring Meeting at Matthaei

We have the good fortune this spring to have, through the NARGS Speakers Tour, Ian and Carole Bainbridge from Great Britain. They are great plants people and we’ll have an exciting program. Mark the day on your Calendar!

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 will be in our spring newsletter!


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.

NARGS 2023 Annual Meeting – 2023 Nova Scotia NARGS Conference and AGM: Rocks, Plants, Habitats. June 8, 2023 - June 11, 2023 TRURO, NOVA SCOTIA: (https://www.nargs.org/2023-nova-scotia-nargs-conference-and-agm-rocks-plants-habitats)

SATURDAY, NOV 13, 2021: NARGS NATIONAL EVENT

This was a ZOOM event with 6 excellent presentations – See: https://www.nargs.org/nargs-rocks-woodlanders-buy-ticket. See the website for possibilities to watch the recorded program.

Previous Great Lakes Chapter Events

Click upon a year to toggle visibility of the events list:


[2022]

Saturday, October 29, 2022 Harry Jans

We had Harry Jans from the Netherlands, intrepid traveller and rock gardener, come to our Chapter through the NARGS speakers tour. See his website with numerous wonderful images of plants (more than 26,000). Further meeting details were shown as they became available; the talks were in Matthaei's Auditorium.

Saturday, September 17, 2022 Fall Meeting and Plant Sale

This was at Jacques and Andrea Thompson's beginning at noon; with a Board Meeting preceding at 11:00 AM. There was a succesful plant sale.
For location details see the 2022 Fall Newsletter and its 2022 Fall Plant Sale insert.

SUNDAY, October 2, 2022 Fall meeting

Karen Perkins of Garden Vision Epimediums gave us two talks in the Matthaei Botanical Gardens auditorium; lunch was served between talks. Many of you will have gotten her lovely catalogues and seen her inspiring site.
She had plants for sale since she is retiring the business this year. All the details were be in the Fall newsletter. This was a joint meeting with the Hardy Plant Society.
(NOTE the date is a SUNDAY).

Saturday, June 11, 2022 Spring meeting and Plant Sale

This meeting was later than usual to accommodate peak flowering of hardy cacti. Members visited two gardens, Vince Russo’s and Bob Swartz’s. Some continued on to view Harold Berg's Rhododendron gardens. As usual, the auction and sale contained a good number of interesting plants, as well as a strikingly beautiful book1 2022 on Hepaticas.
The details were in our Spring newsletter or emails.

Saturday, March 12, 2022 Winter Meeting, in person

BOARD: 12:00 PM GLC-NARGS Board Meeting
   (note, no food or drink allowed in the auditorium>
BUSINESS: 1:45 PM: Brief membership business Meeting
PLACE: Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 1800 N Dixboro Rd, Ann Arbor .
PROGRAM: Vince Russo and David Hinch
       Cold-Hardy Cactus for the Garden: Growing in Unexpected Places
NOTE: Matthaei required masks of all persons in the building.
See the Winter Newsletter.
A PDF of Cactus Lecture by Dave Hinch and Vince Russo is viewable through their generosity.


[2021]


[2020]


[2019]


[2018]


[2017]

News

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

  • 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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