40th Alpine Weekend

The speakers at this year’s event will be:

• John Mitchell
• Seamus O’Brien
• Kevin Begley

Lecture Programme

Saturday 15th November

11.00
14.00
16.00

Sunday 16th November

09.30
11.00

Speakers:

John Mitchell

After obtaining his Horticultural qualification John worked initially at St Andrews Botanic Garden, Inverewe. For the last 40 years John has worked at Edinburgh Botanic Garden, the last 19 as Supervisor. His main duties are managing the Alpine Department which includes the Rock Garden, the Woodland Garden, the Alpine Area and most recently the New Alpine House. For the last 20 years John has co-led tours to Yunnan, Sichuan, Tibet, Iran and Alaska. He has also been on expeditions to Yunnan, Sichuan, Iran, and most recently the Russian republic of Altai, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan.

Seamus O’Brien

Seamus O’Brien is Head Gardener at the National Botanic Gardens, Kilmacurragh, Co. Wicklow, the country estate and rural annex of the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin in Dublin. He received his formal horticultural training at Glasnevin and also holds an International Diploma in Botanic Gardens Management from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

He has been Head Gardener of several notable Irish gardens with historic plant collections, including Glanleam on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, famed for its southern hemisphere trees and shrubs, and Beech Park in Clonsilla, then renowned for one of the largest collections of herbaceous and alpine plants in Britain and Ireland. He returned to Glasnevin as a staff member in February 2000 and from there moved to manage the gardens at Kilmacurragh in May 2006.

He has travelled extensively across the globe to study plants in their native habitats, most notably to China, Nepal, Tibet, California, Bhutan, Myanmar, Chile, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and, in more recent times to India, including successive trips to the Sikkim Himalaya. From these expeditions he has published two award winning books; In the Footsteps of Augustine Henry and his Chinese collectors (2011), and, In the Footsteps of Joseph Dalton Hooker: A Sikkim Adventure (2018). He also contributes to several publications including Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, The Irish Garden, the Irish Garden Plant Society newsletter and the International Dendrology Society Year Book. He lectures on garden history and botanical travel internationally and is a member of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Woody Plant Committee and is a judge of the RHS Early Spring Shows. Rhododendrons are a passion and he is Irish Branch Chairman of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Rhododendron Camellia and Magnolia Group.  In 2018 Seamus was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland’s Gold Medal of Honour, in 2021 he was made a Fellow of the Explorer’s Club (New York) and in 2022 he was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society’s (UK) Loder Rhododendron Cup.

Kevin Begley

Kevin Begley, age 75, took up gardening with alpine plants when approaching his retirement. His Alpine House in Coolwater Garden, Co. Limerick has been landscaped inside, on one side with carboniferous limestone rocks and the other with Namurian shale rocks, to cater for both lime-loving and acid-loving plants. (https://coolwatergarden.com/).

What To Expect

Since its outset, the Alpine Weekend has always been held in the headquarters of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association, An Grianán, a location which is really handy for alpinists both North and South, if a little hard to find on one’s first visit. Google Maps and satnav nowadays take care of that problem. It’s a very comfortable and friendly venue, with all the facilities we need for accommodation, dining, and lectures and, of course, a bar. The sea is very close by, so many of us venture down for a walk on the strand in the mornings before the day’s events get underway.

The aim of the Weekend is for those of us with a passion for alpine plants to learn more about them, from the invited experts of course, but also from each other. There is much informal sharing of knowledge, and very often of seeds and plants too. The lecture topics are carefully chosen to give variety, covering both the cultivation of alpines and also their occurrence in their natural habitats.

We assemble late on Friday afternoon for high tea, followed by an informal session where members share their alpine experiences of the past year with slides of plants and gardens. It’s a great way of socialising and renewing acquaintance.

After a leisurely breakfast on Saturday morning, we have time to view the specialist trade plant sales before the official programme begins. We hold three lectures on the first day, interspersed with refreshments of lunch and tea (and more visits to the plant sales). Then after dinner the evening’s entertainment begins, generally a table quiz followed by an auction of plants contributed by members. Then, exhausted, we retire to the bar.

Between the two lectures on Sunday we hold the members’ plant sale, an eclectic mix of plants, garden, alpine or even vegetable, contributed by members and whose sale contributes to the running of the Society’s activities. There’s also a discussion forum for members to get advice on all aspects of alpine cultivation from the (many) expert growers attending.

Finally we meet for tea, and the all-important raffle, before dispersing into the, by now, gathering gloom.

Directions to An Grianán

From the South:
Travel on the M1 motorway and exit at junction 10 immediately after crossing the Boyne Cable Bridge.
Take third exit off roundabout heading for Monasterboice / Drogheda.

From the North:
Travel on the M1 motorway and exit at junction 10 immediately before crossing the Boyne Cable Bridge.
Take first exit off roundabout heading for Monasterboice / Drogheda.

All routes:
At next roundabout take second exit heading for Monasterboice
At next roundabout take first exit onto the old Belfast road heading north.
After 4km approx (immediately after Pope John Paul’s monument) turn right into the filter lane at sign for Termonfeckin.
( this is after two lanes merge into one climbing the hill. )
Drive approx 6k directly to a dangerous partially blind crossroads. Straight through .
Drive 5km approx and take Left turn at T junction.
Right turn after 100m.
Drive directly into Termonfeckin to a T junction facing Church.
Left turn and after 100m, right turn at lights for An Grianan.

Note that we were unable to hold the Alpine Weekend in 2020 or 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.