EVENTS ARCHIVE
2024
January 9th Zoom Meeting
AGM and election of officers
Paul Spriggs -- 'Stuff VIRAGS Members Need to Know'
February 11th -- Zoom Meeting
Razvan Chisu -- 'Plants of Romania'
March 12th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Riz Reyes -- 'New Directions at Heronswood Gardens'
April 9th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Barbera & Bella Seiden -- 'Plants of Turkey's Silk Road'
May 14th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Justin Dunning -- 'New Information on Trillium hibbersonii'
June 11th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Summer Potluck
Janice Curry -- 'Botanizing Patagonia'
September 10th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Patrick Von Aderkas -- 'Growing Ferns from Spores to Plants'
October 15th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Connor Smith -- Tromso Botanic Garden, Norway -- 'Gardening on Top of the World'
November 12th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Members' Photo Show
December -- In Person Meeting
Christmas Potluck supper
2023
2022
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
January 9th Zoom Meeting
AGM and election of officers
Paul Spriggs -- 'Stuff VIRAGS Members Need to Know'
February 11th -- Zoom Meeting
Razvan Chisu -- 'Plants of Romania'
March 12th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Riz Reyes -- 'New Directions at Heronswood Gardens'
April 9th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Barbera & Bella Seiden -- 'Plants of Turkey's Silk Road'
May 14th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Justin Dunning -- 'New Information on Trillium hibbersonii'
June 11th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Summer Potluck
Janice Curry -- 'Botanizing Patagonia'
September 10th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Patrick Von Aderkas -- 'Growing Ferns from Spores to Plants'
October 15th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Connor Smith -- Tromso Botanic Garden, Norway -- 'Gardening on Top of the World'
November 12th -- In Person & Zoom Meeting
Members' Photo Show
December -- In Person Meeting
Christmas Potluck supper
2023
- AGM & election of officers; Sue Millikin & Kelly Dobson --'The Birth of the Crevice Garden' -- Zoom Meeting
- Chris Dixon -- 'Rock Gardening for the Spatially Challenged - with an emphasis on gardening in pots, troughs and small spaces' -- Zoom Meeting
- Paul Spriggs -- 'Favourites for the Crevice Garden' -- Zoom Meeting
- Annual Spring Show and Sale -- Lambrick Park Church Hall
- Nick Courtens -- 'The Betty Ford Alpine Garden in Vail Colorado' -- In person and Zoom Meeting at Lambrick Park Church
- Ted Alway -- 'Diverse Flora of the Wenatchee Mountains' -- In person and Zoom Meeting at Lambrick Park Church
- David Charlton -- 'Wild Flowers of the Picos de Europa'-- Summer Potluck at the home of Janice Currie
- Janice Currie -- 'The Flowering Desert of Northern Chile' -- In person and Zoom Meeting at Lambrick Park Church
- Richard Hebda -- 'Colchicums' -- In Person and Zoom Meeting at Lambrick Park Church
- Oron Peri -- bulb specialist from Israel -- In person and Zoom Meeting at Lambrick Park Church
- Members photo Show and Christmas Potluck supper -- In person and Teams Meeting at Lambrick Park Church
2022
- AGM &election of officers; Calver Palmateer -- Winter Garden Plants -- Zoom Meeting
- Mike Kintgen -- The Rise of Rock Gardening; Alpines in the Southern Rockies -- Zoom Meeting
- Cliff Booker & John Dower -- Show Fever -- Zoom Meeting
- Spring Show & Symposium -- 100th anniversary of VIRAGS (1921 to 2021) -- Mary Winspear Centre
- Jay Ackerly -- Rock Garden Succulents from Sea to Sky --Zoom Meeting
- Martin Sheader -- Flowers of the Mountains of Central Chile -- Zoom Meeting
- Show and Tell, BYO Picnic and favourite plant; Plant sale--home of Janice Currie
- Cam Kidd -- Sedums & Other Succulents for the Pacific North West -- in person meeting at Lambrick Park Church
- Colin Tamboline -- Rocky Mountain High - Wild Flowers of the Continental Divide -- in person meeting and Zoom meeting
- Members Photo Show -- in person & zoom meeting
- Christmas Party - Lambrick Park Church
- AGM & election of officers; David Sellers, Janice Currie, Paul Spriggs--'A Saxifraga -- Zoom Meeting
- Liz Knowles -- 'The Flora of Japan' -- Zoom Meeting
- Jim Jermyn -- 'Growing Alpines in True Character' -- Zoom Meeting
- Round Table on Troughs - Host Erik Fleischer with Janice Currie, Domenique Turnbull, Jay Akerley, Chris Dixon -- Zoom Meeting
- Liberto Dario -- 'Greek Alpine Flora' -- Zoom Meeting
- Jeff Wright -- 'A Fairly Ferny Garden' -- Zoom Meeting
- Jamie Ellison -- 'Bogs and Bog Gardening' -- Zoom Meeting
- Nick Courtens -- 'Tajikistan & Uzbekistan - Adventures Along the Silk Road' Zoom Meeting
- Annual Members' Photo Show -- Zoom Meeting
- Brian Rowe -- 'Sub-Antarctic Flora of the South Pacific' -- Zoom Meeting
2020
- Round Robin WORKSHOPS
1. Lloyd Gilmore -- Hybridizing Auricula Primulas
2. Paul Spriggs -- Building a Crevice Garden in a Trough
3. Joe Harvey -- How to Make and Use a Home Propagator Unit
- AGM & election of officers
- Diane Whitehead & friends -- 'A close-up Look at the Genus Galanthus'
- Mike Bone -- 'Steppe Plants for the Rock Garden' cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic
- Spring Show -- cancelled
- Jenny Wainwright-Klein -- 'Alpines of the Drakensburg Mts.' cancelled
- Cliff Booker -- ' The Cream of Alpines' cancelled
- Annual Picnic -- cancelled
- Paul Spriggs -- 'Island Alpine Flora' -- Zoom Meeting
- Justin Dunning -- 'Wild Orchids of BC' -- Zoom Meeting
- Members' Photo Night -- Zoom Meeting
- Janice Currie & Friends -- 'Vistas & Plants of Chile' -- Zoom Meeting
2019
- Janice Currie - 'A Lifetime of Pleasure With Gardening'
- Round Robin Workshops - 1. Diane Whitehead - Identifying Snowdrops 2. John Sheridan 'Alpine Seed Sowing' 3. Lloyd Gilmore 'Growing & Showing Auricula Primulas'
- John Mitchell - RBG Scotland 'Curation, Collection & Cultivation'
- Ger van den Beuken - Netherlands 'Cultivation of the Genus Saxifraga'
- Jay Ackerly - Rock Garden Plants of Canada's West Coast'
- Marcella Ferreyra - Argentina 'Flora of Patagonia'
- Claire Cockcroft - Bellevue Washington 'Trekking & Learnign About Asiatic Primulas'
- Carmen Varcoe & Friends - 'A Close Up Look at the Genus Cyclamen'
- Members Photo Show
- VIRAGS' Christmas Party
2018
- Hans Roemer - 'Bavarian Spring Flowers'
- Annual General Meeting
- Paul Spriggs - 'A Grand Tour - the Rock Gardens of the Czech Republic'
- Julia Corden - Scotland - 'Wengen & the Bernese Oberland Area of Switzerland - High European Flora'
- Jim Jermyn - Scotland - 'Primulas Old & New'
- Howard Wills - UK - 'Exhibiting at RHS Flower Shows'
- VIRAGS Picnic & Plant Auction
- Chris Gardener - UK - 'The Flora of the Silk Road'
- Plant Sale
- Laura Caddy - UBC - 'The E.H. Lohbrunner Alpine Garden, UBC'
- Members' Photo Show
- VIRAGS Christmas Party
2017
- Dr. Tony Rezniek - Collectors' Plants: Why a Botanist Chooses to Grow Certain Plants
- Jiri Papousek from the Czech Republic - Growing Alpines in the Czech Garden
- Alan McMurtrie -Magical Canadian-Bred Reticulata Iris
- Bert Hendriksen - Cacti for the rock garden
- Ken Marr, Curator of Botany, RBC Museum - New Plant Discoveries from Northern BC Alpine
- Philip MacDougall Polygonatums and Epimediums
- Joe Harvey - Fern Propagation.
- Ty Danylchuk - Building a crevice garden in a trough.
- Jacq Bradbury - Preparing your plants for the spring show
2016
- Lloyd Gilmore:Cultivation of Dwarf Rhododendrons
- Mike Kintgen: Searching for Plants in Some of the Most Beautiful Places Around the World
- Adrian Hutchison: Wildflowers in the Dolomites
- Todd Boland: Spring in the Pyrenees
- Malcolm MacGregor: Rock Gardening: What's a Heaven For?
- Paul Spriggs: What's in the mix - Understanding rock garden soils
- Janice Currie: A Garden of South African Impressions
2015
- U.K. sempervivum specialist Howard Wills at the Christmas party
- Hans Roemer: Alpine Plants in the Southern Canadian Rockies
- Jay Akerley North American Cordillera Plants for the B.C. Garden
- David Sellars: The Joy of Sax: Saxifrages in the rock garden
- Andree Connell: Cyclamen, Know 'em, grow 'em, sow 'em
- Pam Eveleigh: Modern Plant Hunting
- Agnes Lynn: Local Wildflowers at Your Feet
- Paul Spriggs: Searching for Lewisia tweedyi
- Workshops:
Hans Roemer - growing bulbs in pots
Maedythe Martin - growing and flowering hepaticas in pots
Paul Spriggs - constructing a container crevice garden
2014
- John Fitch Professor Emeritus, UVic: What's in a Name? Latin and Greek in our Names for Wildflowers
- Bill McMillan: Selected Gardens and Birds of Southern England and the Scilly Isles
- Erica Wheeler from the Herbarium Dept., Royal BC Museum: Alliums
- Kenton Seth Caucasus and Crevices; from Georgia to the Garden: Planthunting in the Greater Caucasus
and what those environments mean for inviting those plants home - Gordon Murray: Trilliums, an Accidental Science
- Agnes Lynn: Some Favourite Gems from the Olympics
- Paul Spriggs: The Art of the Crevice Garden and a Report on the Czech International Rock Garden Conference
2013
- Philip MacDougall: Yunnan
- Agnes Lynn: Flora of the San Juan Ridge
- Janice Currie: Tripping with the Czech Republic's Best Rock and Alpine Gardeners
- Chris Chadwell Paradise on Earth: The Beautiful Rock Garden Plants of Kashmir
- Andy MacKinnon: Adaptations of Life in The Alpine
- Ian Efford: New Zealand Alpines, A Failure in Planning
- Jeff De Jong: Trough Love
- Rex Murfitt: Waterperry Gardens
2012
- Zdenek Zvolanek - Daphnes
- Diane Whitehead - Spring in Namaqualand, the Karoo, and Western Australia
- David Sellars - Chaos in the Rock Garden: Putting Theory into Practice
- Ken Marr -Botanizing in the Altai Mountains and Far Eastern Russia
- Grahame Ware of Owl and Stump Rare Plants Roscoea: Robust Renegade of the Ginger Family
- Harvey Wrightman of Wrightman Alpines in Ontario - Clay/Crevice: New techniques for new plants
- Kristl Walek of Gardens North, Seeds for the World Woodland Wildflowers of Eastern Canada
- Paul Spriggs: A Great Scot: David Douglas, The Man, The Legend and his Plants
- Philip MacDougall: Roadside Anatolia
2011
- Richard Fraser - Helleboreganza
- Philip MacDougall - Araucariana - Why don't we grow Philesea magellanica?
- Grahame Ware - Mukdenia rossii- A Saxifrage Relative with Oomph!
- Ron Long - Pink Mountain Revisited -The Conservation Crisis that No One is Aware of
- Janice Currie - A Plant Lover's Photo Shoot of New Zealand's Most Famous Public and Private Gardens
2010
- Brenda Costanzo - Native Plants
- Bill Terry - The Perfect Garden: Plant Hunting in Tibet
- Richard Hebda - Galanthus
- Judith McLauchlan - An Australian Spring
- Brian Rogers: The Gardens of Government House
- Paul Spriggs: Lessons from Crete
- Bill Barker's slides organized by John Sheridan: a wilderness ecotourist visit to Chris Czajkowski near Tweedsmuir Park.
- Gordon MacKay: Dwarf Conifers: The Backbone of the Rock Garden
2009
- John Sheridan - Remembering Pamela Dalziel
- John Sheridan - A Further Foray into VIRAGS History
- Rotating Workshops
- Rex Murfitt: How to divide plants and plant them on
- Rodger Whitlock: How to clean seeds
- Daphne Guernsey: How to sow different seeds
- Pam Eveleigh - Tibetan Primulas
- Linda Verbeek - Western Alpines
- Yvonne Rorison - Schezuan and Yunnan, China
- Hans Roemer - Climate and Plant Choices
- Rodger Whitlock - Hepaticas
- Carmen Varcoe - Plant Expedition to Bhutan
- Brian White - Vietnam's Plants from the Backwoods
2008
- Claire Cockcroft - Plants of Crete
- Richard Hebda -The Colchicums: Naked Ladies and Naked Boys
- Sean Hogan - Plants of the Sierras
- Rex Murfitt - Myth Busting
- Johanna Piltzer - Growing Alpines
- David Sellars - Following in the Footsteps of Reginald Farrer in the Dolomites
- Mark Turner - Plants of the North Cascades
- Henrik Zetterlund - Corydalis