Rock Garden Quarterly

[McGregor]

Looks like north-east Scotland is ahead of England for deliveries!

[McGregor]

It turned up in my post shortly after posting the last comment - of course!

[Booker]

It turned up in my post shortly after posting the last comment - of course!

We must have the same postman, Malcolm ...   

[McGregor]

Sorry not to have been in touch with people here - but along with Cliff and Fermi and quite a few others we were meeting up at the 8th International Rock Garden Conference in Nottingham, UK. Great sweep of lectures by a swathe of world experts. Lots of NARGS members were there so I'm sure the news about the event will filter through to people in a whole host of ways.

Anyway I'm now working on the next issue although the deadline for stuff is not quite yet as I'm traveling a bit in May and then over to the Annual in NH in June - really looking forward to meeting up with everyone. Don't think people will quite have the Quarterly before the Annual but it should be with them pretty quickly after they get back.

[IMYoung]

Just home from the Alpines 2011 Conference in Nottingham and we were delighted to meet so many new North American friends there, including the charming NARGS Vice President, Maria Galletti and "astragalus" Anne Spiegl- what a great time we had.

[McGregor]

..... and Ian gave a great presentation based on his garden and the growing principles behind it - enthusiasm radiated from the stage !

[Booker]

..... and Ian gave a great presentation based on his garden and the growing principles behind it - enthusiasm radiated from the stage !

I would concur Malcolm ... a virtuoso performance that should have been videoed for posterity!  Many thanks Ian.

[McGregor]

Just to keep people in touch with progress - the latest Quarterly is now at the printers being proofed and will finally be signed off immediately after the Annual so the new Officers and Board members elected will be listed. Should be in the post by July 6th.

We are now on our third account manager in four issues since I took over - not my fault honestly - but I'm hoping that we can get the sort of output we are looking for.

[McGregor]

As anticipated the Fall issue of the Quarterly went into the post in Kansas yesterday (July 6th) - it's always good to know that it is on it's way to people just as I'm starting to work on the next issue. In response to feedback I have tried with the printer to address the problem of rather low key color and density. Hope the results please you. I'm pretty happy with it.

[Fermi]

I'll keep an eye out for it over the next few weeks!
We only just received the latest UK Journal (AGS Bulletin - The Alpine Gardener) which had arrived in the UK at least a week ago.
cheers
fermi

[Peter George]

I just received my copy of the Quarterly. I've gone through it quickly, but it is obviously the best one in years. The photographic quality is excellent, the articles are interesting and varied, and it appears to have something for everyone. I would like to continue having at least one article specifically for beginners, featuring plants that can be grown in rock gardens, but which are both easy and 'safe.' Safe, by the way, means 'non-invasive,' a category which often is overlooked by beginners, who seeking immediate success, often have to resort to the utilization of herbicide to remove the thug that has taken over their garden!

I'm pleased that we now have a Journal that can honestly be described as a BENEFIT of NARGS membership, and which by itself is worth the price a year's membership. Thank you, Malcolm, and continue to make it better!

[McDonough]

As anticipated the Fall issue of the Quarterly went into the post in Kansas yesterday (July 6th) - it's always good to know that it is on it's way to people just as I'm starting to work on the next issue. In response to feedback I have tried with the printer to address the problem of rather low key color and density. Hope the results please you. I'm pretty happy with it.

I don't know about the fall issue, but I did receive my advance copies of the Summer issue as a contributing author and still waiting for my regular copy.  It is indeed a good issue; love the cover, and a well balanced range of articles inside (not that I'm the slightest bit biased ).

While the photo taken by Kurt Vickery of Allium atrosanguineum used in my article shows a lovely meadow of this allium in a tall form intermixed with choice company, I must point out a couple fantastic photographs of Allium atrosanguineum in a compact floriferous form taken in Kazakhstan by Oron Peri, shown on the Scottish Rock Garden Club forum, see it the following links.  Also shown is the bright yellow form A. atrosanguineum var. fedtschenkoanum.
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7511.0
...direct photo links:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=7511.0;attach=301594;image
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=7511.0;attach=301596;image

[McGregor]

Well spotted Mark - now the summer issue is in the post I'm starting work on the fall issue - sorry about that.

[IMYoung]

NARGS Journal just arrived here in North East Scotland.
A super issue with all sorts of goodies... well done Malcolm and all the authors. 

[McGregor]

And my own copy has now arrived in the post with all the extras for the seed exchange. This year I'm going to make every effort not to lose the forms that are needed - already collected some seed and will make the effort to package it up properly and post it off in good time with all the paperwork.

Looking at the latest copy after a couple of weeks break it really does look like we are starting to get somewhere with the reproduction of photographs - this time both color and the density of the pictures seem to be what I've been aiming for. And with the quality of the pictures that people submit I feel that high-quality printing is vital. This time there were some great pictures from Yoko Arakawa that really needed the improved quality to show just how good they were, a range of pictures for the Allium article and thanks to all the photographers, and I was really happy with the way that Lori Chips's drawings came out, and the pics in Marilyn Farr's article on the Picos de Europa.

Now all we have to do is try and maintain the same high standard for the Fall issue - among other things there will be the second part of Stephanie Ferguson's article focussing on some of the stunning plants she's growing.