Our March chapter meeting will be March 8th at the Lyndhurst Mansion Carriage House/Visitor Center. Our guest speaker will be Lori Chips with her presentation on Why and How We Propagate Alpines. Lori is an expert and it will be very informative!
As usual, the meeting will start at 10 am with announcements and any show and tell you might have. Members with last names starting with N-Z should bring refreshments.
10:00 - Meeting starts
~10:20 - Alpine Propagation presentation starts
Why and How We Propagate Alpines
From Lori: "My talk on Propagation will cover a lot of aspects of this absorbing art, touching upon division, a little about seed sowing, but heavier on taking cuttings since it always seems to be more of a mystery to people. I have lots of visuals of the process, the tools, the plants as cuttings, as rooted cuttings, and as blooming plants. I will do my best to demystify rooting woody plants as well. I hope you will laugh with me too, when I describe the pitfalls I have fallen into, in hopes that others can avoid those. When I put this lecture together it made me realize how many small tricks & tips I had accumulated over the years. A similar feeling as the one that made me write my trough book. And it feels wonderful to pass these small wisdoms along. And more than that; I remember the magic I felt when I first rooted a batch of cuttings. I hope to communicate that magic to everyone listening."
Lori Chips
Lori Chips has been committed to the exploration of alpine plants since her student days at The New York Botanical Garden. After graduating from the School of Professional Horticulture at NYBG she accepted the job as propagator for the Rock and Native Plant Gardens. She has been the animating spirit behind Alpines and Troughs at Oliver Nurseries for over 25 years, expanding the rock garden collection and pressing the boundaries in the art and science of creating and planting troughs, a long-standing interest that holds a special place in her heart. Lori also currently creates the content for Oliver’s Social Media.
Her book: Hypertufa Containers: Creating and Planting an Alpine Trough Garden was released by Timber Press in 2018.
In 2023 she was interviewed by Margaret Roach for the New York Times on both the renovation of the planted alpine wall garden and her work with trough gardens. Later that year Lori authored an article on the planted wall for Connecticut Gardener Magazine. Both of these can be read on Oliver Nurseries website.
She has taught classes at NYBG, lectured to the North American Rock Garden Society and written many articles for NARGS as well as Oliver’s over the years. As a botanical illustrator, Lori’s artwork has appeared on the covers of the NARGS Quarterly. (1999) She has lectured widely on toughs, alpines and succulents, including the national event “Succulents on the Rocks” hosted by NARGS in concert with the Cactus and Succulent Society in 2022. She is the recipient of the Carleton R. Worth Award for horticultural writing. She has judged at the Philadelphia Flower Show as well as at smaller venues. She has a B.A. from Bard college where received the Wilton Moore Lockwood Award for creative Writing.
Lori lives and gardens with her husband Joe, without whom there would be less rock in the rock garden, and who is her unflagging partner, travelling to climb mountains, explore other gardens, and meet other like-minded gardeners.