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EnglishWho Is Harry Jans and What Is His Alpine Plant Expertise?
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Harry Jans is the founder and author behind Jans Alpines (jansalpines.com), a website built around an image gallery of over 36,000 plant photographs with detailed information and a search engine for country, plant species, and more. His expertise comes from more than four decades of growing, observing, and photographing alpine and rock garden plants, combined with long-standing involvement in specialist plant societies.
Background at a Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Born | 1957 |
| Based in | Loenen, near Apeldoorn, Netherlands (altitude 27 m / 70 ft above sea level) |
| Resident there since | 1986 |
| Household | Married to Hannie; both enjoy hiking in the mountains to see plants in their natural environment |
| Education | Studied Garden Design & Maintenance |
| Career | Employed 1982–2024 by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment as a Specialist in Wintermaintenance; now retired |
| Turning point | A 1981 vacation in Switzerland sparked a lasting fascination with alpine plants |
How His Expertise Was Built
Harry Jans describes becoming "completely infected by the alpine virus" after that 1981 trip. His knowledge developed through a combination of hands-on growing and deliberate exchange with other specialists:
- Society membership and exchange. In the early 1980s only a handful of people were working with rock garden plants. To gather more information, he joined the Alpine Garden Society. Contacts through that society and other clubs made it possible to exchange information and experiences — something he describes as crucial for anyone dedicated to the hobby, both for enjoyment and for trading rare plants to build a collection.
- Learning from specialists. He credits much of his learning to specialists in their particular fields of interest.
- Leadership role. He is a founding member of the Dutch Rock Garden Society (Nederlandse Rotsplanten Vereniging, N.R.V.), founded on September 21, 1985, and served as its president from 2000 to 2006. The society began with about 20 members and now has approximately 550, including members from Belgium, Germany, Denmark, and beyond.
What He Grows and How
His garden is constructed in a varied way, and he notes that garden visits — at home and especially abroad — are a major source of ideas, some of which he has adapted in his own way.
The growing setup includes:
- One large alpine house, partly sunk into the ground, with plants located in a plunge and in a tufa wall.
- One small aluminum frame house, used as a workshop for propagating, sowing, potting up, and storing potting soil, gravel, and similar materials.
- A cold frame in the backyard for raising plants, covered by corrugated panels (16 mm / 5/8") that run on rollers, with a louvered front that can be opened or closed.
What This Means for Visitors to Jans Alpines
If you are looking for alpine plant images and reference information, the site reflects the perspective of a long-term grower rather than a commercial nursery: the core resource is the gallery of over 36,000 plant images with detailed information, searchable by country, plant species, and similar criteria. The garden descriptions and images of his own alpine house, tufa wall, and cold frame are useful if you want practical ideas for constructing or adapting your own rock garden and alpine house setup.