After spending the past 20 years working at Winterbourne, I am saying goodbye this February to take on a new challenge as a Head Gardener elsewhere. Winterbourne has been such a significant part of my life, it’s been a hugely difficult decision – but it’s time for me to get my teeth into another garden landscape and apply everything I have learned here at Winterbourne to a different environment.
Since I first announced that I would be leaving Winterbourne, lots of people have been asking me the same questions: what are you most proud of, and what has been your favourite part about working here for so many years? So, let’s get into it…
‘We’re indebted to the amazingly dedicated team that put so much energy into ensuring the garden survived.’
There are so many moments, achievements, and even particular plants that come to mind, but one unique challenge stands out – helping to lead the garden through the COVID-19 pandemic is what I am most proud of. The garden was cared for through the various lockdowns by a skeleton team of staff, going above and beyond to ensure that the garden continued to flourish, and would still be there for people to enjoy when things returned to some form of normality.
Winterbourne’s seven-acre botanic garden became one of the first sites in Birmingham to reopen to the public during what was an incredibly turbulent and difficult time for us all. It provided people with restorative outdoor space and reconnected them with nature, and their community following a period of such unprecedented isolation. We’re indebted to the amazing, dedicated team that put so much energy into first ensuring the garden survived, and then secondly recovering it so quickly back to the immaculate standards we hold ourselves to at Winterbourne. Without this dedication, the outcome could have been far worse, and the effects felt for far longer.
‘Winterbourne has a way of hooking people in.’
On that note, my favourite aspect of the role has undoubtedly been working alongside so many other people who share my passion for Winterbourne. I work closely with an expert team of gardeners of course – made up of staff, trainees and volunteers – as well as other team members, each expert in their field and essential to Winterbourne’s success: visitor services, event planners, educators, curators, caterers and housekeepers, to name but a few.
Winterbourne has a way of hooking people in and inspiring them to keep developing and improving the site for the ongoing enjoyment of our communities. I have every confidence the current team will continue this same tradition with every bit as much passion and energy.
‘Wow, what a structure!’
My favourite area of the garden has to be the Pergola on the Lower Lawn. An obvious choice, I know, but when the six wisterias planted there all flower together in May, it really is a sight to behold. Only in larger gardens like Winterbourne can you see such awe-inspiring planting on this scale. It reminds me of the special role that Winterbourne, and other large public gardens like it, can play.
Before I even worked at Winterbourne, back when I was a horticultural trainee at another garden, I remember visiting Winterbourne and seeing the Pergola for the first time and thinking to myself: ‘Wow, what a structure! Somebody should plant loads of wisteria and jasmine vines all over it!’ Thankfully, several years later, I had the opportunity to do just that.
‘It has been a privilege and an immense amount of fun to work with [volunteers] over the years.’
I think the thing I will miss most about Winterbourne is working with and developing our volunteer team – some of whom have been volunteering in the garden for almost all my 20 years. Winterbourne has a special, unfailingly committed and engaged group of volunteers. It has been a privilege and an immense amount of fun to work with them over the years. I’ve loved hearing everybody’s varied stories, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, as well as watching individual volunteers achieve their personal goals, whether that’s to gain practical gardening experience, grow their skills and knowledge of a particular subject, or simply to make some new friends with a shared hobby. It’s been so rewarding to see new faces join the team and quickly become such a valued part of Winterbourne.
‘Winterbourne is a place of many people.’
I hope that in my 20 years at Winterbourne, I’ve left some sort of mark on the garden myself, but really, Winterbourne is a place of many people. It always has been, and I suspect always will be. I can’t thank everybody enough for allowing me to be a part of it. I know your new Head Gardener will get ‘hooked in’ just the same as the rest of us, and no doubt will apply lots of exciting energy to the project that comes with fresh eyes. I can’t wait to see how this next stage develops. Whatever that looks like, you can be sure, there will be no bigger cheerleader than me, supporting from afar.
Thank you for sharing your enjoyment of the garden with me for all these years.
Happy gardening!
Dan Cartwright
Head Gardener
[Disclaimer: The content in this RSS feed is automatically fetched from external sources. All trademarks, images, and opinions belong to their respective owners. We are not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of third-party content.]
Source link
