Only Kew...
Stepping into Kew Gardens is like going back in time - it’s a Victorian experience at the heart of a modern-day metropolis - a huge oasis in the concrete jungle that is London. Siobhan Harper presents a snapshot of the horticultural operations at the top UK visitor attraction and World Heritage Site that this year celebrates its 250th anniversary
Dr Nigel Taylor, Kew’s Head of Horticulture and Public Experience (Curator), confesses that “he’s a bit of an imposter” because he didn’t complete the three-year Kew Diploma – the world’s foremost qualification in botanical horticulture. “Instead,” he says, “I graduated with a degree in Botany from Reading University in 1977 and joined Kew as the Horticultural Taxonomist in the Herbarium and was the person responsible for naming the plants. I worked closely with the Living Collections and later took on a research role in the Herbarium. In 1995, the position of curator became available and my colleagues encouraged me to apply – and to my surprise I was offered the job!
“At the time, Kew was looking for greater synergy between horticulture and science. Previously these had their own domains and were in competition rather than collaboration. It was a big challenge; I went from managing two staff to 200, and from having no budget to being responsible for £5 million, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
There are many strands to the Kew business, including science and research, seed conservation, collections, visitor programmes and education. Together they combine to make a uniquely spectacular, useful and evolving operation.
The Gardens span 330 acres and employ 700 staff equally across the main areas of horticulture, science and support services, including administration and education. Over the last 10 years, thanks to the development of a range of seasonal festivals and a greater investment in marketing, annual visitor numbers have increased from 850,000 to 1.5 million.
“People come to Kew because it’s a fantastic environment and because it offers a sanctuary away from the hum drum,” explains Nigel.
“It’s safe and child friendly and I think it appeals to people who want to re-acquaint themselves with nature - although strictly speaking this is not nature - but with around 85 per cent of the population living in towns and cities, it’s a very good surrogate. There are also plenty of plant ‘nuts’ like me for whom the spectacle of horticulture is very appealing.”
Kew also has an extensive horticultural volunteer programme which involves over 130 people. “Volunteering is very interesting; it’s a huge source of support and it’s an agent for cultural change. Volunteers come from all walks of life so, for example, in the Arboretum you may have someone who collects refuse as a day job but works here alongside a professor from Imperial College. The volunteer element also impresses on staff how special it is to be working at Kew; they see the awe they have for the place. That’s very healthy, I think.
“We are now in a position where we have more volunteers applying than positions available. It would be nice to think we could expand volunteering indefinitely, but if the balance of staff to volunteers is wrong, the volunteer doesn’t have a good experience and that would dissipate the reputation and pleasure of the role. Providing adequate training, supervision and comradeship is very important.”
Some horticultural volunteer programmes Nigel has seen abroad “have thousands of volunteers but most of the staff don’t seem to know the volunteers or what they are doing, and it strikes me as chaotic”.
Where operations allow, Kew is green and sustainable and its ISO 14001 accreditation defines the continual drive to sustainability. For example, less than two per cent of its organic waste matter is destroyed (when it is infected by pests and diseases and cannot be composted). Composting is, in fact, key to Kew’s survival, as Nigel explains: “If you were choosing a site for the world’s premier botanic garden, you’d probably not choose Kew in terms of soil. The soil is very poor and dry, made up of sands and gravels, therefore it needs vast amounts of organic matter. If we had to buy the material in, it would be prohibitively expensive. “If a tree dies or needs to be removed, it can be composted down in 12 weeks and ‘put back into the ground’. We have a massive composting operation, which has actually become a major visitor attraction!”
The seven greenhouses, some of which were built in the 19th century, remain ecologically sound. One, the Princess of Wales Conservatory, is sunken to enable heat conservation underground. The ultimate example is the Davies Alpine House where the plants need to be kept continually cool. Sealed buildings and refrigerants were not an option so, instead, the structure is similar in shape to a chimney, allowing for good air movement. Underground there is a concrete labyrinth which is cooled at night by the air then during the day the cold concrete has air pumped out through it to the plants, which produces a cooling effect. The only energy required is a small amount of electricity for a small fan to draw the air through the labyrinth.
The Kew lawns are more like meadows; no ‘improvement work’ is done apart from cutting. The grassland is therefore ‘low nutrient’ which encourages bio diversity and biological control.
“In the glass houses we practice all types of biological control (Kew has even developed some of its own) and use minimal pesticides for the health and safety of staff and visitors, and because we want to be green. When you use biological controls you don’t get 100 per cent control – there is always a residual, but then there has to be otherwise the predator wouldn’t have anything to eat. So we tolerate a limited amount of predation. It’s better for our scientists, too, because if they are taking a plant for an experiment they don’t want it covered in chemicals, but a few bugs is fine.
“In fact, a large part of the work that goes on in the Jodrell Laboratory, apart from looking at molecules, is to do with plant and insect interactions. For example, only this morning I took a pot of rosemary beetles there to help with tests to see why some varieties of rosemary and lavender are resistant to the beetles and other very similar varieties are apparently not.”
Kew is celebrating its 250th anniversary in style, with a host of innovative expositions and festivals, talks, tours and conferences. Perhaps the most visual celebration is the one by sculptor-ceramist Tom Hare, who is presenting a collection of epic seed sculptures entitled Seed Walk. Set against display beds planted with tropical bedding plants, the giant seeds are woven out of willow, with the remaining elements of the exhibition being made by visitors in willow weaving workshops held throughout the summer. It’s a sight to behold!
Kew – a World Heritage Site
The World Heritage Convention, adopted by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) in 1972, provides for the identification, protection and conservation of natural and cultural sites of outstanding universal value. In July 2003, 730 such sites across the world were included on The World Heritage List, ranging from the Taj Mahal to the Tower of London, and the Great Wall of China to the Grand Canyon.
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, was initially submitted for nomination by DCMS (the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport) and Defra and following extensive assessment was inscribed on the World Heritage List on 3 July 2003.
World Heritage status gives recognition to Kew’s excellence as a world class cultural and heritage site, and recognises the importance of its historic landscapes and outstanding buildings in addition to the important role it plays in science and plant research.
A career in horticulture
“During my time here I have witnessed the decay of craft horticulture. In the early Thatcher years, every local authority had its own parks and gardens department, and lot of horticulture was being taught with the old hands passing on their knowledge.
“CCT then forced the labour to be outsourced and the commercial companies who took on the contracts weren’t really interested in horticultural training, rather relying on the old hands to pass on their expertise. But as they retired, the knowledge dried up too.
“We felt the impact of this about 15 years ago when we were advertising positions here. Most of the applicant just weren’t suitable or adequately experienced. At that point we decided we needed to do our own training to get appropriately skilled staff. We looked at our skills base and most of the really skilled horticulturalists had moved away from the practical side into management, so we used them to establish a training programme. To my surprise when we advertised for the first set of rotational trainees, we had about 200 applications. Many were changing careers so they were really motivated and keen; indeed, many didn’t even complete the training because they were so good we offered them jobs before they had reached the end of the course. This year we launched a one-year traineeship which is an access course for the other rotational traineeship and the Kew Diploma.
“Formal horticultural training at Kew was established in 1859, although the Kew Diploma dates from the early ‘60s. We’ve never had difficulties recruiting for this, although one of the pre-requisites is two years of experience, and for some entrants that is hard to come. To overcome that we offer them a year on the staff to bring their practical experience up to speed.”
Why save seeds?
It is thought that 60,000 to 100,000 plant species are under threat – from, for example, climate change, habitat loss, invasive alien species and over-exploitation.
Seed banks are an insurance policy against plant extinction, and they complement in situ conservation methods in the wild. Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank partnership (MSB) holds seeds from species thought to be extinct in the wild. In addition, seed banks provide a controlled source of plant material for research, provide skills and knowledge that support wider plant conservation aims, and contribute to education and public awareness about plant conservation.
Kew’s MSB and its partner seed banks are not mausoleums - the seed they contain remains alive for decades and, in many cases, hundreds of years. More importantly, the seed is now being used to provide a wide range of benefits to mankind, ranging from food and building materials for rural communities to disease-resistant crops for agriculture. The collections held in the MSB, and the knowledge being derived from them, provides almost infinite options for their conservation and use. With future climate change scenarios and the ever-increasing impact of human activities, the MSB intends to accelerate its activities to secure in safe storage 25 per cent of the world’s plant species by the year 2020.
