Royal Botanic Garden – Edinburgh
Andrew Babicz
- Region:
- Anywhere
- Notice Period:
- Regular (more than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Professional Horticulturist
- Fee:
- Paid: £100
- Category:
- Hobbies
- Updated:
- 19th January 2021
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, one of the first Physic gardens in Britain founded in 1670 by two doctors on a plot no bigger than a tennis court, at a time of great change in an overcrowded medieval Edinburgh full of disease.
In this talk I will tell you about Edinburgh’s history, introduce you to some of the most important plant hunters, show you around the gardens and give you an insight into the workings of a modern botanic garden.
We will also look at Edinburgh’s satellite gardens with their varying growing conditions. Benmore in Argyllshire with its 90″ of rain a year, Logan near Stranraer with its subtropical plants and Dawyck in the Scottish Borders with its giant conifers.
The talk will be accompanied by a selection of digital photographs and lasts 1 to 2 hours depending on your requirements.
Views: 752 | Enquiries: 1About Andrew Babicz
This year I am celebrating 55 years in horticulture!
I started as an apprentice gardener at Inverewe Gardens in the North West coast of Scotland with The National Trust for Scotland and went on to work at The Royal Horticultural Society‘s Garden, Wisley, Kew Gardens and Hampton Court Palace Garden. I also spent a year working on nurseries in Holland.
I studied at Somerset College of Agriculture and Horticulture, Cannington, for two years and then studied for three years at The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
I worked for the Parks Department of the London Borough of Croydon as their Horticultural Officer and then moved to the London Borough of Redbridge as Assistant Parks Manager, subsequently becoming their Chief Recreation Manager.
I have written for a number of publications including The English Garden magazine and The Metro.
I am currently the Secretary and a judge with the London Gardens Society which includes London’s Squares, Bexley in Bloom and London Alms-houses. I am a former judge with “South and South East In Bloom” a part of Britain in Bloom.
I am a keen photographer and have thousands of digital photographs of plants and gardens for use in my talks and lectures.
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