I think most council parks and gardens are still maintained by council staff although maybe some are supplemented by volunteers - perhaps Singleton Park is, despite being council run? Kew is still definitely run by paid staff, although they now do have some volunteers too, which they never did when I worked there. It may be a slippery slope, but I am sure that it would never mean the end of paid horticultural work at Kew or other botanic gardens, as much of the work is so specialised.
Another great post. I'm glad the caretaker/ticket seller insisted on taking your photograph by those magnificent gates as seeing the author of these blogs once in a while adds to them. Reading about your past work as a gardener in the UK - particularly the awful job in Morecambe was also illuminating. After reading these I find I am paying more attention to the rather less exotic gardens and parks I've visited in the UK. The other day while visiting the winter-bare Botanical Gardens in Singleton Park, Swansea I realised that the staff I saw here and there with wheelbarrows, ladders, pruning shears must all have been unpaid volunteers. They do marvellous work and are clearly knowledgeable and experienced gardeners, but it gave me pause to remember the teams of paid council gardeners who used to do this work. I'm sure local authority parks and gardens do still have paid staff but is reliance on volunteers becoming the norm everywhere? Turning the clock back, would it have meant you never got your first job at Kew Gardens?
I think most council parks and gardens are still maintained by council staff although maybe some are supplemented by volunteers - perhaps Singleton Park is, despite being council run? Kew is still definitely run by paid staff, although they now do have some volunteers too, which they never did when I worked there. It may be a slippery slope, but I am sure that it would never mean the end of paid horticultural work at Kew or other botanic gardens, as much of the work is so specialised.
Another wonderful read! But how unexpected to be reminded of the awful Noel Edmonds in the strange botanical gardens of Phuket, love the photos!
Another great post. I'm glad the caretaker/ticket seller insisted on taking your photograph by those magnificent gates as seeing the author of these blogs once in a while adds to them. Reading about your past work as a gardener in the UK - particularly the awful job in Morecambe was also illuminating. After reading these I find I am paying more attention to the rather less exotic gardens and parks I've visited in the UK. The other day while visiting the winter-bare Botanical Gardens in Singleton Park, Swansea I realised that the staff I saw here and there with wheelbarrows, ladders, pruning shears must all have been unpaid volunteers. They do marvellous work and are clearly knowledgeable and experienced gardeners, but it gave me pause to remember the teams of paid council gardeners who used to do this work. I'm sure local authority parks and gardens do still have paid staff but is reliance on volunteers becoming the norm everywhere? Turning the clock back, would it have meant you never got your first job at Kew Gardens?