This week Rachael Forsyth talks to the head of gardens at Chiswick House and Gardens Trust, Rosie Fyles.
In this wide-ranging discussion they discuss everything from staffing (Fyles let her gardeners work from home in the bleak mid-winter of 2026), to funding, climate change adaptation to dealing with plant thefts.
Fyles faces a challenge shared by many historic gardens - how to respect the restrictions and design inheritance of a Grade I-listed garden while negotiating the pressures inherent in running a popular garden in 2026.
She says: \"We are very much making [plant] choices with climate change in mind and awareness of the extremes of the conditions.
\"That at times feels a little bit at odds with what's available to buy from growers out there. So I think the demand for those things that are reliably climate-proof, if such a plant exists, demand exceeds supply at the moment. That's something that we're all dealing with.
\"At Chiswick we're also completely peat-free as well which is another factor in terms of what's available for us to buy and plant\".
Updating the path network to maintain accessibility is high on the agenda, and Fyles has to find a solution that fits the 18th century look and feel of the original materials used in the garden while being fit for purpose, as well as coming in on budget.
\"I'd like to say my role was mainly about living things, plants and people, but actually my role is changing a bit to involve things like understanding how path networks need to be transformed and costing those out and project management and accessibility and all of those things. So the role of gardeners and head gardeners is changing with climate and with the garden's popularity.\"
Professional gardening skills are being respected more Fyles says, but she admits that amid funding pressures and the 'cost of living' crisis, gardens in general are likely to struggle to continue to pay a 'living wage'.
At Chiswick, which is a charity, grant funding they receive covers just 23% of operating costs. It is not surprising then, that so many entrants into the sector are career changers that can \"afford\" the lower salaries. The temptation for some might be to plug staffing gaps with volunteers, a strategy she says risks \"undermining the value of the professional gardener\".
A career changer herself, Fyles enjoys the mix of talents new recruits can bring to the team:
\"I think one of the things I absolutely love about gardening is that there's not necessarily a right way of doing things and once you've found the right way, things will change and you need to adapt anyway, and that actually, you can learn from absolutely anybody. That's the best thing about it. It's quite democratic.\"
","author_name":"HortWeek"}