France

Started gardening around 16, growing bonsai. Took up professional gardening around 25, after a degree in biological sciences and dropping out of a PhD to go travelling the world. Went to Kew Gardens, England, as a 3-year student, graduating honours. After a few years in the garden center industry moved to Canada and became a professor/head of department at a Canadian community college for 35 years. Also design and high-end skilled gardening and consulting. Retired in 2012, moved to the South of France, where I currently live.
Interested in most types of plants, and especially in history and the lives of breeders and the preservation of human-made plants - cultivars - in the face of a return to a relationship with plants as 'nature', to be observed, but not 'interfered' with. It's an attitude that threatens to minimize and even obliterate the millenia of the close cultural relationships between humans and plants - from roses to the food on our plates.

Very experienced (62 years)

Professional or Staff (commercial)

Last visit: More than a year ago