Garden expert looks back at 22-year career

Two decades is a long time in the one job, but when outgoing Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) garden Rosemoor curator Chris Bailes looked back at his 22-year career, it was plain to see he enjoyed it.

The garden and greenhouse expert was involved with the iconic national garden from the beginning, noting how he remembers his first day involved digging pits to assess soil quality.

"I was less than impressed with the yellowy-grey poorly structured soil I found – even less so after a few hours when each pit hosted its own pool of standing water," he said.

These were just some of the challenges that would face Mr Bailes and his team over the coming years, but his hard work has helped transform the site from a shell into an attractive and healthy garden that attracts more than 140,000 guests per year.

The garden itself has grown in the 22 years since the expert first broke ground on the project and now incorporates some of the surrounding woodland, giving the team much more to work with.

Mr Bailes is to be replaced by current garden manager Jonathan Webster at the end of this month.
The RHS website is a great source of garden and greenhouse tips and recently gave advice on re-planting trees and shrubs.