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: "In terms of our plant choices, we are very much making 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".
High on her to-do list is how to maintain the path network within the garden:
"I'm concerned about the...amount of maintenance and how that maintenance will be funded. It's not necessarily the most interesting stuff, but at the core of what a professional gardener is about, running a landscape like this, accessibility is absolutely paramount.
"The big restoration project to bring back the the core of the historic landscape garden was very much with that history in mind and now feels like that vision is being challenged by just sheer number of people wanting to use the spaces. How we balance that out with the fact that the paths, the turf, are all getting a much harder life from climate and from people is an interesting one."
Fyles has to find a solution that fits the 18th century look and feel of the original materials 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".
Chiswick has suffered its fair share of plant thefts in recent years, which though rare, felt "very harsh because of the number and value of plants going very much affected the project we were working on". She shares her feelings and learnings from that difficult time.
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."
Make sure you never miss a HortWeek podcast! Subscribe to or Follow HortWeek podcasts via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast platform.
Do check out our huge archive of HortWeek Podcast interviews with an unrivalled selection of prominent and fascinating figures from all corners of the horticulture sector.
