ISHS Acta Horticulturae 350: I International Symposium on Education and Training in Horticulture
THE ROLES OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN IN EDINBURGH |
| Author: | G. Anderson |
| Abstract:
The major botanic gardens within Britain have had an involvement in the training of horticulturists for a considerable number of years. The Student Gardener's Course at Edinburgh celebrates its centenary in September 1992. As establishments for training, botanic gardens have relied heavily upon the quality of their permanent staff, both academic and practical, the type and security of the working environment and the fact that students have exposure to a wide range of plant material. In the past, botanic garden graduates found employment within the area of Local Authority Horticulture, lecturing and teaching and as technical staff with employers like the National Trust and the Commonwealth War graves Commission. Others have found employment in the commercial sector as Nurserymen and some have gone on to complete postgraduate studies and become qualified Landscape Architects. For many years British Botanic Gardens have enjoyed a unique position within the field of horticultural education. In Scotland, the Royal Botanic Garden was funded by The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Scotland (DAFS). In England the funding was from the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF). Both have enjoyed a considerable degree of autonomy and freedom of movement within the mainstream of horticultural education and training in Britain. AS centres of training, botanic gardens, main strengths were firmly set within their plant collections. The strong practical elements in their courses and the sympathetic mixture of practice and theory enjoyed by students throughout the courses. The level and quality of the practical instruction was extremely high and resulted from the countless years of sound practical training enjoyed by the permanent and supervisory staff of the various separate gardens and which they in turn imparted to the students placed in their charge. In the recent past when the main function of the Horticultural sections of our major botanic gardens was the cultivation of rare and exotic plants (often new to science), to service and support the science of Taxonomy, their Horticulture Courses contained a strong element of plant knowledge much of which has never | |
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