Dormant seed

A conversation with Tom Edgar, Mansfield College’s gardener.

Shukria Rezaei Communications Officer

Every corner of our College garden is a work of art, thanks to Tom Edgar, Mansfield’s gardener for 12 years. Tom’s passion for plants and landscaping took root in his childhood, while weeding his grandmother’s garden – a seed that remained dormant until flourishing in his early adulthood when he chose landscaping as a career.

Tom’s craft has transformed the lawn around Mansfield’s buildings into a thriving bed of healthy and lush plants and flowers that bloom throughout the year. The grounds have become a rich home for pollinators as well as the usual visitors, such as birds, badgers, and foxes.

‘You should never ask gardeners what their favourite plant is,’ Tom chuckles, ‘but the work that I am most proud of is the bed of flowers by the Bonavero Institute, where Miss Roosevelt sits. In part, I am proud because the erection of her statue was one of the most difficult projects I’ve ever had to do. It was especially tricky having to communicate with our American colleagues on the West Coast to arrange the fitting. In the end it was all done in time for the unveiling ceremony with Hillary Clinton.’

In 2024, Tom’s focus has been on the wildflower meadow behind the beech hedge adjacent to the car park, transforming it into another bed of blooming flowers. Bold colours from roses, cornflowers, and joe-pye weed now frame the semi-circular bench.

‘I am pleased with how the flower beds now flow seamlessly around the College. They’re not disjointed like it used to be. I’m also happy to see the curved seat is well used. It’s every gardener’s dream to make the environment more inviting, and over the years, we have achieved this by adding more benches, gazebos and seating areas.’

Tom has also been working with the Bursar, Clem, and Principal, Helen, to revamp the Principal’s Garden. Furthermore, Mansfield has taken over maintaining the Princess Margaret Memorial Garden and Rothermere American Institute’s lawn this year, which Tom has turned into a paradise of long-stemmed daisies, pristine lawns, and arches of roses. Under Tom’s care, biodiversity in our College gardens has blossomed. ‘We’re quite bee friendly. We’ve got butterflies, and I’ve seen foxes, badgers and the odd hedgehog come in’, Tom recalls, ‘but there’s not an awful lot of bird life. We had a blackbird nesting in May, but the crows and jackdaws living on the tower took the young. They did the same in the Princess Margaret Memorial Garden behind the Principal’s Lodgings. That’s nature.’

For those tending their own gardens, Tom offers simple but sage advice: ‘Don’t dig. You’ll only disrupt the soil’s structure. It’s best to weed on hands and knees, and feed the soil from the top with nutrients that will leak down.’

As the climate continues to change, Tom suggests that home gardeners consider more drought-resistant plants, such as achillea, agapanthus, and canna lilies.

For Tom, gardening is not just a job: it’s a lifelong passion, nurtured by his many experiences with Mansfielders over the years. One particularly fond memory he has is of receiving a poem from a student, Maya Little (English, 2017), during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. Maya’s touching words reminded Tom of the profound impact the College gardens have on the community, especially during times of social isolation.

Gardener

I will set you here to bloom,

Without the usual audience,

The gentle applause

Of the passer-by’s eye.

I am sorry you will

Have to grow up so

Quickly and so

Lonely.

But it is good to have

Something growing,

In the wild defiance

Of silence.

Maya Little (English, 2017)