and look good. Our visitors want to see a well cared for garden and take away ideas for their own spaces. The Potager was designed to do that in spadefuls! A high quality alpine house display at its centre surrounded by a mix of vegetable and flowers give a very different atmosphere to the larger landscape settings of our main plant collections.
Paul Cook... on 10 years at Ness
H
orticulture is the profession that gives the greatest job satisfaction and is the role that stressed professionals would choose if the salaries were higher. I chose to work in gardens after seeing an article about two Kew students and how they were able to combine the practical aspects of gardening with the science of botany and horticulture. After following those students and spending three years at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on the Kew Diploma course I returned to the northwest to teach at Reaseheath College before starting a garden design and landscaping business. The opportunity to take over as Head Gardener from Tom Acton at Arley Hall came in 1994 and I spent eight years working in one of the finest gardens in the country with a dedicated team of four gardeners. Ness pulled me away from Arley in 2002 to take on the role of Curator from Peter Cunnington. This role has, as the survey says, given me great job satisfaction. My first day at Ness was on the first of February 2002. I arrived, somewhat nervously, with ideas and plans for the future of the Gardens and hoped to work with staff, Friends and volunteers to continue the Gardens’ development. The first year was a gradual bedding in process, listening to many views and opinions on Ness, meeting people and getting used to the University’s systems. It became clear that Ness Gardens had many challenges ahead to preserve its status as a ‘good garden’.
and other features due to major changes within the University. The Pingo waterfall
Ness had been home to the School of Biological Sciences but in 2004 moves began to relocate back to Liverpool and allow Ness to be managed under a different University regime. Negotiations resulted in a plan to develop the Gardens on a more commercial footing, build a new visitor centre and, when complete, appoint a Director to secure the future of Ness. Working through this disruptive stage was
made easier thanks to a core group of staff and volunteers who carried on regardless of the constant builders’ interruptions. By 2006 the Horsfall Rushby Visitor Centre was complete, and the bulk of the clearing work was over. It was time to start building a new future for Ness.
Some garden areas had become dominated by large evergreen shelter belts, mainly consisting of Leyland cypress, (× Cuprocyparis leylandii). Chainsaws were sharpened and felling began to clear spaces - allowing light and moisture back into the ground, and to reveal those views of the Dee estuary.
The natural beauty of Ness lends itself to the major collections we have of Sorbus, birch, rhododendrons, camellias, heathers and alpine plants. In our 64 acres we have a lot of plants but not all were easy to reach and not all were labelled. Making the collections accessible, physically and intellectually was, and is still, a priority. New pathways have been built and more are planned, plants have been propagated and planted out and that also continues. Partnerships have been formed between staff, volunteers, colleges and nurseries to make this happen. Funding has been provided by the Friends of Ness Gardens to support this vital part of our role as a Botanic Garden.
The loss of these domineering hulks was an easy decision but it was harder to see the gradual decline of our glasshouse collections
Secondary to this is that Ness has to inspire gardeners, be maintained to a high standard
The strength of Ness is its site. The rock, slopes, water and views that drew Arthur Bulley are still the Garden’s heart. I want visitors to walk into Ness and feel that they are in a special place.
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It would also provide an area for Ness students to learn their trade: there is a lot to learn in planning and cultivating an intensive productive garden.
The Gentian
The Alpine House in the Potager
Ness has always had a fine balancing act to make between the academic research and botanical side of our work and the aesthetics of a garden as a visitor attraction. I see my role as supporting the Garden’s aspirations to be both a beautiful space and a garden to inspire. I am only too aware that not everything has succeeded and resources have been squeezed, which is always uncomfortable. What has been consistent is the support of staff, volunteers and the Friends of Ness Gardens to keep pushing for improvements and maintain Ness as a garden for science and pleasure. “It will make you jolly to see people going round your garden; if you mix with them unbeknownst, you will hear some very nice things.” Arthur Kilpin Bulley - Radio Broadcast 1934 I am always happy, as our founder was, to hear nice things about our work at Ness and The Gentian has accounts of the many projects such as the Pingo, the Making Waves garden, RHS gold medal winning gardens, Ness Holt Azaleas propagation, and many others - all made possible through the Ness team’s efforts over the past decade. We will be completing work on the Terraces over the next few months. Then next year our major project will be renovation of the Potting Sheds. Keep an eye out for updates on this.
The Potting Sheds... awaiting 2014
Spring 2013
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