Published: 30 January 2025
Our Gardens may be closed for Winter but behind the scenes our gardening team are busier than ever.
With around 2000 species of trees, shrubs, and plants in our Gardens, originating from all over the world, the task of creating a species-by-species record complete with precise location, description and reference images might sound a daunting one. That’s what Head Gardener Matthew and his team have set out to do and they’ve just made it past the halfway point. We checked in with Matthew, and fellow gardener Jacob who is leading the project on the ground, to find out more.
Why record our entire collection?
The Gardens at Holker Hall have developed over several centuries (our Great Lime is believed to be more than 400 years old!) and are incredibly diverse in terms of the number and types of species that thrive here – from 30-metre-tall California Redwoods to our coveted National Collection of Styracaceae. Cataloguing all our trees and shrubs allows us to know exactly where everything is, assess the health of individual plants and their resilience to climate change, and identify gaps in species collections so we can plan the Garden’s development. Importantly it also allows our gardening team to learn as they go about individual species’ characteristics they may not previously have been familiar with. Posterity is important too. A comprehensive digital catalogue now will stand us in great stead for being able to pass on accurate knowledge of our Gardens to future generations of gardeners and of course visitors. More about that later.
Finding the right solution
Matthew knew from his previous experiences as Deputy Head of Gardens at Highgrove that conventional approaches to collection cataloguing often end up generating lots of paperwork. So he set about looking for a solution that would be quick, technology rather than paper-based – and one that would create processes that were informative and enjoyable for the gardening team.
Enter plant records technology pioneer Hortis, based in Holland, and their “mobile-first” solution to plant collection management for professional gardeners. Their mission of making the process “enjoyable, reliable and always available”, met Matthew’s requirements down to the ground and he soon signed them up.
Matthew explained “the Hortis system’s ability to work through the process of cataloguing efficiently, accurately, quickly and “in-garden” ticked all the boxes for the Holker team. All our gardeners need is their mobile phones when they set off to plant new trees or record the details of existing flora. Our team love learning and the experience isn’t diminished by the burden of an in-tray full of cataloguing paperwork piled high at the end of the day!”
Of the 2000 or more species growing in Holker’s Gardens, more than a thousand are already now on the Hortis database and cataloguing is scheduled for completion in Spring 2025.
Enhancing the Visitor Experience
Collection cataloguing and management isn’t just something that benefits gardeners. There is a longer-term plan to give the public access to a website where they can view a map of Holker Gardens and click on individual markers to reveal plant and tree species names, descriptions and even images, for easy identification. This link will be accessible anywhere in the world via the internet – so you can enjoy Holker’s Gardens wherever you are. Its no substitute for a real visit of course as the Gardens are full of life, aromas and colours that change with the seasons, but it’s a great resource for schools, other gardeners and visitors wishing to either pre-plan or relive their visit.
The aim is to complete the cataloguing process in time for opening on the 21st of March this year. Jacob and Matthew have got their work cut out, but we’re confident they’ll make it. We’ll keep you posted on progress!