Overseeing the gardens of a city museum is a somewhat atypical post in the gardening world, but a fantastic one (as head gardener at London’s Garden Museum, I should know). Horticulture is combined with history, education and storytelling, which inform plant choices, design and presentation. Errol Fernandes, head of horticulture at south London’s Horniman Museum and Gardens, which houses the collection of the 19th-century tea trader Frederick John Horniman – says conversations with visitors regularly stray beyond gardening into the realms of art, collections and curation.
Fernandes, who took on the role last spring, oversees 16½ acres of tropical, medicinal and rockery plantings, mature trees and large areas of parkland grass. He draws inspiration not only from his horticultural studies and experience, but a background in art and curation (he initially studied fine art, painting and photography). A painter’s eye, therefore, informs his approach to planting and garden maintenance.
