Dundee Botanic Gardens
Location: Dundee, Scotland
Website: Dundee Botanic Gardens website
This placement has been generously supported by a bursary from the Stanley Smith (UK) Horticultural Trust.
The Garden started in 1971 with a unique layout where the Garden is essentially geographical with large areas representing the temperate floras of each of the major continents and the central section is devoted to the ecology of British native plants. These two elements are central to the thinking behind modern botanic gardens and are now increasingly being introduced into traditional gardens.
There is also a large glasshouse divided into tropical and temperate /arid zones. A new evolution garden was built and opened in 2008 and now is a major landscape and educational feature of the garden.
The garden has an educational programme with many school groups visiting in the spring and early summer. As well as this staff are active in teaching on undergraduate programmes.
The trainee will be given the opportunity to work in all areas of the garden and over the course of the year will learn how a small garden can manage in an economic way.