As Team Leader of Main Gardens at Wellington Botanic Gardens, Kate Roud is one part of a small team that maintains the plants and heritage landscape.
In her talk to Friends of Te Papa she will share with us how the team uses their skills and expertise to care for the wide range of native and exotic flora. Kate will also speak about how the team are balancing the challenges of maintaining a much-loved heritage landscape while adapting it to climate change. Kate has gained valuable experience in this area in her previous role as Curator for the Aotearoa New Zealand Collection at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Melbourne Gardens and she will share some insights into how you can adapt your own garden to climate change and make it more sustainable, as well as what the future looks like for our Botanic Gardens.
Kate Roud is Team Leader of Main Gardens at Wellington Botanic Gardens. Her horticultural career began with an apprenticeship with the National Trust at Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent,
Southern England. She learned her craft in beautiful surroundings from experts in heritage horticulture and, after posts at two other National Trust properties, Sheffield Park, and Croft Castle, she made the move ‘down under’, initially to Australia. Following Head Gardener roles at the Garden of St. Erth for The Digger’s Club in Blackwood, Victoria and Mawallok, a private, William Guilfoyle designed heritage garden on a sheep station in Western Victoria, Kate become the Curator for the Aotearoa New Zealand Collection at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Melbourne Gardens in 2014. During her eight years in the role, Kate’s focus was on building networks with curators and botanic gardens in Aotearoa and adapting the collection to climate change. She also trained as an irrigation programmer, helping to run and maintain the complex system and contribute to water management in the Melbourne Gardens. She made the move to Aotearoa in and her current role in 2022.
Photo Credits: Alex Goodman