|
Archives 2006 - 2007>
Rowallane; a special garden in the North of Ireland’.
19 Apr 2007
Mike Snowden will be our speaker the evening of April 19th. Mike is a recently retired Head Gardener at the famous garden Rowallane, in County Down, Northern Ireland.
He began his career in horticulture working as a landscape gardener, then working in ‘Local Authority Parks’ for several years. During this time he took courses at home, and passed the examination of the Royal Horticultural Society.
He became propagator at Harewood House, in Yorkshire, where propagating rhododendrons formed a considerable part of his work, then moved to Bodnant Garden in North Wales as part of the propagating team there.
With this accumulation of experience in major British gardens, he moved on to take up the position of Head Gardener at Erddig, near Wrexham, also in North Wales, where he was responsible for a major restoration of the formal 18th-century garden, its overlays, and the immediate surrounding area. He says that he has ‘always had a preference for a holistic approach to gardening’.
It was at this point that he took up the position of Head Gardener at Rowallane, eventually becoming responsible for the total management as Property Manager as well. Rowallane is ‘executed on a natural landscape’. The garden was begun in the 1850s by the Rev John Moore, and continued by his nephew Hugh Armitage-Moore, who introduced numerous trees and shrubs including many rhododendrons, both species and hybrids. It was taken over by The National Trust in 1955.
Mike was awarded the British Empire Medal while still at Erddig, and became an Associate of Honour of the Royal Horticultural Society while at Rowallane. He also received the J. A. Whaley Medal for his work with rhododendrons.
He retired from Rowallane in 2000, and continues to live in Saintfield, County Down, Northern Ireland, with his evidently very supportive and inspirational wife June. They continue to be involved in the ‘world of gardening within Ireland and beyond’.
Known as a lively speaker, Mike has been the Director of one of Northern Ireland’s most
distinguished gardens. We should all be looking forward to hearing his talk,
‘Rowallane; a special garden in the North of Ireland’.
Mike Snowden
|