Phil Stigwood retires as Head Gardener

For many years, Phil Stigwood has been synonymous with Wolfson College gardens. When he was originally given the job as Head Gardener in 2001 by then-Bursar Dr John Seagrave, the site was well established, and much of the land now occupied by the College was laid out as gardens belonging to houses in Selwyn Gardens and Barton Road in the first half of the twentieth century. But the gardens were far less floriferous than they are now. "Everything was green and very dull," says Phil, "so I started out by planting some colourful evergreens and bulbs."

As he developed a network of flowing borders and foundation plantings, Phil retained certain landmark trees, such as the mulberry outside the Porters' lodge, the Judas tree in the front court and the magnificent redwoods outside Fuchs House. Many of these he underplanted with bulbs supplemented with annuals during the summer months. He also planted bulbs in other focal points across the site — more than 10,000 over the years — giving us the mass of red tulips along the front of College, the beautiful camas meadow outside the Chancellor's Centre and the naturalistic spring blend of crocus, daffodils and aconites in the Sundial garden.

Phil originally trained and worked as a plant pathologist but he "got tired of watching diseased plants dying" and gardening was his first love. "I wanted to paint with plants," he says, and he has done so for almost two decades, experimenting across the College grounds with new perennials, grasses and naturalistic plantings. He introduced a host of shrubs and small trees with beautiful bark, berries and scent. In the space behind the Lee Hall he created a stunning winter garden that is a jewel box of such treasures, along with colourful bamboos and New Zealand flax. He took the border in the Sundial Garden and transformed it from a conifer and heather shrub border into a firecracker blaze of hot colour that lasts well into the winter months. Most recently, he planted the garden behind Chadwick House to create an Exotic Garden full of rarities such as Indian bean tree, monkey puzzle tree, Paulownia, Musa and Ensete bananas, and other choice trees, roses, perennials, and annuals like castor oil plant.

Starting out with just a single gardener on staff — Philip de Luca, who is still with the College — Phil built his team to four full-time staff who care for the manicured lawns, seasonal plantings, topiary and mature trees that make up the gardens. During his time, Phil shared his horticultural knowledge and his love of the gardens to many members of the Wolfson community and the public at large, giving regular talks and tours of the grounds.

Now, says Phil, it's time to slow down and take on new challenges working for himself improving and planting gardens in Cambridge, mostly on large private estates.

The College bids a fond goodbye to Phil and hope he will continue to visit us at Wolfson to share his love of plants and revisit the gardening legacy he leaves with us.