Meet Lili Barras-Hargan | Plant Records Manager & Gardener, Chelsea Physic Garden

We first had the pleasure of meeting Lili at the 2023 Plant Network meeting, and her exuberance for managing plant records at London's oldest botanical garden was inspiring. Developed by The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London in 1673 for the study of medicinal plants, the mission at Chelsea Physic Garden remains focused on medicinal herbs and useful plants today. After learning more about Lili, it seems only fitting that she now overlooks this unique and historic plant collection. 

Lili's two great passions have beautifully aligned to significantly contribute to the public garden arena. Continue reading to learn what enriching early life experiences shaped Lili's botanical outlook and how she communicates the importance of plants through storytelling. 

When did you know you wanted a career in Horticulture?
By the time I was 18, I had lived in over 11 countries, all brimming with incredibly diverse flora and fauna. In Kenya, table-topped Acacias (now Vachellias) were as common a sight on long drives to and from Nairobi as the Zebras on the roadsides. On a school trip to the Zomba plateau in Malawi, I learned the importance of choosing your marshmallow roasting twig wisely; beautiful as they were, Poinsettias’ toxic sap made them a deadly choice.

When I lived in Kuwait, summer was signalled by the nets that were fixed to catch the ripening fruit of the date trees that lined residential streets. A couple of years later, my partner and I watched wildfires spread across the slope of Table Mountain, only hundreds of metres from our home. I grew up surrounded by plants and I suppose I took them for granted a little.

When I was 17 and waiting for my journalism degree to start, I went on a residential field guiding course in Kwa-Zulu Natal. We spent our free time preparing for our Tree Identification exam ‘speed treeing’ (trying to identify as many plants as we could, at the National Park Speed limit).

You would think that after all of these experiences, embarking on a botanical career would be a no-brainer, but it took me five years of studying and working in a different field to realise that I needed to give in to the pull of the outdoors. While working in a bookshop between copywriting jobs, I read every nature and garden writing book I could get my hands on. I decided to work with plants and started my horticultural apprenticeship three weeks later.

What's the best thing about your current position? As Plant Records Manager and Gardener at Chelsea Physic Garden, I can pursue my passion for plant records and data without losing touch with the gardening work that drew me to this career in the first place. Being able to spend the bulk of my time out in the garden helps me better understand the extensive collection I am responsible for and keeps me away from my desk, which I love!

My favourite thing about my position is unlocking the stories of our collections and sharing this with others. Part of my role involves supporting our Florilegium [Florilegium is a Latin word that means "gathering of flowers"], a collective of artists who have been documenting our collections through paintings since 1995. I also manage our Herbarium. I love to show people all the different forms our records take, by showing them a dried specimen in our Herbarium, taking them into the Gallery to see a painting of that plant, and then out into the garden to see it still living as part of our collection.

This Punica granatum was planted by 1920, and likely much earlier. In 1989, a dried specimen joined the Herbarium collection. 16 years later, Peggy Dawe painted this artwork which has since formed part of the Florilegium collection.

What is an IrisBG report you use/ generate most often?
Using the label report to generate accessions with LabelNotOk! status is definitely the one I generate most often - weekly! Sometimes we have had five label requests per week. Other times, there will be 250 labels to print. It’s always a tense moment as the report generates and I find out how long I’ll be spending putting labels out in the garden!

Is there someone in the botany or horticulture world that you look to for inspiration? There are so many people in horticulture who I look up to and I think that is a testament to the wildly talented and passionate people who make up this industry. I have encountered incredible generosity when it comes to people sharing their knowledge and advice, which I actively try to emulate whenever I can. I am lucky to work with a team of excellent horticulturists, who have an indomitable, contagious passion for learning. They are consistently the people I look to for inspiration.

Do you have a favourite IrisBG function? I love using the Advanced Search function. I particularly enjoy challenging our trainees with a ‘treasure hunt’ for a single plant or group of plants, only giving them two or three pieces of data. For example: I’d like you to find every plant we accessioned in 2022, which starts with ‘T’ that is now in one of the Glasshouses.’ They can now quickly hone in on the data they are looking for without searching for plants individually, which has helped to build their confidence using the database and made their time on the database more efficient.

Is there a horticulture-related event that you recommend?
I loved attending the Plant Records conference organised by Plant Network last year. As the only member of our ‘Records Department’, it was wonderful to connect with people in my position at other gardens and create a community of people to bounce ideas off and get excited about data with!

It was so important for me to hear about the big wins and challenges other people in my position were facing, particularly as I had only been in my role for five months at the time. I had a novella-worth of notes to share with my head gardener upon my return.