Meet Mike Roberts | Plant Records Officer, Ness Botanic Gardens

In recent months, Mike Roberts has been an outstanding participant in the beta testing of the IrisBG-ArcGIS Mobile, providing valuable insights to enhance our mobile record-keeping solution. Through this project and the on-site training, we have enjoyed meeting him in person and getting to know him better. Mike is a good-humored horticulturist with much to contribute to others in the field. Please enjoy learning about him and Ness Botanic Garden in this IrisBG Community Spotlight article.  

Can you give us a short history of Ness Botanic Gardens for those who are unfamiliar?

Ness Botanic Gardens was established by Arthur Bulley in 1898. It is located on the western coast of the Wirral peninsula, has views across the Dee estuary to North Wales, and is owned and managed by The University of Liverpool. Bulley created extensive garden features, which include a rock garden and a herbaceous area. He also sponsored some of the biggest names in plant collecting in the early twentieth century, including George Forrest and Frank Kingdon Ward. The gardens continued to grow after they were gifted to the University in 1948 and include extensive collections of woody genera established by Dr. Hugh McAllister.

When did you know you wanted a career in horticulture? I’d always had a vague interest in the natural world, but only in my mid-twenties did my interest in plants begin in earnest. I’d worked various jobs after university but couldn’t quite find my ‘thing.’ After volunteering at my local park, something clicked, and I began getting as much garden experience as possible. Finally, I was hired as a community gardener in my first professional role. I then got my RHS qualifications while training at Ness, studied at Wisley, and returned to Ness to manage the plant records. When I started out, I never thought I would end up in a data-based role, but I love it!

Can you share a few of the proudest achievements in your career so far?
We’re making steady progress getting our plant records in order here at Ness, which I’m proud of. I love it when I overhear visitors discussing the information on the plant labels, too. I think they’re essential pieces of interpretation, and they were so helpful for me when I was first getting familiar with plant names, families, distributions, etc. It’s great to help people get further insight into our living collection each time we label a plant.
Exchanging material with other botanic gardens and institutions is also a point of pride. IrisBG makes this process easy, and I feel I’m doing my part for conservation.

Is there someone in the botany world you look to for inspiration?
Working closely with Dr Hugh McAllister has been an enormous privilege. Hugh held the roles of Botanist and Deputy Director at Ness at different points over his long career. He is the authority on several genera, including Sorbus, Betula, Alnus, and Hedera, and he is the main reason the collection at Ness has its conservation value.

Mike maps and audits Eucalyptus spp. with Dr Hugh McAllister at Ness Botanic Garden.

When I first started, Hugh was extremely generous with his time and knowledge, and really helped me get a handle on the living collection We carried out audits with Hugh, who has now moved abroad to be with family, for eighteen months or so after I joined the team here – an instructive and inspiring time in my professional life, for sure.

Do you have a favorite IrisBG function?
There are several that I use most days. Items Management is really useful for sending multiple labels to the engraver. 

I also really like that IrisBG links to the International Plant Names Index for when you want to verify a plant’s name or distribution.

[See our guide, Use Web search with an existing taxon and add a Web reference.]

We’ve also been beta-testing the IrisBG-ArcGIS Mobile, which is an exciting upgrade and has made collecting data in the field so much more efficient. With this, I’m able to get a GPS location for a plant, take pictures, and order replacement labels – all from my phone.
Our long-term aim is to upload the living collection at Ness onto Garden Explorer, and the IrisBG-ArcGIS Mobile will enable us to get everything mapped in preparation for this.

Is there a horticulture-related event you have learned a valuable lesson from or about?
I’m always trying to visit new gardens when I can, although since becoming a Plant Records Officer, I probably have more pictures of different gardens’ plant labels than I do of the plants themselves! Luckily, we attend the annual meeting of plant records professionals hosted by Plant Network, so I can discuss the minutiae of labelling and data management with like-minded folks!