Meet Anna Florence, PhD | Curator of Plant Collections, National Trust Scotland

In this edition of our IrisBG Community Spotlight series, we’re excited to highlight the work of Dr. Anna Florence, who has played a pivotal role in transforming plant records across the National Trust for Scotland’s (NTS) gardens. With a background in agricultural research and a passion for plants and data, Anna brings a unique perspective to the world of horticulture and plant documentation.

From leading the ambitious PLANTS project, a three-year undertaking to record the approximately 100,000 individual plants across many major NTS gardens, to championing collaboration through networks like PlantNetwork, Anna is helping to shape the future of plant records—one accession at a time. Read on to learn about her path into horticulture, favorite IrisBG functions, and the lessons learned along the way.

Can you share a few of your proudest/ most meaningful achievements in your career so far? 

One of the major milestones in my career so far has been the successful completion of the PLANTS project—Plant Listing at the National Trust for Scotland. This was a three-year initiative to update and standardize our plant collection records in IrisBG across all NTS gardens.

It’s been an amazing journey. I’ve been continually inspired by the dedication of the project team and the enthusiasm of our gardens staff. Their engagement with plant records has been incredible. We’ve now wrapped up the project with more than 86,000 living accession records documented across 35 gardens—giving us a robust and up-to-date foundation to build on for the future.

When did you know you wanted a career in Horticulture? I didn’t set out to pursue horticulture professionally. My background is in agricultural research—I trained as a scientist studying resource-use efficiency in arable crops. That work involved managing large datasets and conducting complex analyses, which I found really rewarding. I’ve always loved horticulture from an amateur perspective, so when the opportunity came along to combine my passion for plants with my data experience, I jumped at it.

Do you have a favourite IrisBG function?

I think the simplest functions are my favourite. I love the ‘Clear Form’ button as it makes it so easy to make sure that I haven’t left some data further down a page when starting on a new record. I also love the ‘tasks’ function as it is really useful to be able to pull groups of accession records together for any number of activities and to be able to share these with colleagues.

Malleny Garden © The National Trust for Scotland

Is there a particular tree, plant, or horticulture-related event that you have learned a valuable lesson from or about?

For me, some of the most valuable lessons come from conversations with peers. I always find it enriching to connect with other curators and plant records professionals—especially through the PlantNetwork Records Group here in the UK.
The annual in-person meeting is a highlight of my year. It’s an opportunity to share ideas, challenges, and innovative approaches to working. At this past gathering, I was especially inspired by the garden mapping work others are doing. We’ve taken away some great ideas that we’re now starting to explore in our own gardens.

[Interested in learning more about the PLANTS project and how Anna and her team tackled an enormous records backlog?

Watch the IrisBG Coffee Chat recording from November 2023, Tackling a plant backlog.]