Pegasus Post: February 04, 2021

PEGASUS POST Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Thursday February 4 2021 9
Perfect job for an interest in nature
Dean Pendrigh is the
collections curator for
the water garden, azalea
garden and the pinetum in
the Botanic Gardens and
has been working there for
the past 35 years. He talks
to Ella Somers
SKILLED: Dean Pendrigh tends to the plants in the Botanic Gardens. He has always had
an interest in nature.
A PASSION for nature led Dean
Pendrigh to pursue a botanical
career immediately after high
school and he started his
four-year apprenticeship at the
Botanic Gardens in 1986.
His apprenticeship included a
brief scholarship to Melbourne,
on his return he continued working
at the gardens.
Pendrigh said he has “always
had an interest in nature” but it
wasn’t until high school when his
uncle introduced him to orchids
that “really got me interested in
plants and native plants as well.”
He enjoys botanical work
because every season is different
and “something will be far better
one year and not the other,” he
said.
“I like the biogeography and
learning about where plants
come from and how plants react
to other plants and in different
countries.”
As well as maintaining the
collections and keeping careful
plant records, a large part of Pendrigh’s
job includes tasks such as
weeding, pruning, and cutting
hedges.
Watering takes up a lot of time
as well because “a lot of my areas
don’t have any actual automated
irrigation so we do it by hand,”
he said.
Due to the names of plants
changing frequently, updating
and labelling records is a
continual project and can be
frustrating.
“You get to know the name of
a plant and then a botanist will
change it,” Pendrigh said.
“Sometimes you’ll change a
label and then they’ll change it
back to the original name.”
Pendrigh said that while he
gets a lot of good comments
from people who come through
the garden, “a lot of people
don’t realise how much work is
involved,” he said.
In comparison to other trades
as well, it’s not recognised as
much as it should be.
“There is a lot of knowledge
that you need to know, and it
takes a long time to build up that
knowledge, especially that plant
knowledge,” he said.
“The names of plants you have
to learn as well, it’s like learning
another language.”
Pendrigh’s passion for
“everything botanical” has
inspired him to travel to
places across the world where
interesting flora lives, including
Africa.
“They’ve got a very diverse
flora,” he said.
“It increased my interest in
plants even more seeing them in
their natural habitat.”
He doesn’t have a favourite
plant but if he had to name his
favourite plant group, it would be
plants from the southern hemisphere,
New Zealand, Australia,
and South Africa in particular.
“There’s some interesting links
between the floras of those countries,”
Pendrigh said.
“And because I’ve seen them in
the wild, you appreciate them a
lot more.”
One of the most interesting
visitors that the Botanic Gardens
has had in Pendrigh’s time was
a visit from the Dalai Lama in
1992.
“He planted a himalayan pine
tree in my area,” Pendrigh said.
Unfortunately, the tree was
stolen a week after it was planted
and neither the thief nor the
Dalai Lama’s tree were ever
found.
The tree that now grows where
the Dalai Lama’s one used to be
“is one that I actually planted,”
Pendrigh said.
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