From the Director’s Desk: Thoughts of a Weed Puller

Dr. C. Craig Tisher
Fig. 1

As 2024 draws to a close it is a good time to look back at several happenings that took place in the garden this year. Once again, our fall plant sale was a great success. Both our gross and net income exceeded the results of the 2023 fall sale despite hurricanes Helene and Milton. This was due largely to a major increase in our online sales. We extend our sincere thanks to all who supported the sale and to the small army of volunteers and our staff who contribute the many man hours to the event.

            We have now entered our camellia “bloom” season with approximately 20 Mine-no-Yuki camellias and a like number of Kanjiro camellias leading the way (Fig 1). Sixteen additional cultivars are also beginning to contribute to this color array that include Egao, Egao Corkscrew, Shibori Egao, Brooke, Alabama Beauty, Spring’s Promise, Prof. Charles Sargent, Mark Chason, Early Autumn, Kanjiro, Pink Butterfly, Diakagura, Fashionata, Shishigashira, Pink Parasol and October Affair. Adding to the fall colors is our large population of Farfugium or tractor seat plants scattered throughout the gardens with their yellow flower spikes (Fig. 2). Incidentally these flowers are a tremendous attraction for bees.

            As noted in our fall newsletter, the 2025 annual meeting of the American Camellia Society hosted by the Gainesville Camellia Society will begin on Thursday, January 2 and extend through Sunday, January 5. Attendees are expected from all over the United States. A noon picnic followed by self-guided tours is planned for Friday, January 3rd at the Wilmot Botanical Gardens. We are working very hard to get the gardens ready for the event and hope that the weather will be cooperative. A contingency plan is being prepared to move the lunch into the greenhouse and the conference center if mother nature is not kind to us.

Fig. 2

            A timely addition to the gardens which should be in place when you receive this newsletter is a new garden directory board. The directory has been created by our own Ms. Courtney Cribbs. The structure has been built and donated to the gardens by Dr. Nick Maruniak, a retired physician now living in the Villages. We are indebted to both Nick and his brother, Dan, for making this possible. It is of interest that a third Maruniak brother, John, who unfortunately passed away recently, was a longstanding, dedicated volunteer at the gardens. He lived near Leesburg and drove to Gainesville each Tuesday for 18 years to volunteer. A bench will be placed in the gardens in his honor.

            The nation-wide search to fill a recently created assistant director position at the Wilmot Botanical Gardens has come to a successful conclusion with the hiring of Mr. Jim Stribling, currently residing in Wales, United Kingdom where he is the Director of Operations at Aberglasney Gardens, a Heritage Garden in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Mr. Stribling is a Florida native with a passion for horticulture and landscape management. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Operations Management from the University of Florida in 1987. With extensive experience in managing commercial nurseries, landscapes, and public gardens, Jim has developed a keen expertise in sustainable practices and innovative design. He has previously served as Director of Aberglasney Gardens in Wales, UK, and the Redland Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead, Fl.  Prior to making the transition to public gardens, Jim managed various horticultural nursery enterprises ranging from indoor foliage to tropical fruit.  He is committed to enhancing the beauty and functionality of outdoor spaces and encouraging human interaction with the natural world. Mr. Stribling and his wife, Alison, will be arriving in Gainesville in mid-January 2025 and Jim will join our team later that month.

Those of us to be fortunate enough to be associated with the Wilmot Botanical Gardens extend our very best wishes to each of you for a wonderful holiday season and a very Happy New Year.

C. Craig Tisher, MD

Director, Wilmot Botanical Gardens, College of Medicine