Spring blooms at Wolfson

A gardener at Wolfson for the past twenty-three years, Philip has chosen and arranged a selection of flowers and plants that, to him, best embody spring, with the idea of creating a display that will thrive until the end of the season, when another gardener will curate a new display for the summer. 

“I wanted a display of pots to focus the eye – a focus of colour to highlight Bredon House, where the College evolved from. I looked at a couple of colours and went with mostly oranges (such as the Fritillaria imperialis ‘Aurora’) and yellows (Narcissus ‘Tahiti’) and reds, with blue flowers (Muscari aucheri ‘Dark Eyes’) in the biggest pot by the house.”

Philip says that most of the bulbs come from a family business in Manchester, and there are a few uncommon flowers dotted among the tulips and daffodils, which have started to bloom early with the recent warm weather. But the flowers aren’t the only stars of the show – Philip made sure to balance the colours with some greenery, including Euphorbia wulfenii and Pieris japonica, the latter of which bears white, urn-shaped flowers in spring. “It wouldn’t work with just bulbs,” says Philip, “the shrubs are needed to create a backdrop.”

Like the rest of Wolfson’s gardening team, Philip spends most of his time outdoors, tending to the College’s extensive grounds and looking after all the trees, plants, and flowers that bring Wolfson to life, and celebrate the College’s outdoor spaces. “It’s in the winter or on really rainy days that we plan for the long term,” says Philip. “We don’t always have the time when we’re working outside, but when the weather is bad and we’re inside we can do our planning with books, or the internet, and that’s when I did a lot of the planning for the display.” The gardening team puts a lot of time and planning into how the College’s gardens will evolve over the coming years, looking at biodiversity and sustainable practices to ensure that the gardens thrive well into the future.

With twenty-three years under his belt – “twenty-four years in May!” – Philip has seen first-hand how Wolfson’s gardens have grown and flourished, from when he was the only gardener here to now working as part of a team of five, under Head Gardener Oscar Holgate. 

And what’s kept Philip at Wolfson so long? 

“The gardens are nice,” says Philip, “but it isn’t just about the gardens. The College is a fantastic place to work – it cares about the people, and it’s such a nice atmosphere here.” 

Take a wander by Bredon House and enjoy Philip’s display: a thoughtful and joyful curation of spring.