Sue celebrates a decade
RHS chief plants a tree to mark 10 years with charity
RHS director general Sue Biggs has celebrated a decade at the helm of the world’s leading gardening charity.
To mark the occasion, she planted a stone pine at the RHS’s flagship garden Wisley and was joined by garden curator Matthew Pottage, staff and students.
Sue has held the position of RHS director general longer than any other incumbent, and was awarded a CBE for her services to gardening in 2017.
She said: “It is such an honour and a privilege to lead this amazing charity, and I am so proud of what our talented and hardworking teams have been able to achieve for horticulture over these 10 years.
“I’m equally excited about the future, because never have we valued the importance of gardening so much, for so many different reasons. Now we need to maintain and grow the status of horticulture, so watch this space.”
Multi-million project
Sue planted a stone pine
– her favourite tree – in the
Apiary Meadow close to Wisley’s ‘champion’ stone pine which is 69ft (21m) high, the tallest of its type in the UK.
As with many organisations, 2020 has been a challenging year for the RHS, though under Sue’s direction it made history by holding the first ‘virtual’ Chelsea Flower show in May. It was also the ‘go-to’ resource for more than 17 million new gardeners who turned to its website for support when they started gardening during lockdown. Sue is also leading the charity’s £160 million investment programme that includes the largest horticultural project in Europe: the opening of RHS Bridgewater garden in Salford in May 2021. Next year’s activity and development will culminate in the opening of the world-leading Centre for Horticultural Science and Learning at RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey. Matthew Pottage, Curator for RHS Garden Wisley, said: “Sue has transformed the RHS from what it was when I joined to what it is now, and we are all incredibly grateful for what she has done and, of course, continues to do for the RHS and horticulture in the UK.”