Mike Lloyd

I come from a family that was interested in gardening. My maternal grandmother, who lived in North Beach, Christchurch, was always trying out new plants. She bravely tried to grow a jacaranda, which in the frosty winters of Christchurch proved optimistic. My mother developed this interest in her own garden, and unbeknown to me this seeped into my consciousness. Leaving university after just one year I found myself working for a landscape gardener, and from there I moved to work in a small nursery and garden centre. After a few years in these useful environments I then became a technician in the Horticulture Department at Lincoln College (now University). I did manage to complete a qualification in horticulture about this time, but for some reason left this interesting work to return to being a sociology student. After several years I completed a PhD in sociology, working as an academic for several decades at Victoria University of Wellington. Towards the end of my academic career my interest in things horticultural re-emerged, and I was able to merge sociology and horticulture in a project on Phoenix palms in New Zealand. There is a little bit of sociology to come in this blog, but mainly the rationale for it draws more upon pleasure taken in the remarkable variety of things arboreal.