24 Dec 99

Retired gardener made doctor of laws

Retired curator of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden Mr Leslie Bisset is to be honoured by his former employers at this year's graduation ceremonies when he is to be made an honorary doctor of laws.

Mr Bisset is one of a handful of prominent figures from the disparate worlds of law, broadcasting, science, world affairs and the arts expected to receive the honorary degree of LLD by the University of Dundee at their millennium graduations in July.

Said University Principal and Vice Chancellor Dr Ian Graham-Bryce: "Under the expert care and dedication of Leslie Bisset the University Botanic Garden grew to be known as one of the best botanic gardens in Scotland. Above all Leslie is an enthusiast for plants and gardens and this showed clearly in his work. We are delighted to be able to recognise his services to the University and to the wider population who enjoy visiting the garden, in this way."

Mr Bisset, who is well known to audiences of The Beechgrove Garden as well as to the plant world for his expertise, retired in 1998 after 18 years in charge of the garden at Riverside. Latterly his post also covered the landscape aspects of the University campus. His interest in gardening began during his boyhood in Banchory when he grew vegetables for the local hotel. As a youth he was offered an apprenticeship in the famous gardens of the Cowdray estate in Dunecht where he worked for five years before going on to study horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. A spell of commercial horticulture in the south of England intervened then in the mid 1960s he returned to the Royal Botanic Gardens as foreman and later assistant curator.

In 1980 he took up the post as curator of Dundee University Botanic Garden and over the following 18 years developed the 20 acre garden in many ways, but always maintaining the theme of integrity - seeing plants within their natural habitats.

The garden team - including 600 volunteer Friends of the Botanic Garden - have gone to some extraordinary lengths over the years to create these - including a mini-Munro and a Mediterranean garden created on a slope littered with heat-retaining boulders cleared from local fields.

As a believer in the educational and therapeutic properties of gardens Leslie Bisset is passionate and was active in introducing many schoolchildren as well as students to the richness of the botanic garden. /ends