Strange, Kit
Job TitleBotanical Horticulturist, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
DepartmentConservation, Living Collections and Estates
SectionHorticulture, Kew Gardens
Science Teams:
Joined Kew: 2001
Foreign Language(s): Danish (native speaker), German, French
Qualifications & Appointments
RHS Diploma, NVQ I-II Skills for the Green Environment, NCH Soft Landscape, and Construction, RHS General Certificate, City and Guilds Arboriculture
Honorary Show Secretary for the Alpine Garden Society (Early Spring Show)
Role
Looking after Kew's extensive alpine bulb collection. Repotting the bulbous collections annually. Sowing bulb seed and growing on germinated seedlings to adult stage. Maintaining the collections to a high standard for display in the Davies Alpine House, and making sure the collections are kept fresh by resowing. Developing exhibits for horticultural and educational events and demonstrating propagation techniques for horticulture students from Kew and UK horticultural colleges. Supporting the MSB by taking part in seed collecting expeditions. Growing and developing horticultural protocols for plants from the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, and producing plants for display at Kew and DNA collection. Working with colleagues in the Falklands to propagate native species for sale to the public and restoration of degraded habitats and raising public awareness of native species conservation within the Falklands
Projects
Selected Recent Publications
Strange, K., (2006). 2005 – Collecting in the Rockies. Samara 11: 6
Rix, M. and Strange, K., (2007). Fritillaria gussichae. Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 24: 42-45
Strange, K. and Rix, M. (2007). Linum doerfleri. Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 24: 12-17.
Hind, N., Strange, K. and Broome, J., (2007). Helichrysum orientale. Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 24: 251-259.
Strange, K., (2007) Paul Furse and his plant collections at Kew. Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 24: 71-80