Dr Timothy Walker
I have been connected with Pembroke for more than a decade. Until 2014 I was director the University's Botanic Garden and Arboretum. My particular interests are in plant conservation, pollination & plant reproduction, island biogeography, and the genus Euphorbia.
My first career was a working as a professional gardener in gardens such as Savill Garden in Windsor, Kew Gardens, and Oxford Botanic Garden. I became the Superintendent of the Botanic Garden in 1988 and the role was redefined in 2002 as the Director. I stayed at the Garden until 2014 after which I retrained as University lecturer and I now teach biology in all three years of the course.
During my three decades at the Garden I oversaw the Garden's participation in practical plant conservation projects including in situ conservation of local plants and ex situ conservation of endangered species from other countries. We started a Schools Education Programme with the capacity for every school student in Oxfordshire to visit the Garden (without charge) to learn about the pivotal role that plants play in our lives.
I am also interested in the connection between gardening and fine art and the parallel evolution of the paintings of Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock and the plantings of Sandra & Nori Pope and James Hitchmough. The Popes and Professor Hitchmough designed borders at the Botanic Garden during my time there.
Euphorbias (2000) RHS publications
Plants: a very short introduction (2012) Oxford University Press
Plant Conservation (2013) Timber Press
How plants work (2018) ed. Stephen Blackmore Ivy Press
Pollination (2020) Princeton University Press
News from Biology
Dr Timothy Walker
I have been connected with Pembroke for more than a decade. Until 2014 I was director the University's Botanic Garden and Arboretum. My particular interests are in plant conservation, pollination & plant reproduction, island biogeography, and the genus Euphorbia.
My first career was a working as a professional gardener in gardens such as Savill Garden in Windsor, Kew Gardens, and Oxford Botanic Garden. I became the Superintendent of the Botanic Garden in 1988 and the role was redefined in 2002 as the Director. I stayed at the Garden until 2014 after which I retrained as University lecturer and I now teach biology in all three years of the course.
During my three decades at the Garden I oversaw the Garden's participation in practical plant conservation projects including in situ conservation of local plants and ex situ conservation of endangered species from other countries. We started a Schools Education Programme with the capacity for every school student in Oxfordshire to visit the Garden (without charge) to learn about the pivotal role that plants play in our lives.
I am also interested in the connection between gardening and fine art and the parallel evolution of the paintings of Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock and the plantings of Sandra & Nori Pope and James Hitchmough. The Popes and Professor Hitchmough designed borders at the Botanic Garden during my time there.
Euphorbias (2000) RHS publications
Plants: a very short introduction (2012) Oxford University Press
Plant Conservation (2013) Timber Press
How plants work (2018) ed. Stephen Blackmore Ivy Press
Pollination (2020) Princeton University Press