Tim Entwisle

Where are you from?

I live in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria, Australia.

What is your professional background?

I began my professional career as a phycologist, a specialist in algae. I collected freshwater red algae from all over Australia, mostly from streams in some of our more scenic mountain ranges. I still collect and occasionally publish new algal species, and a few years I had a new genus (family and order…) named after me – Entwisleia.

Mostly though I run a botanic garden. For the last 8 years I’ve been the Director and Chief Executive of Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, one of the most beautiful botanical landscapes in the world. Really. If you haven’t visited you must! Before I took up this role I was for two years in a senior role at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and eight years as Executive Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust in Sydney.

Ever since I started working in botanic gardens, first as a university student during summer vacation, and later as  editor and writer for the 4-volume Flora of Victoria, my interests extended into the flowering plant world and all the way to oaks… These days I blog (talkingplants.blogspot.com), tweet (@timentwisle) and look for any opportunity to promote science, plants, and gardens. I’m a regular contributor to radio in Australia and write for various magazines including Gardening Australia. I am currently President of the International Association of Botanic Gardens (IABG).

How did your interest in oaks start?

I’ve always loved the Oak Lawn in Melbourne Gardens (along with Cranbourne Gardens one of the two botanic gardens I look after as part of Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria). There are 46 trees in the Oak Lawn, some 150 years old, representing 38 species. Throughout the Melbourne Gardens there are another 81 oak trees, and another 33 species. So a rich collection.

For the last six months or so I’ve been gathering notes for a book about Oak Lawn, the oaks in Melbourne Gardens, and perhaps oaks more generally. My wife, Lynda Entwisle, is an amateur botanical artist, so while I write about "local" oaks she paints them. It all began with a c. 160-year-old Quercus aff. alba (White Oak) in Oak Lawn that fell over just after Christmas Day. We will replace with a Quercus lobata (Valley Oak), which is better suited to the climate predicted for Melbourne over the next century or so.

The most popular tree on Oak Lawn though is a Quercus robur (English oak, below) with lovely long sinuous branches. This picture was taken a few days ago as we move into mid-winter.

How did you come to join the IOS?

To help me track down information for my book!

Which is your favorite oak?

Ah, well that changes with each new one I "discover". Quercus suber (Cork Oak) is a favorite from my visits to Spain and Portugal, and because the first Director here (Ferdinand von Mueller) planted them often around Victoria. I also like Quercus palustris (pin oak), which grows as a street tree where I live. But as I say, each one I examine and identify becomes a new favorite.

An oak anecdote you would like to share?

You can find a few of my stories about oaks in my blog. Those mentioning oaks can be found here (and I’ll post a longer piece of cork oaks in a few months).

Anything else you would like to add?

Thank you all for celebrating and sharing information about such lovely trees.