John Stoa grows the art of gardening
It's a growing fascination — gardening has something for everyone these days, from the youngsters keen to help the environment by growing their own, to the seasoned garden-lover with a passion for colour and style.
John Stoa.
- By Helen Brown
- Published in the Courier : 23.06.10
- Published online : 30.06.10 @ 04.16pm
Gardens have changed for most of us since the days when our dads grew serried ranks of veg and our mums pruned traditional roses. But in an age when space, both physical and spiritual, is at a premium, a garden can offer both.
A garden can change your life - for the better. Helen Brown talked to The Courier's new gardening guru, John Stoa, about the secrets of the garden.
John Stoa is one of those lucky people who has more than one talent. And one, over the years, has grown into and inspired the other.
John started his working life as an apprentice in Dundee's Parks Department, then as scientific assistant at the Scottish Crop Research Institute just outside the city, spending much of his subsequent working life in horticulture and parks and forestry management.
At the same time, his hobby, painting, grew and developed in parallel, his canvases often inspired not only by the landscapes round about him but by his garden, the floral shapes, colours and textures he created in his own home-from-home.
Largely self-taught, he sold his first painting in 1980 and continued to experiment, develop and sell his work but in 1992, when redundancy hit, he took the plunge and became an artist full-time.
He enjoyed and continues to enjoy considerable success — this week, he is showing work at his home studio as part of Dundee's Westfest — and still finds huge inspiration in the garden he and his partner Anna started to create almost 10 years ago.
He has also become known and recognised as an expert in several horticultural areas but it's his practical yet imaginative approach that makes his ideas accessible and understandable to would-be gardeners of all ages and abilities.
He is sharing his discoveries and his passion with Courier readers in his gardening column as part of Tuesday's regular C2 lifestyle section.
John explained, "I left school in 1959 and went to the Parks Department in Dundee at the time when the manager was Sandy Dow.
"He was a real horticulturalist with a great love of flowers — the town was full of flowers back then!
"I studied for my apprenticeship for three years and then spent another three getting a City & Guilds qualification.
"You learned everything there was to know at the time about plants and their habits and covered all kinds of techniques from green-keeping and glass house work, growing fruit, vegetables and flowers to weed control and pruning.
"At that time, it wasn't that long after the war and a lot of former estate gardeners from private service had come into the public areas — so many of the big estates were sold off or broken up — and their skills and knowledge was amazing.
"I was a keen young laddie and I learned so much from them, especially about things like fruit and vegetable growing from their experience in kitchen gardens.
"Now, there isn't the emphasis on that sort of thing — or the people around who know about it — but it's been invaluable to me in so many ways, from how to grow roses to grafting fruit trees."
John also branched out into training in crop science at the Scottish Crop Research Institute at Invergowrie.
"That was fascinating because a lot of it was cutting edge stuff for the time, working out how to grow new varieties, what conditions they needed, trialling all kinds of new types of fruit and vegetables.
"My section was also involved in trials with the latest herbicides.
"The institute worked on a world-wide basis, with new things coming in from America, Canada and internationally.
"I was there at the time when blueberries, which are now so popular, were first brought in as young plants.
"It's strange to look back now and think that I might have been one of the first people to pick them in this country.
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