Ten years ago, when Cecily Withal swapped her childhood village in the Scottish Borders for Edinburgh, she had little idea it would be the first step on her career path into Arboriculture.
Her first five years in the city combined work as a waitress with a passion for travelling and it was on a European adventure where she was inspired to seek a role in a land-based industry.
Fast forward to 2023 and Cecily is the first full-time female arborist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, since the 1980s, helping its tree care team look after some 12,000 trees living within its 500-acre site in West London.
Italy inspiration
“Because I didn’t have much money, I was working on farms to pay for my accommodation and at one particular place in Italy, it was being run using the principles of permaculture,” she explains.
Permaculture is an environmentally-friendly systems approach to land management and a Dutch couple had adopted the circular, no waste ethos to produce crops and rear livestock.
The former full-time commercial chefs were also using their culinary skills to offer a tasting menu to locals Friday to Sunday, using the fresh, organic, seasonal produce from the permaculture farm.
“It was very different to anything I’d seen before. I learny how to grow things from seed and propagate. Despite growing up in the countryside, I’d never done any of that before.
“I realised that it was something I really wanted to do, so when I returned to Edinburgh, I started to look for similar opportunities.”
Learning experience
One of these opportunities was as a volunteer at Floor Castle in the Scottish Borders, where a big walled garden required management and maintenance by a dedicated team of horticulturalists.
The team was very experienced, with the head gardener having worked on Royal estates, and they all enthusiastically shared their knowledge with Cecily, along with any useful botanical reference books to aid her learning.
“After about six months, I had enough work experience to get onto a botanical horticulture diploma course at Edinburgh University and that was the kick-start my career needed.”
The first two years of the course gives students academic and practical expertise in plant cultivation and management, along with detailed knowledge of plant distribution, classification, diversity, structure, and identification.
The course enables students to gain in-depth knowledge of a wide range of ornamental plants from around the world, and makes full use of the botanical collections held at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens.
Cecily says that while this provided an excellent foundation for a career in working with plants, it wasn’t until she went for work experience at Kew over summer 2018 that she really found her true passion.
In Edinburgh, the practical aspects of her course involved plenty of outdoor planting of herbaceous species, with less emphasis on trees.
At Kew, she joined up with the arboriculture team and thoroughly enjoyed the insight into what being an arborist involves.
“I was invited back again the following December when I had some time off and it cemented what I wanted to do in my own mind. Soon after, Kew offered me an apprenticeship and that was the start of my journey into arb.”
London calling
Once her botanical horticulture diploma was finished, Cecily made the big jump from Edinburgh to London and became the first female arborist to join the all-male Kew arb team.
The arborists she has worked with since 2019 have been very supportive and enthusiastic, teaching her all the tricks of the trade and helping her thrive in the close-knit team environment.
“For me, I felt that staying in horticulture would have been quite isolating. I love the problem-solving process as part of a big team. If you don’t know the answer or have a particular limitation, someone is always there to help you out.
“The job is a bit more labour intensive than anything I’ve done before, being outdoors and climbing most days, but I find it’s so good for my mental health.”
Having completed her apprenticeship, which included all her essential certificates like climbing and chainsaw use and maintenance, Cecily applied for a position within the arb team and is now fully focussed on continuing her professional development at Kew.
This will see her complete a Level 4 Diploma in arboriculture – which many industry entrants complete to pave the way into tree management consultancy roles – and various health and safety certificates relevant to her career.
Another ambition is to get a place on an overseas collecting expedition with Kew. The botanic garden is always looking to bring back interesting new plant species from across the world, as collections at Kew have been constantly evolving since the 18th Century.
In recent years, the process of bringing different material into the collections has been driven by climate change, with some plants no longer thriving in London conditions.
“We need trees and plants with the genetics to suit or tolerate our environment and it would be really interesting and exciting to be involved in one of those trips.”
Biggest challenge
When asked about the biggest challenge in her career so far, she says the work can be full-on in busy periods, which tend to be in spring and early summer. It then ramps up again in late autumn and early winter installing Christmas lights.
This means it is very difficult to plan or schedule things in for out of work, as tasks and hours can be irregular. However, she turns this into a positive.
“No day is ever the same. It’s quite an adventurous, inspirational role and I feel blessed to be part of the Kew team.
“From someone who had no obvious passion for anything at 17, to then go to university and have the drive to get to where I am now, it feels like all the hard work has finally paid off.”
Cecily’s role is now starting to open doors, with a recent Women in Arboriculture networking day at Kew resulting in her being invited to speak at the Tree Care Forum, which is running alongside the Arb Show 2023.
Held at Westonbirt Arboretum on 12-13 May, the forum will offer a programme of talks and activities showcasing the importance of arboriculture and the tree care community.
The Lantra team will also be exhibiting at the show, providing information and advice on Forestry and Arboriculture training courses and qualifications. We’ll also be hosting a Climbing Clinic across both days where leading Instructors Jo Hedger and John Trenchard will be on hand to offer tips, advice and demonstrations. You can find the team at stand T38/39.
