David Robinson: a life in horticulture

Professor David Robinson (1928–2004), BSc(Hort), MS, PhD, VMM, FI(Hort).

David Robinson was one of Ireland’s most influential horticultural figures of the late twentieth century: a scientist, educator, broadcaster, traveller, plantsman and garden-maker.

His life in horticulture connected research, teaching, public communication and practical gardening. At Kinsealy he helped shape modern horticultural research in Ireland; through radio, television, writing and lectures he shared horticulture with a much wider public; and at Earlscliffe he created a garden that reflected his curiosity about plants from around the world.

Education and early experience

David Robinson worked in horticulture all his life. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in horticulture from the University of Reading, his Master’s degree from Cornell University (USA), and his doctorate from Queen’s University Belfast.

He gained practical early experience on a fruit farm near Pershore and a vegetable farm at Musselburgh, East Lothian. He worked as Horticultural Adviser in South Co. Down, Northern Ireland for the Ministry of Agriculture (1950–53).

The late 1940s and early 1950s were a time of food shortage in Europe, and governments invested heavily in horticultural research. New research stations were being set up in several countries, and in 1953 David was appointed Deputy Director at the newly formed Horticulture Research Centre in Loughgall, Co. Armagh.

One of his first major tasks was to tackle weeds in fruit crops. His work with the rapidly expanding set of chemical tools available at the time established him as an expert in this field. He also recognised gaps in his research training, which he set out to address.

As David later wrote:

I knew early in 1954 that the well endowed W.K. Kellogg Foundation was giving grants to people in Britain to provide further training in the USA for agricultural graduates.

I happened to be in London in March 1954 and by pure chance I passed by the headquarters of the Foundation. I still don’t know what gave me the courage but I walked in, asked to see the Director (without an appointment) and told him I wanted a Kellogg Foundation Grant to study at Cornell University in New York State for a year.

At the time I worked for the Ministry of Agriculture in Northern Ireland, a most bureaucratic organisation, and when I returned all hell was let loose for the Ministry felt (understandably) that they and they alone should decide who would benefit from Kellogg grants.

Anyway I was released for a year and spent 1954/55 in the States where I learned a great deal about research and plants. The US had not suffered from the War the way Europe had and it was an exhilarating time. ¹

The story captures something of David’s character: practical, direct, curious and willing to take an opportunity when it appeared.

Move to the south of Ireland

David remained a research worker at the Horticultural Centre, Loughgall until 1964. During that period he had been invited to the Republic of Ireland on a number of occasions to give advice. John Daly (father of the RTÉ gardening expert Gerry Daly) invited him in the 1950s to lecture fruit growers in Wexford on his work in weed control. At that time there was little contact between horticulturalists north and south. These visits helped pave the way for David’s appointment as Director of Horticultural Research at the Kinsealy Research Centre, Agricultural Research Institute (now Teagasc), where he served for almost 25 years (1964–88).

Kinsealy, research and professional service

David’s influence extended well beyond his own research work. He helped shape horticultural education, represented Ireland internationally, and contributed to professional standards in pesticide use, crop research and horticultural publishing.

He was External Examiner for BSc, MS and PhD degrees at University Colleges Dublin and Cork, the Dublin and Tralee Institutes of Technology, Bath University, Wye College (University of London) and the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow.

Among many professional roles, he was Past President of the Horticultural Education Association of Great Britain and Ireland (1971–72), represented Ireland on the Council of the International Society for Horticultural Science from 1964 to 1990, chaired BASIS (Republic of Ireland), and served on the editorial boards of Scientia Horticulturae (1970–1989), Crops Research Journal (Associate Editor, 1982–1989) and Chronica Horticulturae (1992–1995).

Earlscliffe garden

At Earlscliffe, David created a garden that brought together scientific curiosity, practical experience and a willingness to experiment. His 7-acre (28,000 m²) garden, maintained with minimal outside help, was designated one of Ireland’s National Plant Heritage Gardens and was awarded the highest accolade (two stars) in the Good Gardens Guide (Ebury Press). ²

Publications

David authored over 120 scientific publications, mainly on weed control, and was joint editor of three books on horticultural science. His writing helped connect applied research with the practical realities of horticulture, gardening and crop production.

Teaching, writing and broadcasting

David brought horticulture to a wide public as well as to students and professional audiences. He was a regular panel member on the Irish RTÉ Radio One programme Ask About Gardening with Gerry Daly, answering live questions from listeners. For a four-year period he was a presenter on the television programme Greenfingers, broadcast by BBC and RTÉ. He wrote on gardening for Irish and UK newspapers, journals and magazines, including the Farmer’s Journal and The Irish Garden. He also judged at national and international garden festivals.

He visited over 70 countries on horticultural missions, was an invited speaker at conferences on five continents, and served as Guest Professor in Urban Horticulture at Humboldt University, Berlin (1992–1999).

International work and plant exploration

David worked as an overseas consultant for organisations including FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), the Department of Foreign Affairs, APSO (Agency for Personal Service Overseas) and the Irish Horticultural Development Board. Countries involved included Lesotho, Eswatini (Swaziland), Sudan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Malta.

He carried out garden and plant reconnaissance tours in the Caribbean, Borneo and Sweden, and led gardening tours to these and many other destinations including New Zealand, Australia and Majorca. He lectured on cruise ships and led shore excursions in the South Pacific, Mediterranean, Canary Islands, around Britain, and the Madeira, Caribbean and Azores regions.

Awards and recognition

David’s contribution was recognised by horticultural, educational and professional bodies in Ireland, Britain and internationally. His awards included the Gold Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society in 1981, Honorary Life Membership of the Royal Dublin Society in 1985, and of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) in 1998.³ He received a Winston Churchill Fellowship (1972) to study Japanese gardening. He was awarded the Fellowship and the Distinguished Horticulturist Award from the Institute of Horticulture, and in 1996 was elected to the Institute’s Hall of Fame. He was also elected a Fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science in 1987, ⁴ the highest award offered by that society.

Posthumously, in 2006, David Robinson was awarded the Kildare Medal for exceptional services to horticulture by the Kildare Growers group. The medal appears to have been awarded only twice: to David Robinson in 2006 and to John George Dalkeith “Keith” Lamb in 2007. David and Keith had been colleagues at Kinsealy Research Centre.

Selected medals and awards

Some of the medals and award documents recognising David Robinson’s contribution to horticultural science, education and gardening.

A continuing legacy

David died in March 2004, but his influence continued through the people he taught, the research he published, the garden he created at Earlscliffe, and the many gardeners who knew him through talks, writing, radio and television.

David Robinson Memorial Lectures

In 2005, Bord Bia launched the David Robinson Memorial Lecture. This annual event remembers David Robinson’s contribution while giving young horticultural students from colleges north and south of Ireland an opportunity to come together and learn more about the contribution horticulture makes to health, environment and economy.⁵

His wife, Muriel, died in April 2016. They are survived by their daughter, Karen, and son, Ivan, and their respective families.

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Other pages related to David Robinson

• Plants that changed my life
• Other articles and papers
• David Robinson Memorial Lectures
• Obituaries

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References

1. Lecture given to the Howth Peninsula Society, September 1998 ↩︎
2. Good Gardens Guide, edited by Peter King, 1999. Publisher: Bloomsbury / Ebury Press (Pocket edition, November 1999), ISBN: 0747540098 ↩︎
3. International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) - List of ISHS award winners . ↩︎
4. American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) List of ASHS award winners . ↩︎
5. David Robinson Memorial Lectures List of annual lectures given in David Robinson's memory. . ↩︎