Talking story with Andy Jasper

Andy Jasper has come all the way from the United Kingdom to fill a new and important position at the National Tropical Botanical Garden.

He is the first director of NTBG’s Southshore Gardens, and oversees McBryde Garden, Allerton Garden and the Southshore Visitors Center.

He was appointed by NTBG Director and CEO Chipper Wichman in September and arrived on Kauai in early October.

“With NTBG’s research, conservation and education programs, the Breadfruit Institute, and our five gardens and five preserves all for Chipper to oversee as head of the institution, he appointed Andy, who comes to us from the Eden Project (a world-class environmental education facility located in Cornwall, England) to oversee our Southshore Gardens and take them, particularly our flagship garden, McBryde, to a new level,”  NTBG Director of Communications Janet Leopold wrote in an email.

This week we chat with 42-year-old Jasper about work, home, goals and what makes NTBG so special.

The Garden Island: Start by telling our readers a little about your background. How did you find yourself on the Garden Isle?

Andy Jasper: I come from Cornwall, England — the most southerly and westerly part of the U.K. — and was found by The National Tropical Botanical Gardens while I was working for the Eden Project, one of the most modern botanical gardens and most visited environmental visitor attractions in the world.

Eden Project grew out of a disused open-cast China clay mine, turning a great scar on the landscape into an incredible global garden. Eden has two gigantic geodesic biomes (the largest conservatories in the world), housing a tropical rainforest in one and Mediterranean environment in the other. It is one of the most visited attractions in the U.K., pulling in over 15 million visitors in the 13 years I worked there, despite being five hours from London.

As head of research and evaluation, I developed a research program monitoring environmental, social and economic impacts. This proved the Eden Project pulled billions of pounds into an very depressed economy. It showed how motivating the experience was to people, helping them feel part of the natural world — not separate from it — and inspired people to live more sustainably, with the grain of nature and with their community. This evidence base was a core product of the work.

NTBG liked the way Eden Project engaged such a broad audience. They loved the way we worked to connect visitors emotionally, with humor, wit, challenge and provocation, to create inroads intellectually to issues which are often quite challenging. NTBG liked that visitors left Eden caring more about their environment and the world. Eden has been working with the amazing team at NTBG since 2006 and I have been regularly coming to work with the team here since 2011.

TGI: Is it safe to assume you also have a green thumb?

AJ: I love plants, but my role as director of NTBG Southshore Gardens is not just botanical. It is also about understanding people, their relationship with plants and how they engage with the work of the organization which is science, conservation research and education. And, of course, the most spectacular horticulture.

That said, my passion for plants came from my family. I grew up in a Georgian Vicarage with a large formal garden that had been designed in 1790 by one of the early English archaeologists, Dr. William Borlase. This garden was full of unusual features, formal lawns, woodland garden, rockeries, rhododendrons, bamboo avenues, wells, streams, etc. It was planted around mineral specimens, stone crosses and even some Neolithic standing stones that were built into the design. I think this is where my passion for gardens and garden design began, and I see the principles of this formal garden design, the theatre of the garden experience, mirrored in the Allerton Garden. 

TGI: How does it feel to be the man in charge and the first director of NTBG’s Southshore Gardens? What do you hope to bring to the new position?

AJ: It feels great. It is a great honor to be working with world renown science, conservation and horticultural staff, but also with such an incredibly enlightened team who have deep roots in Hawaiian culture, U.S. heritage and, like so many living on Kauai, with very long historical connections to the people who founded the organization. This is an amazing job — challenging, huge potential and a dream. My mates at home cannot believe that such an opportunity could even exist. I always said it would need to be a be an exceptional job to make me consider leaving the Eden Project, and my new position is just that.

I also feel connected through historical tradition, following the footsteps of my Cornish forefathers. I feel like I am on an amazing journey from a once-used mine in Cornwall, voyaging across the globe to join another stellar organization in their pioneering work. I bring with me a suitcase of tried and tested techniques for engaging visitors, as well as experience of working for European heritage visitor attractions: Tate Galleries, National Trust, World Heritage Site management, heritage and landscape training, as well as my work with the English tourist board Visit England. I have passion, energy and a deep respect for the cultural values and heritage that formed the organization and the community that support it. 

TGI: How do you describe NTBG?

AJ: A tropical botanical garden. A scientific research institution. A conservation organization that makes a real difference. An educational trust. A forum for learning and debate. A garden in the sea. An island. Rooted in Hawaiian culture. The botanical organization in the USA chartered by congress to do the work it does. A visitor attraction. A global must-see. The most spectacular journey into a botanic garden in the entire world. It is so many things to so many people and that is its beauty.

TGI: What would you say are some of the biggest challenges facing the garden?

AJ: The challenges are common to most nonprofit organizations. The balancing act between meeting our objective and being commercial enough to stand on our own two feet.

TGI: What are some of your goals for the future of the Southshore Gardens?

AJ: Helping more people find ways to enjoy the garden, to take inspiration from the incredible collection and learn from the science and applied research and conservation. Part of my role is to help build the infrastructure needed to improve access and I hope the readers of The Garden Island will take the opportunity to witness the amazing transformation taking place here. 

TGI: A toughie. Which is better? McBryde or Allerton garden?

AJ: This is a difficult one. They exist together but are two very different gardens providing very different experiences. The relationship between the two gardens is often overlooked because of the contrast between the two. As you know, the Allerton is a more complete designed experience — a garden theatre, walking from garden room to garden room, offering an experience of light and shade, moments of energy and humor and moments of intimacy and contemplation. The garden is managed like a “living museum,” maintained in the gardening tradition the Allertons created. Without the Allerton, McBryde would not exist and without McBryde the Allerton would not be possible to perpetuate.

The McBryde, on the other hand, is a garden with a practical function. This garden holds the living collection that supports the nation’s program of scientific and conservation research into tropical botany. It has the largest collection of federally listed plants in the entire country with the native Hawaiian collection. The visitor experience includes the incredibly dramatic journey into open parkland, breadfruit orchard, waterfall, stream walk and the evocative canoe garden which portrays a story of the Polynesian voyagers who founded the islands with enough plants to build an entire civilization and much more. Many of which we are so familiar with because we use them every day. 

Both gardens are beautiful. I’ve seen visitors literally moved to tears by the beauty of the place and both gardens have different personalities.

TGI: Are there any upcoming NTBG events on Kauai you are especially excited for? What should we not miss?

AJ: Oh yes. We are entering our golden year — 50 years old next year, on Aug. 19 — so we are planning a series of events throughout the year. 

We start with the largest event to be held at NTBG, a concert in a part of the McBryde garden where the land forms a natural amphitheater which will be acoustically perfect to begin our celebrations. This will be April 5, so do put it on your calendar and tickets will go on sale early in the new year. 

From here there will be a series of “golden ticket tours” that will allow visitors to see new, improved and also previously hidden areas of the gardens.

Keep your eyes on The Garden Island newspaper — we will be advertising the line-up as we enter the new year.

TGI: What is something most people don’t know about NTBG that you think they should?

AJ: It is the only botanical institution in the U.S. chartered by Congress and has the largest collection of federally listed endangered plants. We don’t receive any funding from government funds.

TGI: When you’re not discussing botany, how do you like to spend your time?

AJ: In England I love building, home and garden improvements and my 1971 Volkswagen camper van. Over here, I just love exploring the island and playing games with my kids, helping friends with their DIY projects, swimming, hiking and gardening.