Sad news from Tasmania

[Maggi Young]

Members will be  aware, I am sure,  of the  former  Wood Bank Nursery  in  Tasmania and  of the Gillanders  who ran it. It  is  my  sad  task to inform the forum that  Ken Gillanders' wife, Lesley, has died.

We are  most  grateful to Sandra who has  been in contact with  SRGC friends on behalf of Ken Gillanders.

" Lesley passed away peacefully on Monday evening with Ken and  daughter Sandra by her side.  Lesley was at home happy with family until this past Saturday and spent only a short period with family in palliative care and was very comfortable.  Dad asked me to let you know."

Sincere condolences to Ken, Sandra and the family  on this  sad loss.


Ken, a nurseryman for over 50 years (now retired) and his wife Lesley started Woodbank Nursery on a bush block in Tasmania. Woodbank Nursery specialized in rare, exotic, unusual and native plants. As their nursery and its reputation grew so did their spectacular gardens containing many rare plants. Ken and Lesley collected seeds in Chile, Ecuador, New Zealand, China, South Africa, and Lesotho.
 

[Maggi Young]

We are grateful to Ken Gillanders  and  the  family  of the  late  Lesley  for this affectionate  obituary to Lesley  Gillanders.....

Vale Lesley Gillanders - horticulturalist, botanical artist

Lesley was born in 1932 in Swan Hill Victoria and moved with husband Ken to Tasmania in 1975 to start a specialist plant nursery.  She shared 37 years at Woodbank Nursery with Ken, where her love of horticulture was displayed working alongside him as true partners in life and in business.

Ken and Lesley travelled widely over 32 years, being known for attending and speaking at international conferences and collecting and introducing plants to the horticultural industry. Lesley also contributed greatly to seed distributions of the societies she was a member of worldwide.

Lesley travelled to every continent climbing mountains to see plants in their natural habitat and collecting seeds including the sub-Antarctic islands.  Her travels encompassed unique places including climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, the glaciers in Tierra Del Fuego, camping in the highland steppe of Kyrgyzstan, the Andes and the Rockies, bamboo forests in Japan, Easter Island, Canada, USA, UK, Ireland, NZ, China, Chile, Equador, Egypt, Bolivia, Peru, Lesotho, Kenya, safari plains in South Africa and the Galapagos Islands.

Lesley was also a gifted artist, and her beautiful botanical and bird watercolour paintings have been enjoyed worldwide, and recognised in many displays and competitions.  She shared much with plant enthusiasts as a respected and recognised regular writer in numerous Australian and international botanical magazines. Her last article was published in April 2019.

Lesley passed away very peacefully in May 2019, and is survived by her husband Ken, 5 children and a tribe of grandchildren and great grandchildren.


Lesley, surrounded  by  Fritillaria Imperialis in Iran in 2001.