Meet our Staff Feature this month – Kevin Rusch! Kevin is a horticulturist at the Washington Park Arboretum, part of a team of gardeners who maintain and improve the plant collections. Kevin started out his career with a degree in telecommunications, working in advertising and bike retail. When he became a parent, he stayed at home with the kids for the better part of 10 years; when he felt it was time to return to work, he decided to try something new by working part time at an organic gardening company, working at mostly residential locations. Eventually, he moved on to running his own business for a while, doing residential gardening, general yard maintenance, and even the occasional odd job for his clients like trimming cat nails (every cat owner needs a gardener who will trim your cat’s nails after pruning the Rhododendrons). After 6 years of running his own gardening business, Kevin started looking around for some full-time work, and saw a post for a temporary, full-time position at the UW Botanic Gardens. The timing was perfect, and he joined the horticulture team 2 years ago and has since joined the permanent staff.

Visitor safety and the health of the collection plants are always the priority, but there’s still room to make aesthetic choices, Kevin says; he finds it especially rewarding to know that he helps care for these plants that are not only here today for the public but will be here for years to come. He loves getting to use the cool machines as part of his job, everything from the chainsaws to the big loader machine for larger earthworks. He also enjoys the joyful, social aspect of the work, getting to interact with the public and feel like he’s able to improve people’s lives by creating and maintaining this beautiful space. He personally finds the work and the Arboretum itself therapeutic, and hopes that visitors are also able to soak up a little bit of that beauty and serenity. You can find Kevin working to maintain and improve the collections in the Woodland Garden, Crabapple Meadow, the Field Nursery, the holly collection, or the South Arboretum Creek Area.