Jack Hobbs AHRIH

Jack has been Curator Manager of the Auckland Botanic Gardens (ABG) since 1997, after previously being Curator from 1988.

He has long been a member of the RNZIH, joining as a student in 1977. In 1990 he was awarded the Plant Raisers Award, in 1991 became a Fellow of the RNZIH, in 1996 became an Associate of Honour of the RNZIH, from 2003 to 2011 was the President of the RNZIH, and received the RNZIH Horticultural Communicator award in 2022.

Jack has been a presenter of television gardening programmes from 1991 until 2003, including 8 years as a presenter on Maggie's Garden Show.  For almost 20 years he ran an extensive plant breeding programme at ARBG which has produced many popular native plant hybrids including the popular 'Wiri' series of NZ Veronica (Hebe) and Leptospermum which are now grown commercially in many parts of the world.

Jack has been involved as writer and/or photographer for magazines and several gardening books. Since 1989 he has been a regular contributor of articles and photography to the New Zealand Gardener. He co-authored Bulbs for New Zealand Gardeners and Collectors (Jack Hobbs and Terry Hatch, Godwit Publishing, 1994; published in USA as The Best Bulbs for Temperate Climates, Timber Press, 1994.)

Other horticultural books he has contributed to include Ferns for New Zealand Gardens (Sandra Van der Mast and Jack Hobbs, Godwit Publishing, 1998), and he completed the manuscript for A New Zealand Handbook of Bulbs and Perennials (H. Redgrove, Godwit Publishing, 1991).

Jack has broad horticultural expertise from the practical to the managerial levels and a high public profile. Jack officially retired on 24th April 2025 after an extraordinary 48-year career with the Auckland Botanic Gardens and Auckland Council..