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Dr Janet Cubey

Janet is Editor-in-Chief of RHS Plant Finder, overseeing the editing of more than 81,000 plant names and linking authoritative plant nomenclature with nurseries stocking the plants

What do you do?

I am the Botanical Reviewer for the RHS, including being Editor-in-Chief of the RHS Plant Finder. As Editor-in-Chief of the RHS Plant Finder, I oversee the editing of all the plant names for this key RHS publication; linking authoritative plant nomenclature with the nurseries from which gardeners can purchase the plant.

I have worked for the RHS in variety of roles in the botanical and horticultural information teams since starting as a Botanist in 1999. I now work part-time, from New Zealand, after a change in my husband’s work led us to emigrate in 2018.

“As a child I was always outside helping in the garden, or doing butterfly surveys for my local council; by the time I was 14 I knew I wanted to work with plants.”

Why is your team’s research important?

A plant name is the key to learning so much more about a plant; my work has always been about connecting people with plants in different ways.

Projects I’m working on now

Completed projects

Achievements

It’s impossible to choose just one achievement from my long career with the RHS. There are so many good days when you work with plants and the people that love them.

Publications

  • Cubey J, Edwards D, et al (eds). (2020) RHS Plant Finder 2020. Royal Horticultural Society, London
  • Brickell CD, Alexander C, Cubey J, David JC, Hoffman MHA, Leslie AC, Malecot V, Xiaobai J (eds). (2016) International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. 9th edition, ISHS, Leuven, Belgium, ISBN 978-94-6261-116-0
  • Whitehouse C M, Cubey J. (2012) Plants given RHS Exhibition Awards 2008–10. Hanburyana 6: 83–139, ISSN 1749–723X
  • Brickell CD, Alexander C, David JC, Hetterscheid WLA, Leslie AC, Malecot V, Xiaobai J (eds) & Cubey J. (2009) International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. 8th edition, ISHS, Leuven, Belgium, ISBN 978-90-6605-662-6
  • Cubey JJ. (2009) Plants given Exhibition Awards 2007–08. Hanburyana, 4:59-88, ISSN 1749-723X
  • Cubey JJ. (2008) Nursery Catalogues: Past, Present and Future. In Groendijk-Wilders N, Alexander C, van den Berg RG, Hetterscheid HLA (eds.) Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on The Taxonomy of Cultivated Plants. ISHS, Leuven, Belgium.
  • Cubey JJ. (2008) New combinations in Persicaria and Podophyllum. Hanburyana, 3:80-83, ISSN 1749-723X
  • Cubey JJ. (2008) Plants given Exhibition Awards 2006–07. Hanburyana, 3:85-114, ISSN 1749-723X
  • Cubey JJ. (2006) New combinations in Actaea, Justicia, Persicaria and Androsace. Hanburyana, 1:14-16, ISSN 1749-723X
  • Cubey JJ, Wesley W. (2006) Begonia Rex Cultorum Group. RHS Plant Trials and Awards Bulletin

Get involved

The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.