Rachel Doyle: Sowing the seeds of a successful horticultural life
The IGCA is the international governing body for garden centres worldwide. Rachel is the first Irish president of the IGCA, and the international face of the gardening industry, worth an estimated €516 million in Ireland annually. Yet she always manages to keep her feet planted firmly on the ground.
She owns Arboretum garden centre in Carlow, Ireland’s first five-star garden centre which employs 67 people. As well as IGCA presidency duties, she has successfully bid for Ireland to host the IGCA international congress this year. She also sits on the horticultural board of Bord Bia and manages to make time for her husband, children and grandchildren. How does she do it? “Well, the presidency and the congress have taken over my life at the moment,” she says. “Arboretum is sort of in the background, but I’m very fortunate that I’ve two great sons who are in the business. They’re directors and shareholders in Arboretum so they’re running the business and they’re on the committee helping me with the congress as well.”
