Hershey Gardens has a new director of horticultural operations who trained at Longwood Gardens, earned a master’s degree in garden history in London, and has a keen appreciation for Milton Hershey’s love of plants.

Deb Wiles comes to Hershey from Orange, Texas, where she’s spent the last six years as senior horticulturist at the Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center.

Her job at Hershey is a new one, created in the wake of several recent retirements to oversee all of the Gardens’ day-to-day, plant-related operations. That includes the indoor Milton and Catherine Hershey Conservatory and Butterfly Atrium, as well as the 23 acres of outdoor gardens.

Wiles has no immediate to-do list, though.

She says her mentor in England told her it can take five years to really know a garden

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