Grow Careers Scotland

13 November 2024

Date – 13 November 2024
Time – 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Grow Careers Scotland will be back on 13th November 2024 at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh as well as online. A day of seminars by a range of horticulturists, covering a broad variety of topical subjects. Aimed at anybody who is interested in a career, or further developing their career in horticulture. Registration required, see link below.

Register

This year’s speakers include:

David Richardson – ‘Adventures in the World of Horticulture – My Global Journey’

Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) & CIH President

David Richardson grew up in Northern Ireland and after a degree in Horticulture from Bath University joined the CWGC which has a global historic estate which spans over 150 countries and is one of the world’s largest gardening organisations.

He has worked predominantly within the horticultural discipline for the CWGC for over 35 years, in all its major geographies and is currently leading initiatives on quality assurance and the resilience, sustainability and future of this global historic estate together with the development of horticultural the skills of the 850-gardening staff for the future.

He is a Chartered Fellow of the Charted Institute of Horticulture and is its current President, a Liveryman of Worshipful Company of Gardeners and an Honorary Fellow in the School of History, University of Kent and for the past 3 years has been a Trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.

Paul Hervey-Brookes – ‘Inspired By Nature’

Award winning Garden Designer, RHS judge, writer and speaker.

Paul Hervey-Brookes is a well-respected designer who has built a strong reputation for landscapes and gardens that classically rely on planting to create spaces and rich, multi-layered habitats. His plant-focused philosophy is rooted in his early training at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh and subsequent garden experiences.

Paul has been described by his peers as arty, creative and possessing immense plant knowledge. His ability to read landscapes and evoke intense feelings and emotions has won him acclaim across the board.  He works on a diverse range of public landscapes and private gardens both in the United Kingdom and internationally with projects in Thailand, Russia, the United States and Israel.

He has created a number of show gardens including seven at the Chelsea Flower Show, where he has won Gold in 2013, 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Paul created one of the largest show gardens ever staged at the inaugural RHS Chatsworth winning Gold, Best in Show and Best Construction, he is also the only designer to have been invited to Gardening World Cup in Japan, an unprecedented four times, winning Gold, Best Planting and Best in Show. In total to date Paul has 13 Gold Medals and in recognition is an RHS Gardens Judge, he has been Chairman of Judging at all the RHS shows including RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Paul is the only designer to have been invited to worked with Marks & Spencer, developing a range of gardening gifts in 2011-12 and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Quarry in 2017 for his work with quarry and public awareness and given an award of recognition for his involvement with horticulture and landscape design in the Republic of Korea. Paul is a regular columnist for a variety of magazines, presents on television and lectures widely.

Emma Allen – ‘Bursary and Careers options with the RHS’

Head of Horticultural Relations, RHS

Emma trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and worked at several gardens including Borde Hill, Inner Temple and a Regency park restoration in Ealing before joining the RHS as a Garden Manager in 2016.  She now looks after their expert networks which includes plant committees, trials, plant society shows, partner gardens and of course bursaries. She will be discussing the RHS bursary opportunities.

 

Sarah Cathcart – ‘Growing Your Potential’

Director of Learning and Engagement, RBGE

Sarah joined RBGE in April 2024 as Director of Learning and Engagement, where she oversees the development, implementation and coordination of global learning and engagement programmes.

Sarah previously held roles at Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania, USA, as Vice President of Engagement and Learning and as Head of Education for the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), leading the national education programmes and RHS qualifications.

Other previous experiences include being a trustee for the Greater Brandywine YMCA (Board Chair), RBGE (Trustee) and Seed Your Future (National Leadership Cabinet). She is also a member of the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture Advisory Group.

Brian Cunningham – ‘The Hidden Story Every Plant Has To Tell’

Beechgrove Garden & Head Gardener Scone Palace

Brian has been a gardener since he left the school, training as a horticultural apprenticeship in Craigtoun Country Park just outside St Andrews where he was brought up. During a five year spell working in the alpine department of the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, he was fortunate to botanise in the Swiss Alps and spend time working in Bhutan helping to train the gardeners of their own Botanical Garden. Although plant conservation will always fascinate Brian and be key in what he does today, he missed down-to-earth practical gardening eventually finding himself as Head Gardener up at Scone Palace managing the historic gardens and designed landscape there.

Back in 2013 during a random chilli eating contest with Carole Baxter, the producers felt Brian had the qualities to be a presenter on BBC television’s Beechgrove Garden where he has been contributing ever since, now also writing regular gardening columns for the weekend edition of The Courier and Press & Journal newspapers. He is also a member of the Scone Palace Garden Fair organising team which amongst many others, features a nice garden design competition ideal for young gardeners to showcase their talents. He is also proud to support the amazing work and team of the therapeutic gardening charity, Trellis Scotland at a time when the benefits of gardening to the planet and us humans has never been more greater.

New Horticulturists Panel Talks:

Ross Rutherford

Ross is an apprentice Landscape Gardener for Noble Grounds Care, based in East Lothian and covering all aspects of Landscaping. He started working in this sector in 2021 and hasn’t looked back since. He is currently studying an SVQ in Horticulture & Landscaping at SRUC Oatridge.

 

 

Patricia Berakova

During lockdown, Patricia decided to follow her dream and change her career into horticulture and contribute to a positive change in the climate crisis. Not sure how to get there, she carved her own path into the field. While working full time as a cafe manager, she attended Introduction to Horticulture – in person course at RBGE, studied online courses, read gardening books and volunteered weekly as a gardener in a market garden at Newhailes, National Trust for Scotland, as well as a Creative Programmes Assistant at Inverleith House, RBGE. When the Horticulture Apprenticeship position at RBGE came up, it was perfect timing and exactly what she was dreaming about.

Now in her second year as an apprentice, she spends 3 months with each team in the garden. Having already completed rotations in the Arboretum team, Rock and Alpine, Back-up Glasshouses, Nursery and Front Range, she is currently placed with the Herbaceous team. Combined with day release at SRUC – Oatridge, the apprenticeship blends practical skills and theoretical knowledge, and provides professional training by Lantra, City & Guilds etc. At the end of this 2-year programme, she will have gained SVQs Level 2 in Horticulture & Landscaping. In her spare time, she is working towards the RHS Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Plant Growth and Development.

Iain Govan

Iain Govan is the Head of Gardens and Grounds at Culzean where he has worked for the last 7 years. He started his gardening journey as a ‘boy with a strimmer’ at Logan House Garden around 19 years ago before going on to work as an estate worker at Edinburgh Zoo while studying his RHS qualifications at the RBGE. This led to a position at the National Trust for Scotland’s school of heritage gardening at Threave Estate near Castle Douglas, gaining a Diploma in heritage gardening. Iain has been a NTS gardener ever since working as a gardener at Kellie Castle in Fife and as the First Gardener at Crathes Castle in the North East of Scotland before taking on his current role at Culzean in 2017.

 

 

We are delighted to confirm the following companies and organisations who will be attending this year’s event:

Grow Careers Scotland 2024 is kindly sponsored by:

Directions

The entrance is via 20A Inverleith Row, with the conference taking place in the Lecture Theatre (octagonal section of the Balfour Building), RBGE. See map. Bus and train details can be found on the location map.

The nearest train station to RBGE is Edinburgh Waverley which is a 15-minute walk from the garden. There is a regular bus link from the station which is routed past RBGE as well as local taxi firms. For those travelling by car, there is long stay car parking nearby on Arboretum Place, Inverleith Place and Inverleith Terrace.