G’day, I’m Ash walker and this is my Global footprints Horticultural scholarship adventure, Hope you enjoy! All of this is from a dairy that I had throughout the whole trip!
Planning the trip:
It all started back in late 2019, when I heard about the Global Footprints scholarship from a
work colleague (Justin Longhurst nursey manager at Welby Garden centre), I was intrigued about what this opportunity could provide. So, I decided to apply when applications opened in April of 2020 and after the long hours of putting my application together, I sent it through and after a long process, On the 13th of August 2020 I reserved a phone call from (Henrietta Ardlie) the CEO of Global Footprints, (at the present time) to told me that I have been awarded the 2021 Global Footprints scholarship and you couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. I was so excited to what the future could bring, so I went home that afternoon and started planning the trip.
My first hurdle that I had to jump was Covid-19, because at that time the world was in a pandemic. We couldn’t leave our homes, let alone fly half around the world. So, I had to wait an extra year until I could eventually begin my trip, but I didn’t let that year of waiting go to waste. I wanted to take this time to grow my knowledge and contacts within the industry.
I started this in early 2021 by beginning at Mayfield Garden, working a casual position as a horticulturist. I worked every Monday for 4 months gaining experience and learning new skills, which became very valuable with its similar climate to the UK. I also attended several conferences, garden talks and garden shows, one show of which was the Melbourne international Flower & Garden Show volunteering on the Australian Garden Conical stand, talking to the public about showing that horticulture is much more than just weeding and
mowing lawns. In fact, there is over 100 different career pathways in horticulture that you can explore. I also volunteered alongside Tyler Howard, the 2019 Global Footprint scholar at MIFGS, Collectors plants fair and we were invited to speak on the 2GB on the Garden clinic with Graham Ross to talk about our scholarships, we took a lot of inspiration and motivation from these events leading up to our trip and certainly became a steppingstone to what else was to come.
Throughout the year I was in contact with Graham Ross an (Australian horticulturalist, author, Tv presenter, Radio presenter and an ambassador for the Global footprint’s scholarship). First Graham asked me, where would I like to go, and I answered everywhere. I said I would like to go to UK, France, Singapore, USA, Japan, Netherlands, Scotland, and Graham’s response was that I’m quite ambitious but need to cut down the list. So, I did and emailed Graham back with placements ideas in the UK and France. Graham said that’s better, and we began the planning. Graham put me I contacted with several people overseas one of which was Andrew Fisher Tomlin, (owner of London Collage of garden design and Fisher Tomlin & Bowyer). Andrew helped me with organising 3 placements and introducing me to all of them, RHS Chelsea flower show volunteering for 3 weeks for designer Kate Gould and working on (Out of the shadows) Sanctuary Garden, the Royal botanic garden, Kew, and a day of volunteering at the RHS Hampton Court show working with Designer Samuel Moore on the show garden (the sun lifestyle outdoor living garden).
So, after emailing all the placements for a few months and keeping in touch with Graham and Andrew, planned to be overseas for 6 months, start in May and finish in November. I have 5 different placements, where I’II be at each location for around 4 weeks working as a Horticulturist, which would entail garden maintenance and soft landscaping work. The 6 main placements are in order of The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, The Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew, National Trust Hidcote Manor House & Garden, Claude Monet’s Garden in France, The Eden Project, and The Lost Gardens of Heligan.
I then had to organise visa’s, travel insurance, accommodation and flights which was a little bit of a headache to figure out with it being my first time travelling overseas. I contacted some pervious Global footprints scholars, and I got advice from 2015 Grace Scott, 2013 Kate Grace and 2017 Jessica Smith. I also asked around the horticulture industry and the Global footprints team, with everyone’s help and advice I decided to get the T5 Youth mobility Visa for the UK. Which would allow me to be in the UK for 2 years and allows paid work but not public funds, I got this visa because I want to come back next year and possibly do paid work.
Travel Insurance was pretty easy, just had make sure that had all the insurance covers that’s required. I went with One Cover travel insurance, because I heard a lot of great reviews, and it had the covers that I need.
Accommodation was fairly easy, I looked at a few different options hostels, Airbnb, student accommodation and house sitting, after all the research I decided to just go with Airbnb’s. Hostels was an option, but a lot didn’t look right, and you could say a bit dodgy.
When booking flights, it was probably the most exciting and stressful part of planning because it had the whole trip feel real. I booked with Emirates and to leave on the 12th of May and fly out at 9:10pm, with this all done I had to do was just wait now.
Now for future scholars, please check websites and do a bit of research yourself because wont I did might not be revenant at your time.
So, the weeks of waiting turned into days then it became the night before I was going to hop
onto the plane and set off to another country for 6 months, you think I got any sleep. HELL NO, I was so excited for the journey ahead. That afternoon myself and all the family drove to Sydney International airport, I was feeling pretty good and optimistic about the trip. So, as I said bye to the family, for now and walked up the tunnel I felt a feeling that I’ve never felt before, and that was a feeling of adventure, excitement, nervousness, and something else that I can’t put into words but something like the feeling of being or a new beginning. Once I was on the plane everything was okay and now all I had to do was try to get some sleep. The fly was an absolute killer, 14 and a half hours stuck in a confined space, not fun but we got through it and before I knew it, I have landed in Dubai. Nice city could only see it from the airport, which was massive I had to take a bus just to get to my next gate. Pretty fun thought, the airport itself is nice, very flashy and you could tell that there’s a lot of money in Dubai but once my 4-hour layover was done, it was time to get onto the next plane to London and 7 and a half hours later, I landed on the 13th of May at 2 in the afternoon.
Once I left the airport, I went straight to my Airbnb that I booked in Roehampton and passed out asleep for a couple hours. Woke and thought I’ll go for a little explore around the area, it was an eye opened so different from Australia, the builds, people and just the old look for the place. It’s like stepping back in time. That afternoon I meet up with Tyler Howard, who arrived only 2 days before I did. It was so great seeing someone familiar; we stayed out that night checking out London.
The next following days I explore London going to, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Kensington Gardens, Chelsea Physic Garden and RHS Garden Wisley. Buckingham and Big Ben was certainly top on my list to visit first, amazing to be in the presents of so much history, one thing I notices was the amount of people around – they were packed in like sardines. Kensington Gardens was sensational, well maintained and structed very nicely. The Queens Mary rose gardens was beautiful, I was the at the right time with everything in flower and looking fantastic. It’s London’s largest collection of roses with around 12,000 roses planted in the gardens, differently a must see.
Chelsea Physic Garden is an intriguing garden, I took a lot away from visiting the garden and found that wherever you looked, there was always something interesting to see and read about. There’s a collection of native Australian and New Zealand plants that was discovered by Sir Joseph banks, when joined the voyage of discovery in 1768 – 1771 to the Pacific Ocean aboard the HMS Endeavour, it was led by Captain James Cook. He had been given a mission to search for the continent now known as Australasia, the unknown land of the south. His team set off in search of new species of trees, shrubs, and plants. All of joseph plants are on display, along with all the other amazing plants in the garden. Another must see.
RHS Wisley Garden, one of the best RHS gardens I’ve seen so far. The garden is 240 acres of
land and covers all types of gardens styles, design and is most renowned for the quality and detail in the garden. Which is very impressive when you take in account the size of the garden. I only spent a day at Wisley exploring the gardens, I highly recommend anyone to visit.
Adventuring around London was a definitely an eye opener, seeing Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and all the other amazing landmarks but nothing could prepare me for the onslaught that was about to happen at Chelsea flower show.
RHS Chelsea Flower show
15th of May - 28th of May
I worked at The Chelsea Flower Show with Kate Gould the designer of “Out of the shadows” Sanctuary Garden as a horticulturist, planting and demonstrating plant maintenance in the garden display.
1st day at Chelsea was a ride, I remember waking up at 5:30am to head off to Chelsea and
where I met Kate Gould (the designer of the garden, wonderful lady), Keith Chapman (the foreman of the build, pretty good dude) and the rest of the team. There wasn’t much chit chat because it was straight into the work. I was amazed at thew amount of detail that everyone works too, from working at the Melbourne flower show to Chelsea, it was certainty a few levels up. You couldn’t have pots showing, I was told that they grow 100 of one plant and only use 2 or 3 in the garden, which blow my mind!! I actually had to clean the dust off the leaf’s, from the Rhaphiolepis. That’s the level you must work at, when at Chelsea.
I was beginning to understand the seriousness of what needs to be done. By this time, it was lunch, my mind was running 100 miles an hour. I went for a walk around the show to see the other gardens and wow, just trying to get around was a mission, with thousands of people around, just insane! Finally managed my way around the people, to see the other gardens. It was very interesting to see the other concepts that other designers think of, there was no two gardens that were the same. Everyone garden was unique, with their own style, colour palette and message that the garden is trying to send. Because each designer of a garden has a brief that there must follow and try to replicate and explain their brief though their design of the garden. Which I believe every garden did very well. After my walk around, I went to moving soil and leveling at the ground getting ready for planting. Rachel Goozee (a garden designer from Brighton, lovely lady) and I went through all the plants, picking out the best-looking ones to go into the garden. The shape and the healthiest of the plant are very important, we went through cutting off the sick and dead branches. With all this done, it was about 6pm and I was knackered. Straight back to the Airbnb to prepare for tomorrow.
The next week and a half were out of this world!! Start at 6:30am and go all day until 9-10pm, absolutely insane but the funniest and most excited I’ve even been working on a garden. Once in a live time experience!! For the last few days of the build leading up to the show was manic! All the hard and most of the soft landscaping was done, the swim spar was in and getting filled up with water, all the big trees were planted, most of the paving was completed, so now we just needed to focus on planting the rest of the plants, a little paving and just making sure everything is clean and looking fantastic.
Last few days, I was working with Kate, she would place the plants in the garden where it best
fits the design, and I would plant them. Working with Kate was a pleasure, I learnt so much from her one of which was that it’s not just about planting a plant, but you need to take in consideration the positioning and angling of the plant. For example: say a want to plant a fern under a small tree, you would need to position it to where it would naturally grow and it towards the sun. because every plant doesn’t grow straight up, that’s why needed to angle it in a way that would represent it growing in its nature environment.
Even working on the build and talking to Kate and the team, has started my new passion for garden design and is something now see myself doing in the future.
The day of Judging arrived at 7am and we all started cleaning everything up to prepare for prejudging which is where the judgers walk around to the gardens to make their assessment but that’s not the final decision, that happens tomorrow. The prejudging was at 9am, so that didn’t give us much time to clean everything, but we got it done. It was good, a couple other gardens were really rushing to get their garden completed. Keith was telling that in previous years, they were at the show until 12pm the night before judging still part the last touches on the garden, so this year was a chill ending. When the judges arrived most of us had to leave the garden a go for a walk around the show, when we came back Kate and Keith were really happy with what the judges said. They both thank all of us for the help, which I though was really nice. The rest of the day was chill, just watering the plants and making sure everything looked its best for tomorrows proper judging.
The next day, I didn’t work, and it was only a few people on the garden. The judges went through that morning, and it would be until the day after which was Monday (the media day, when Queen Elizabeth II visit the show). I was didn’t work on the media, but Kate told me that when her and Keith arrived at the garden on the Monday morning there was a Gold Medal, Best Construction and Best in category awards. We all got the great news not long after and I was over the moon, so happy and wow, I was on a high. You could ask for anymore than that, I was actually with Tyler Howard at the time, and he also got the news that the garden he walked on, got a gold medal too!! You could wipe the smiles off both our faces.
I was fortune enough to get one of the Gold Medal Pluck from Kate, which she presented me at a
later date, I felt so lucky and privileged to receive my own gold medal from Kate. Now it sits framed in my room and that’s certainty something I’m going to hold onto for the rest of my life.
Show day, which was the Tuesday was awesome. I worked every day of the show, and it was mad with the amount of people that attend the show, 168,000 people visit the show for 5 days per year. That’s 33,600 people per day, in such a small area. Don’t forget the millions watching on the tv, it was pretty cool seeing all the stars of the industry’s doing their interview with Kate in the garden and even meeting a couple like, Adam Frost and Monty Don. I remember, the line up just to see Kate’s Garden 10 people deep. A few times I had to walk the main avenue and seeing herds of people to get through, just insane! Being at the show was an experience I won’t forget, such amazing gardens on display and even chatting to all the other designers, they were always happy to share their ideas and give me a bit of advice on designing a garden and the process of building there’s. Andrew Fisher Tomlin was also at the show we met up, had a coffee together and Andrew gave Tyler and I, a tour through a few other gardens. Which was pretty cool, having the rope opened for you and I walk in while the rest of the crowd looks at you with a dirt look but it was a fun experience.
Working on the project with Kate and the team at Chelsea was such an AMAZING experience. The long days, hard physical hours, not to mention the blood, sweat and tears we put into this garden to come away with a Gold Medal, Best Construction and Best in Category certainty made all the hard work, worth it and it demonstrated the amount of passion we all have for the garden and the industry. I thank everyone and I’II be back soon, hopefully one day with my own garden design. Being at Chelsea and meeting all the awesome people and having the pleasure to work at such a renowned garden show was one of the highlights of this trip.
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
6th of June - 1st of July
After the madness of Chelsea, I started at Kew Gardens, one of the most prestigious botanical gardens in the world. The 4 weeks I was at Kew, I worked with the Arboretum team, maintaining the grounds around Kew. Plus, I did a day each in the palm house and temperate house. I also got a tour from Carlos Magdalena, a science and horticulture researcher that works in the tropical nursery. That was amazing, being around some of the rarest, coolest, and endangered plants in the world. The work that all the staff do at Kew to care and research these plants is just amazing to see, it really shows the passion that the staff have towards this fantastic industry of horticulture.
First day at Kew, I was super excited to get started, so woke up at 6:30 and got the bus to Jodrell gate (the north-east Gate of Kew) to met Martin Staniforth (Training Manager, school of Horticulture Gardens Directorate at Kew) great fella. After we had a little chat, Martin took me over to the Arboretum, to meet Tony Hall (head of the Arboretum) and Rebecca Lane (Arboretum Supervisor) super nice people. After the great introduction to Kew, I started work with Valerie and Leif (Horticulturists in the Arboretum team) we began weeding and pruning in the Mediterranean garden and did so for the rest of the day. It was a chill start! After work, I went for a walk around Kew and wow, checking out the Palm house, Temperate House and the Princess of Wales Conservatory was insane. I’ve seen so many photos and videos about these world class, glass houses but to walk inside of them was a pretty cool experience, to immerse myself in the history and knowledge within the grounds of Kew’s glass houses was exhilarating. After my 3 hours walk, I headed back to the Airbnb, which was cool because it was 8 at night and still light out, it gets dark about 11pm in summer. Super awesome!
The majority of the 4 weeks I was working with the Arboretum team, but I did also get a day’s work in the Palm house, Temperate house, and a tour of the Tropical Nursery with Carlos Magdalena (Science and Horticulture researcher and Author), Sam and Robert (both work in the Tropical nursery). The Tropical nursery is insane, the best I’ve ever seen. The plant collection has the most exotic, strange, rare, and cool plants in the world, my eyes were falling out of my head, haha. The level of expertise is just amazing, the wealth of knowledge that you can learn from is world class. I also got the pleasure to met Richard Barley (director of Kew Gardens) nice fella, always has his door open. Great to see another aussie in the garden, Richard and I had a chat about the issues with the warmer weather and how it’s affecting the plants, environment and with now plants requiring more water and the need to update the irrigation system.
My day in the Temperate house, started with meeting Caleb (Kew diploma student) Great dude, I was working him today. We started with watering, I was put in charge of the Australian collection, nice to have the smell of home. We then did some maintenance in the house, Caleb was showing me a few of the rare and exotic plants. Very interesting! The afternoon we had to pot up two Dictyosperma album palms and finished the day off with a little tour of the glass house chatting about the plants and history of Kew.
One thing that impressed me and that I learnt from Kew was the sustainable methods of pest management and weed control, with pest management they would use beneficial insect, physical barries and traps and eco-friendly sprays as a last resort. I found this to be a practice with all of my placements in UK and France, Australia can certainty learn a thing or two.
Last day, got up early and set off to Kew. Arrived at 7am and first I wanted to go see Martin Staniforth and Richard Barley, but they weren’t there. So, I went to the arboretum and there was a meeting on, the team congratulated me on my hard work and gave me a few gifts, which was really nice. After the last day I was put with Valerie, we started with planting some plants and weeding the Mediterranean garden. Actually, ended up doing this for the whole day, which I enjoyed. After work, I went over to see Carlos, Richard, and Martin to say bye and thanks for having me, they all were very happy.
Working at Kew was the best, leant so much about different plant species, ways of pest management and weed control and of course working with such a passionate team. Thank you!
National Trust Hidcote Manor house & garden
5th of July – 29th of July
Hidcote Manor was a very enjoyable experience. I worked at Hidcote for 4 weeks, in the middle of the heat wave. That was interesting seeing the effects of the heat on the plants, that are clearly not used to the hot weather. Working with the team was great and learning the history of Hidcote and how it came to be through Lawrence Johnson vision. My work consists of helping maintain the grounds, working in their propagation nursery and help with practising their pest management methods. Hidcote is a world-famous garden located in the Cotswolds of the UK, Created by passionate plantsman Major Lawrence Johnson in phases from 1907 to 1938.
On the 5th of July, I got the train from Richmond in London to Honeybourne in the Cotswolds. Woke up early that morning, packed everything up and left the Airbnb at 9am. I went straight to the train station, to get the train at 10am. Got on the train and I had to change trains at Reading, only took about an hour to get here. So, got off the train and I only had 6 minutes to get the next train to Honeybourne, 5 platforms away. I was running with my 30kg suitcase up and down stairs top the platform and as I was coming down the stairs, I could see the train beginning to move so I yelled out, but the train wasn’t stopping. So, I had to wait another hour and half for the next train, great. Time went by pretty fast, so wasn’t too bad. Got the next train at 1pm, all sweet now. Arrived at Honeybourne, at 2:30pm. Got the taxi to Hidcote, which was only a 15 minutes’ drive away. Arrived at Hidcote Manor at 2:45pm and met Thomas Jackson (Training Manger and Horticulturist). Thomas showed me around the garden, and I met a couple of the other staff. One of the great things about my placement here at Hidcote was that I was allowed to stay in the manor house, I felt very privileged and appreciative to be given the opportunity to stay in such an iconic place. After the very nice introduction, I walked down to Mickelton (the closers village with shops). When I got back, the garden was closed, and the staff was going home for the day. So, I had the whole garden to myself. I walked around the garden for the afternoon with no one else around, felt very strange but cool.
First day of work, I was very excited so woke up at 6am and started at 8am. Walked down to meet the team, there’s 8 gardeners that work at Hidcote. The National Trust also gets volunteers that come and work in the garden, between 4 – 8 volunteers. Some days more and some less. The first job was that a small group of us would cut down a large area of plants. Did this until morning tea, was fun working with the volunteers, chatting about the history of the area, very interesting. We finished that job, then went onto weeding and mulching, continued this until we finished for the day. There was a lot of visitors in the garden, I heard that they come by the bus loads! Great to see. Chilled out for the afternoon and waiting until everyone left for the day and had an afternoon stroll around the garden, perfect way to end the day.
The biggest thing I learnt from Hidcote, which is similar to Kew was the sustainable method of pest management. I worked in the propagation nursery for a few days and team would release beneficial insects throughout the glass houses, which I helped with. I found it a great experience to be hands on and see the different insects that they use, methods for dispersing the insects and learning more about the impacts of chemical spraying. When it came to the methods of maintenance, it was very traditional. Which I liked! They would use hand tools and equipment rather than power tools, which I believe is a much more sustainable and ecological method of maintain plants. This is actually one thing I noticed all over the UK and France, which is a good thing for the rest of the world to follow.
My last day working at Hidcote because tomorrow I’m heading back to London. Woke up early, eager to start the day. Me and Mike (Horticulturist) were in the nursery, and we had to build a shade house in the veggie garden, so that they can grow plants on, to be planted in the garden. We did this for the whole day, which wasn’t too bad, a bit different from what I been doing. We didn’t finish it but got pretty far into it. When work ended, walked around saying goodbye to everyone because I must leave early tomorrow. Chilled out for the afternoon and had one last walk around the garden. My time a Hidcote was very memorable experience, staying in the manor house and having the whole garden to myself. I was certainly the lord of the manor!
Claude Monet’s Garden, France Giverny
31st of July – 31st of August and 23rd of October – 6th November
Wow, Claude Monet’s Giverny. I was amazed with the quality of the garden; the team do such a sensational job at recreating the garden through Claude Monets paintings and records. I was at Claude Monets for 4 weeks and worked in area of the garden, I started in the Clos Normand, which is in front of the manor house. This part of the garden has 2 sides, the east and west, where flower clumps of different heights and shapes create a very diverse area and in the middle are fruit and ornamental trees that give a clearing top the busyness of the garden. Then you have the water garden, where one of the Claude Monets most famous paintings was done of the bridge that goes over the pond. One of my favourite memories was of me in the boat cleaning out all the leaves out of the pond and having 100s of tourist taking photos of me, such a cool experience.
Traveling from London to Paris, the day started off with me getting up at 9am and leaving my Airbnb at 11am to go meet Tyler Howard, at his Airbnb. We had to catch the bus from London to Paris, so we waited around until 8pm. We got the uber to Victoria couch station and left on the bus at 9:30pm, the bus ride wasn’t too bad. 2-hour bus ride to Dover (the coast of UK), where we waited for an hour for the bus to go onto the ferry. Got off the bus and walked around the ferry for a couple hours and before we knew it, we were at Calais dock in France. Back on the bus and after a 4-hour sleep, we have arrived at Paris 8am. Got off the bus, left the station and walked around for a little bit. After got the uber to St Lazare train station, got to the station and we had to book train tickets, but we could figure out the ticket machine because it was in French, so we just booked the tickets on the phone instead, much easier. Then we’re on the train the Vernon-Giverny train station and after an hour we had arrived at Vernon. We’re told that there is a bus that we can get to Giverny, so as we got off the train and walked out the station. We could see the bus but as we approach the bus it took off. Nooooooo! So, we ended getting the uber to Claude Monets, only a 10-minute drive. Jan Huntley (Head of Munn Artist and Volunteer Programmes) greeted us with the biggest hug ever, that was really nice! While Tyler and I are working at Monets, we were also provided student accommodation on site, which we felt very privileged and appreciative to be given the opportunity. We look our suitcases to the accommodation and after Jan gave us a tour of the garden and introduce us to a few of the workers. Everyone was super nice and cheerful. Later, that night Jan put on a dinner for us and with a few other students/seasonal workers that worked at the garden. JAN, that was the most kind and special thing you could do! Merci beaucoup, very appreciated! Finished the night up and I went back to the room, wow what a day!
Next day, got up early, was pretty excited to start. Tyler and I started in the nursery planting seedlings in the field above the glass house, we were planting thousands of different perennials, annuals, and biennial’s that are plant into the garden at the end of the year. The garden gets pulled up at the start of November, bulbs and tulips are then planted. Then in April/May the garden is replant with all new perennials, annuals and biennials, the only plants that stay in the ground are the roses and a couple perennials. Plants like dahlias are dug up recorded, packed, and stored be in the glass for over winter, until they are replanted in April/May. This happens each year.
When we were planting, there was a team ahead of us sanitising the soil by using a tractor that made steam to killer the weeds below. The tractor had a square metal plate that laid on the soil, it heats up everyday water to about 120 degrees, to kill the weeds. This happens by leaving the plate on the surface for 10-15 minutes, this causes intercellular water to expand and rupture the cell membrane and consequently the weed will dehydrate and eventually die. Steaming allows for a more rapid transfer of lethal heat into the cell structure of the weed. This is something that I was very happy to see, I’ve never seen this done before. So interesting to see this in action, by using this method you stop crop contamination, unlike spraying herbicides or hand digging steaming reduces the safety and health of the operate, soil and environment, plus doesn’t lock up nutrients. Differently a method that needs to be implemented into everyday use in weed control management.
We did the planting until morning tea, after I went into the west garden to prune roses into umbrella shapes. Which is how they have always looked since Claude Monets time. It was fun, because I was in the middle lawn area with hundreds of people walking by taking their photos of me. Felt famous, haha!!!
Before I knew it, it was lunch and just one of the many things I liked about France was the lunch breaks. Certainty couldn’t complain, ha. After lunch went back to the west garden to finish off pruning the roses, and then finished work at 2:30, you beauty. When we finished, Tyler, Owen (another intern working at Monets) and I, had an explore of Claude Monets house. Wow the house was just full of paintings of the garden, with a few others. So awesome to walk in the footsteps, of the famous painter.
I got the opportunity to design the bouquets for the Claude Monet house, one downstairs in the dining room and the other upstairs in one of the bedrooms. It was such a pleasure and I thank Owen for helping and giving me the opportunity.
Working In the water garden at Monet’s, was differently one of my highlights from the whole trip! First day in the water garden, was certainty an interesting day. Started 7 in the morning and meeting Pierre (full time worker in the water garden) down at the water garden. He got me to start on the boat, cleaning the pond, taking falling leaf’s out of the water. This was very fun because at 9am, they let the public into the garden and if you’re on the boat in the pond, you will get swamped with people taking photos and wanting to talk to you. I was a celebrity, haha. You barely get any work done but it was super cool!! It was morning tea, I went up to Jan’s courtyard because today I have a call back home with Graham Ross, for the IGC (independent garden centre’s) conference. That was fun, they had me on the big screen. Great to chat with Graham and see everyone. It was almost lunch time, but I went back on the boat in the pond for 20 minutes posing for everyone’s photos, haha. Went and had lunch with Jan and a few other gardeners and then back down to the water garden. To finish off the day, me, and Chloe (an architecture student doing a work placement) had to re-constructed climbing roses growing on these spiral structures, pruning dead and diseased branches, then re spiralling the climbing roses back onto the structure. Its 2:30 and the day is finished, full on but awesome.
Another day, I worked inside of the pond going around the Nymphaea’s, cutting off dead leaf’s and making then more presentable.
Last day working, started by heading down to the water garden and Manu (full time worker in the water garden) got me watering around the sides of the pond, then weeding and pruning close to the tunnel that goes under the road and connects the whole garden together. Did this until lunch time and everyone today was meeting together to have lunch, to celebrate Raphaelle and Tyler and I leaving, that was so nice. Super sad to leave Giverny, working at Claude Monets and being in France was certainly a highlight of my travel, I’II definitely come back, and I would highly recommend anyone visiting. Thank you everyone at Monet’s, loved every minute working with you guys. Merci beaucoup, j’espere vous revoir tous.
I enjoyed Monets so much, that I came back for an0ther 2 weeks, close to the end of my trip. It
was interest working in the cold months, much quieter with less visitors and most of the plants in the garden were about to get ripped out! The garden gets pulled up at the start of November, bulbs and tulips are then planted. Then in April/May the garden is replant with all new perennials, annuals and biennials, the only plants that stay in the ground are the roses and a couple perennials. Plants like dahlias are dug up recorded, packed and stored be in the glass for over winter, until they are replanted in April/May. This happens each year. The first plant to go was the nasturtiums, so sad they look so good. For my last week, everyone from all teams were pulling most of the plants out. I did enjoy working with everyone together, but sad that the garden was getting all tore up. I look forward to coming back and planting all the new plants back in the ground and having the garden looking amazing again!
The Eden Project, Cornwall
5th of September - 3rd of October
I spent 4 weeks at Eden, working with all the teams in all 4 areas of Eden I first started in the
Mediterranean Biome dome, very interesting seeing the methods of pest control in the dome. There was no chemical use at all, Eden’s mission is to create an educational and social enterprise that’s helps build the relationship between people and the natural world to demonstrate to power of working together. Which is important with the world we are living in now because in the future we are going to have to look towards more sustainable and innovative ideas to create a world where plants and people can thrive together. Working in the Gardens and Estates teams was great, it was interesting seeing the methods of maintaining the grounds and not using any petrol, they just used eclectic equipment. Working the Rainforest Biome dome was fascinating, seeing how the team maintain and care after all the trees inside of the dome. With the potential for trees falling over or branches snapping, it was interesting see the process that the team goes through to prevent such an event. Rainforest dome was the biggest out of the 2 and going up the shy walk really gave you a prospective of the dome and the amazing engineering that went into the build. Really an incredible achievement.
My first day at the Eden Project, woke up early at 6am and got ready for Robin Lock (Head of
living landscapes) to pick me up at 8am. We went for a drive round Eden and robin was giving me a run down on the history of Eden and their global mission, which is to create a movement that builds relationships between people and the natural world to demonstrate the power of working together for the benefit of all living things. I believe that we all can achieve this world mission in conjunction to communicating better and demonstrating innovative and sustainable horticultural pest and disease control, also management and maintenance practices to make a greener future. was the best. After our drive around robin drop me off at the Mediterranean biome dome, where I started. Frist job was weeding and cleaning up the citrus garden because someone important is coming today. Antique road show was also filming the whole day, there was a couple times I would sneak in front of the camera and pretend to be weeding just to get in the shot. We continued working until morning tea and after Daren (horticultural student) and I drove around Eden a little more and up near the new nursery they are building. Very nice, we had to drop off some green waste and headed back down to the Med dome. When we pulled into the shed, 2 black SUVs showed up and about 10 people in black suits walked out. They were a security team, to come and check out the dome for security threats. This was just before lunch. We were all pondering who could it be, I had no idea but the team though it could be someone from the royal family. So, we finished lunch and after honestly didn’t do much, just waiting. So about 3pm,
everyone was told that the person is about to show up, so we were all waiting that the doors and guess who walked in Camilla Queen consort of the United Kingdom (at the time Duchess od Cornwall) Note: this was 4 days before Queen Elizabeth II passed away. When she walked in, I was so amazed. My eyes were flying out of my head, so she walks into the dome greeting a few people and goes over to do her interview with the antique road show, that went on for about 10 minutes. I remember, a few of us hoped up on the garden bed to get a better view and pretending to weed. So, after her interview, she began to walk down the path shacking people’s hands and I was on the opposite side to her but that didn’t stop me, I walk across the path put my hand out and shock her hand. Surprised I didn’t get tackled from her security, haha. I was really nice had a 2-minute chat with her and Fiona Bruce (British journalist, newsreader and television presenter on the Antique Road show) lovely lady also. Also got a photo!! I was so happy and couldn’t asked for a better start to the Eden Project. Thank you Rose and Mark, great day! After my chat with Camila and Fiona, I was so happy, you couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. Camila then greeted a few other people, then moved on and that was the day finished. I packed up the tools and walked back to Eden’s Yard Backpackers (where I’m staying for the placement), seen Neal and Julia (they run Eden’s Yard Backpackers) and told them about my wonderful day, call and msg back home. Everyone couldn’t believe who I met, so awesome.
Working in the domes was an educational experience, much the same to my past placements.
The pest and disease controls that are in place, are very environment friendly and sustainable. In both domes there isn’t any chemical spraying done, they use beneficial insects in control pest. One day Sofia a (horticultural student) and I walked around the rainforest biome dome, checking pest’s numbers and seeing if there were any infestations or an increase of numbers to any pest species. We were happy to report that, seems the last check numbers have gone down. Which showed that the current pest management controls are working, which was beneficial insects.
Working in the Estates and Gardens teams was certainly interesting also, getting a perceptive from outside of the domes of the whole landscape, was an eye opener. Both the Estate and gardens team manage and maintain the grounds of the Eden project. There methods of maintenance were definitely old fashion compared to Australia’s methods, but I preferred the tradition ways. I though it made you more in touch with the environment and definitely a greener way. I was quite a fun and interesting time working with the estate and garden teams, a lot I can take out of working outside of the domes.
Last day at the Eden project, got up early, had breakfast and set off to Eden, there was a nice sunrise on the way! My last week, I was in the rainforest dome. So went to the shed and started the day. Jim (an intern doing a research project) and I worked together pruning and weeding around the dome. Did this until lunch and after, Leo (horticulturist) and I walked around the dome and Leo was telling the process he goes through when assessing the trees in the dome, checking for the potently for fallen branches or for the whole tree, that could fall. It was very interesting, understand the safety procedures that you must go through. We walked around for the rest of the afternoon, until it was time to finish. Thank you very much Eden, I can’t wait to see what new thing comes out of Eden and hopefully see a fair few Eden project popping up around the world.
The lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall
4th of October – 7th of October
I spent 1 week at The Lost Gardens of Heligan, working with the Productive and jungle teams. First day, headed off to Heligan with Martin (horticulturist at Heligan). Today I’m working with the Productive team, helping arrange the harvest with all different veggies. I enjoyed doing this, brought pout my creative side. Towards the end of the day, I worked with Kate (horticulturist at Heligan) we pruned the apples trees growing over the arch way and put compost around them, then the day was done.
I worked with the Productive team for 2 days, then worked with the jungle team for 2 days also. First day down in the jungle. John (horticulturist at Heligan) and I did a walk around to check the paths for fallen branches and any branches that had the potential to fall. We did this for an hour and john also gave me a tour of the jungle. After morning tea john and I went around cutting bamboo and re shaping them. After lunch the team allowed me to have an explore on my own of the jungle and garden. Absolutely amazing!
Even thought my time at Heligan was short, I still picked up a couple things. It was interesting comparing Eden and Heliagn together, because the creation of Eden came from the idea of Heligan, and I could certainty see the simitars between the two but also a couple things that sets them apart from each other and comes into their own. Absolutely oved my time at Heligan, got a photo on the rope bridge where now King Charles III walked across. Seeing the giant Gunnera manicata, wow everyone was right, massive! The history that this garden holds is amazing. The gardens were created by members of the Cornish Tremayne family from the mid 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century. The garden was lost in 1914, when the estates workforce of the gardeners marched off to World War 1, many never returned. Then In 1990, the gardens were re discovered by Tim Smit when a chance of meeting with Tremayne descendant john Wills look him to Heliagn where they disused the possibilities of opening a rea breeds farm. This is when they both came across the ruins of heliagn and from that day the garden has come back to life.
Thank you very much for having me, enjoyed every minute, I’II definitely be back to visit!
Other gardens I visited, UK and France
UK:
National Trust, Ham house and garden, London
Beautiful garden, definitely worth a visit. Extensive and amazing 17th century gardens, restored and with cherry shaped parterre filled with lavender and colourful flower borders, including one of the oldest orangeries in the British Isles.
Hampton Court palace, London
summer is the best time visit, the spectacular herbaceous borders, the fantastic queen Marys lower orangery garden and the great vine is harvested at the end of summer. The vine was planted in 1768 for king George III and still stands today.
Super bloom, at tower of London
The display is made up of around 20 million sees that are sewn to create the display, looks amazing
Kiftsgate court gardens, Cotswolds
The garden was created in the 19th century by heather Muir and was helped by Lawrence Johnson, who created Hidcote Manor and garden, just a kilometre away. The garden has stayed in the family and past down two generations of the women gardeners, the present one being Anne Chambers, sensational garden and definitely worth a visit!
Bourton house and gardens, Cotswolds
Certainly, one of the most well kept and colourful gardens I’ve seen, a wonderful summer garden with plenty of flowers in bloom.
Sezincote house and garden, Cotswolds
Sezincote is an Indian style garden with ponds, a little pavilion and garden beds that fill the landscape, where you’ll find many rare plants. A different garden compared to all the others I’ve seen here in the UK but certainly one of the best.
Trebah garden, Cornwall
Trebah is a sub-tropical garden with a stunning coastal back drop, the garden is loader with ginormous Gunnera manicata, or giant rhubarb. Sensational garden.
France:
Chateau de Versailles, Gardens
one of the largest and most magnificent gardens in the world, the gardens of Versailles are truly a work of art, built on the order of louis XIV in 1661 and designed by the famous landscape designer Andre Le Notre. The gardens were considered just important as the palace and took over 40 years to complete, a monumental task, marshes and grasslands were cleared and large amounts of soil had to be shifted to lay out the flower beds, the fountains, the orangeries, and the canals. Trees were brought in from all corners of France and thousands of men worked tighter to bring the gardens to life. Definitely worth a visit, you won’t regret it, especially the night show.
Les Jardins d’Angelique
Jan Huntly took Tyler and I out to visit Les Jardins d’Angelique, amazing garden and the lady that manages it all by herself was the sweetest lay ever. Beautiful garden can’t wait to visit again!
Le Jardin Plume
Jan Huntly took Tyler and I out to visit Le Jardin Plume, different garden from d’Angelique but still amazing with its grasslands, orchids and absolutely loved the cloudy pruning. I liked the garden was left to grow in its nature way and the management of the garden was certainty unique, example: the gardeners would prune the Buxus hedge to look like the wind was blowing over the hedge. If you’re in the area, have a visit.
Bonus Experience
Working Hampton court show
4th of July
I worked one day at the Hampton court show, on a garden designed by Samuel Moore. Arrived
mid-morning after an absolute mission to get here with buses, Ubers then a long walk but I got here. Met Samuel, nice dude and great garden. First impression of the show was that I liked that it was much more spread out, then Chelsea. You can move easier around, rather being shoulder to shoulder and definitely less people visit Hampton court compared to Chelsea also. The gardens on display were very impressive, a different array of garden designs and styles, with some very interesting layouts and meanings behind the gardens. The day was filled with chatting to members of the public and having a mosey around to all the gardens. Fantastic day, I’II would highly recommend checking the show and I know, I’II be back. Thank you, Samuel and Andrew Fisher Tomlin, for organising my placement.
Working with Kate Gould in her landscaping company
10th of October – 21st of October
I worked with Kate Gould and the team, in her landscape company (Kate Gould gardens) for 2
weeks. The first week, I seen and did more of the soft landscaping jobs with Ryan (landscaper). We did planting, and irrigation jobs, in and around London. It was pretty fun, learnt about irrigation and garden design from Kate, so interesting. Actually, working with Kate and being at Chelsea has inspired me and intrigued my interest in garden design. I did a day with Keith Chapman (project manager working at Kate Gould’s gardens) going around to different nursery and checking out the different plant species and varieties. Very different from back home, does have similar plants but more varieties and in some cases totally new plants. Week 2, I worked at a site in central London. This job site was new, so I did hard landscaping with the team, which was still interesting. Something new from what I’m used to, hard landscaping was actually my first interest when I was young. Great week went fast but didn’t help that, I was sick for all of it. I was very annoyed with myself because I got sick, but we soldiered on. Working with the team was a fantastic experience, learnt a few things along the way. Thank you, Kate, Keith, and the team for having me. Much appreciated!
Conclusion
Where do I start! Well, I would like to thank Global footprints for awarding me the scholarship, you guys do a brilliant job at encouraging young people to explore their interests and goals in life, I had the best trip and I look forward to seeing who wins the scholarship for the years to come. Thank you to Graham Ross, for helping to plan my trip, I certainly wouldn’t have gone to these amazing places with you. You have been a key role in my trip, your guidance, advice, encouragement, and your passion of the industry has definitely rubbed off on me, you are certainly a role model for the youth of horticulture. Cheers G! Andrew Fisher Tomlin, you were also a big part of my trip, thank you very much for your guidance and support. Also, a big thank you to all my placements, I had the best time, Kate Gould, Martin Staniforth, Thomas Jackson, Jan Huntley, Robin Lock, Nicola Bradley and all the others Horticulturist, landscapers, and students I had the pleasure to work with, all you guys were the best, thank you.
This whole trip was insane, working in some of the world class gardens and show and having the pleasure to work aside some of the best minds in horticulture and having the opportunity to learn from them, is something very special. This is an opportunity you can’t take for granted; this is once in a lifetime. So, if you are between the age of 18 – 23, apply for the scholarship, all these amazing things could happen to you. Make sure you work hard and stay focused, because when I applied, every night I would go over the criteria question to make sure my passion and intention of the scholarship was heard. Don’t be scared to put yourself out there, you need know what you might find. Damn, now I’m sounding cheesy but its true.
For people that have won the scholarship, congratulations! Frist steps after winning, is research as many places you want to work at and from the list pick your absolute top 3-5, you want to work at (but this also depends on how long you wont to travel for) because there’s no way, you will be able to visit all of them and I believe you won’t get the most out the working at show and different gardens. So, I recommend around 4 weeks per placement, this is what I did, and I thought it was perfect to get a feel of the work.
Then you book your fights, I went with Emirates to get from Sydney to London and back, great airline. Travel insurance, I went with 1cover but travel insurance direct is also great. When it comes to money, I got a travel money card (called WISE) great works, low fees and can load up to 13 different currencies. Sim card, I bought one when I got off the plane in the airport and went with (MY EE) worked in UK and France. Most of the time I stayed in Airbnb’s, hostels are cheaper, but you need to shop around because there are some dodgy ones but also same with Airbnb’s, always check the reviews. Transport around was fine, used trains, buses or walked. Everything is very close, I just tried to have my accommodation close to my placement to limit public transport. For buses and tube use, get an oyster card (it’s the same as Opal here. For general maps around, use (City mapper) also an app. If you need to book long train rides, use an app called (Trainline), its fantastic! Also get a railcard, there easy to get, it’s also an app. It just lowers the cost of trains when you book them. For super long train or bus rides, use (Eurostar) and (Flixbus) I used both and great, also has apps. I hope all this helps, if anyone has any other questions, please feel free to contact me via email at ashley99walker@icloud.com , Instagram @ashwalker_hort and you can also find me on YouTube, where I posted videos on the gardens, I worked at. A big tip I can suggest is to get a diary because all of what I have written in this report is form my diary and it’s great to reflect on what you did.
This trip was also about seeing the world and what a big place it is. The new places you go to, all
the people you meet and friends you make are amazing. Travelling is certainly something you won’t regret, so just go do it. Make the jump. Even if you don’t get a scholarship like I did, save up, do some research, and go explore. I loved it so much, that I’m going back overseas in 2023. Back to the Eden Project and Claude Monets, plus a few new places. This time I’m going for 9 months, its easy.
Last a massive cheers to my travel buddy Tyler Howard thanks mate, so happy that we got to share this awesome journey together. wouldn’t have chosen anyone else to do it with, you’re an absolute legend. Can’t wait to see what the future brings!