Level 3 Extended Diploma in Horticulture students are learning from one of the industry’s rising stars, award winning plantsman and horticulturist Jamie Butterworth, thanks to a collaboration between Reaseheath and Wedgwood, the leading fine china producer.
Jamie enjoyed spectacular success at RHS Chatsworth Flower Show this week by taking three major awards for The Wedgwood Garden, the first show garden he has designed. The garden, which celebrated Wedgwood’s 260thanniversary and the fact that John Wedgwood founded the RHS, was awarded gold in the show garden category and also took the Best Show Garden and Best Construction Awards.
The students will help to rebuild part of the garden at the World of Wedgwood after the show finishes, and are looking forward to hearing Jamie describe his show garden experience when he next visits college. Around 30 students have previously enjoyed an inspirational talk from Jamie about the design process and logistics involved in the creation of a show garden, and met his construction team.
These opportunities have been part of a programme of activities which have allowed our students to help Wedgwood’s gardening team to maintain previous show gardens which have been relocated the company’s Staffordshire headquarters. They have also attended a networking careers event with leaders in the horticultural field, run by Wedgwood.
Reaseheath Course manager Dave Black said: “The students have gained so much from their involvement with Wedgwood, particularly as the company has such a strong connection with the RHS. The collaboration has helped them to realise how important horticulture is, both for the environment and for career opportunities. They have found Jamie very inspirational and have been very impressed with his achievements.”
Chris Perkins, Head of the World of Wedgwood, said: “We are thrilled at how successful this collaboration with Reaseheath College has been. We are proud to have been able to fire up students’ imaginations by showing them what garden designers can achieve and to have given them hands-on experience on our show gardens.”
As well as running his own business, Jamie Butterworth, 24, is an RHS Ambassador and visits many land based colleges and schools to inspire the next generation of horticulturists.
He said: “I’m an avid horticulturist myself. It’s so important to encourage young people to get into horticulture as a career. Gardening and plants are our future and we can all do our bit to help green Great Britain.”
See Jamie on his award winning garden at bit.ly/jamiebutterworth
- RHS Level 3 students Bev Williams and Toni Slater were also celebrating at RHS Chatsworth after being awarded a gold medal for their garden ‘Chatsworth Lady’ in the long border category. They were so motivated by Jamie’s exciting project and the support they received from their Reaseheath lecturers that they decided to create their own show garden.
