Update: Fiona's Adventures in the Horticultural World. 2014

 An update from the past few months.

Since I last posted a blog post a lot has happened. I am very greatful for what has happened and where this has led me.

I last posted on April 1st 2014 and since then I have been to RHS Malvern Spring Festival for a day of the build up,  Chelsea Flower Show for 2 days, BBC Gardeners World Live Show for 3 days, all this including college and work at the same time.

At the RHS Malvern Spring Festival, I was there with YoungHort and we were helping Villaggio Verde build their show garden which was called "En su Casa en la Playam At Home on the Beach" and it won a gold medal.

When I went down to Chelsea Flower Show, it was my first ever time visiting and then the second time visiting. It is such an amazing show and I was very much inspired by all the gardens that were there including the trade stands. I honestly didn't see everything in one day and the 2nd day was very useful in letting me see all the bits that I had missed on the first day. Whilst I was at Chelsea I was very lucky in being able to meet Carol Klein and talk to her in between filming as well as Jim Buttress. Such lovely people and very friendly as well.

Through the power of social media I have been able to talk to some very knowledgable and friendly people and learn a lot of knowledge from them, one person who gave me such an amazing opportunity was Rob Hardy from Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants. Whilst I was at Chelsea Flower Show he offered me the chance to go to BBC Gardeners World Live Show and volunteer for him, I very much quickly accepted that opportunity and found myself a few weeks later walking into the show with an exhibitors pass. I honestly can't describe what I was feeling because it was so overwhelming in such a great way and throughout the time I spent there I was so excited and happy and am very greatful for Rob letting me experience all of it.

At the end of my college course which was the BTEC Level 3 Subsidiary Diploma in Horticulture I was awarded a Distinction as my overall final grade for the course. It was definitely worth all the hard work and effort that I had put into the coursework since the very first day on the course until the last day of hand in for the assignments.

These past 2/3 months or so has been amazing and have helped me learn even more than I already knew and into a lot more detail as well.

Speak soon,

Fiona. :)

https://twitter.com/fcwilletts
http://www.hardys-plants.co.uk/

YoungHort Conference - 7th March 2014 - Part 2.

On the 7th March 2014, the YoungHort team of Directors and Ambassadors held the first ever YoungHort Conference at RHS Wisley.

At 11:30am the talks and presentations started. The line up of the amazing guest speakers was: Jack Shilley, James Wong, Paul Hervey-Brookes, Michael Perry, Jamie Butterworth, Helen Picton, Leigh Morris and Grow Wild UK. This is the link to the video of all the talks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4U1mki7aLI .

Once the talks were all of then it was Lunch and Networking, it was great to hear little snippets of conversations when passing by because they were all so interesting. After Lunch and Networking the YoungHort guests, Members and Ambassadors were all very lucky to be taken on tours of the RHS Wisley gardens! So many interesting things to see and hear and all within an hour.

At 3:30pm the Ideas session was launched. The ideas session was to talk about many different aspects of Horticulture, Young people in Horticulture, YoungHort, the Horticulture industry. Each table had roughly 8 guests and 2 Ambassadors so a lot of knowledge and interesting ideas was talked about.
At 4:30pm we were very lucky to have James Wong do one of his tour talks just for the Guests, Members and Ambassadors and Directors at the YoungHort conference. It was very interesting and captivated the imagination of the audience.

The YoungHort conference finished at 6pm for Guests and Members. The whole day was being described as Motivational, Inspirational, Eye-Opening, Amazing, The Revolution, The Future.

Once the conference had finished, it was clearing away and packing up. Tasks to get the hall back to how it was when we had the hall on Thursday included: Sweeping down the hall, Clearing tables, Stacking chairs, Clearing the kitchen, Tidying the Green room and many more!

We left RHS Wisley at around 7:15pm. The day had been so memorable with many amazing and great memories! At 8:30pm ish we left the Wisley area to travel back home. Back onto the relatively clear M25 and M1! We arrived home at around 11pm.

The YoungHort conference had been a complete success and was everything and more than what we had expected! I am so thankful to those who came to the event and to also those who were unable to attend but still gave full support!

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Part 2 of 2.

Thanks,
Fiona. :)

https://twitter.com/fcwilletts

YoungHort Conference - 7th March 2014 - Part 1.

On the 7th March 2014, the YoungHort team of Directors and Ambassadors held the first ever YoungHort Conference at RHS Wisley.

From the very first time that the idea was thought of until the actual conference itself it has been an interesting learning curve and an unbelivable reality/ dream come true. The YoungHort conference was to show the industry that there are young people in Horticulture or that want to come in to Horticulture and aren't just your average school drop put with little to none GCSE's. This was an amzing experience for me.

 I travelled down to the Wisley area on the Thursday afternoon/evening just after college finished with my best friend and fellow ambassador Jess Pickaver. The M1 and M25 were suprisingly free flowing and we weren't held up at all. As we drove past RHS Wisley gardens at 7:00pm it was still relatively light and we were in complete amazement and awe at the sheer size and structure of the gardens! Meeting Jamie Butterworth (fellow Director and Ambassador) was amazing! We all got on so well and it was great to finally properly meet him and get to know about his journey through Horticulture.

Bedtime was around the time of midnight and alarms were set for 5:30am. In the morning we sorted out all the final things to be taken to RHS Wisley and so our journey began. Arriving at RHS Wisley at 7:00am was amazing! It was light but not full sun and the entrance looked so magical! We walked up to the Hillside Events Centre where the YoungHort conference was going to take place and started setting up. The tables, chairs and table cloths had already been set out but Jess and I set up the Green room, swept down the hall to get rid of any last minute dirt, set up the teas and coffees and set out all the seating arrangements.

In the morning time flew past and it was amazing to see the development of the hall up until it was full of all our guests! At around 8:30am the main Director - Jack Shilley arrived, it was great to meet and catch up with him! We talked about the day and how we expected it to go and other bits and bobs. Michael Perry also arrived around 8:30 am with his goody boxes from Thompson&Morgan and so they were unloaded and went into the green room.
 

By 9:30am all the Ambassadors and Directors were at the Hillside events centre and it was such a great time getting to know everyone! The Directors had their photoshoot and then the whole team went for a big group photoshoot! It was lovely getting to walk round RHS Wisley seeing all the views and sites and bonding with the group! By 11am the hall was fully set up with all the trade stands and food and drinks out. Guests were slowly arriving and by 11:30am everyone had arrived and the event was a go...

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Part 1 of 2.. Stay tuned for Part 2 of 2!

Fiona. :)

https://twitter.com/fcwilletts

Welcome to the new blog!

A very warm welcome to my new blog - Fiona's Adventures In Gardening.

On here I shall be posting regular updates on my journey with Gardening and Horticulture.

Introductions: My name is Fiona (well obviously), I am currently studying Level 3 Extended Diploma in Horticulture at Moulton College (Northamptonshire), I am a YoungHort Associate Director and Ambassador and I have an ever increasing interest with Horticulture and Gardening.

I was first inspired to get involved with gardening when I was helping my grandparents in their garden. At home, our garden was a family garden so there was mostly grass, but we were still very much encouraged to play outside and discover what nature had to offer.

I am very much an active part of YoungHort which is a a new initiative, set up in December 2013, to provide a networking platform for young horticulturists. From engaging events and career days to web forums, links and more, YoungHort is committed to assisting horticulturists that are just entering the industry and those who are studying horticulture. YoungHort will also be helping to encourage more school leavers to choose horticulture and increase awareness of how diverse and rewarding the industry is!

One of the main reasons why I wanted to start and did actually start this blog was being able to have somewhere to write about what I want with gardening and horticulture and to be able to easily find the information and also to hopefully help other people if they want to read about what I've done and then use that as inspiration.

As well as on here, you can find me on:
Twitter: -  https://twitter.com/fcwilletts
YoungHort website - http://younghort.com

I hope that you will stay for a few weeks and read all my new posts, And also enjoy this totally new experience.. :)

Speak soon,
Fiona. :)