Writtle University College is celebrating winning a Silver Gilt at this year’s Young Gardeners of the Year competition!
The event, which was held at Royal Ascot Racecourse for the first time, showcased the very best in young horticultural and garden design talent as College’s across the country competed against one another to create a show stopping garden.
The brief this year was to create a back garden suitable for an urban house. Being hosted at Royal Ascot Racecourse, the garden was also required to have an equine related feature, in addition to a focus on sustainability with the build or planting.
Further Education Horticulture Course Leader, Ben Wincott, said: “Every year I am always so proud of what our students achieve. We have produced some outstanding gardens over the years and this one is no different.
“The students contributed brilliantly to the creative design process and really demonstrated their ability to apply their learning and understanding of plants in order to create this year’s entry."
Level 3 Horticulture student, Grace Fairbrace, was part of the Writtle team for this year’s project and said: “It was such an amazing experience to be part of building the show garden at Royal Ascot. The atmosphere was overwhelming, not only because of the surroundings, but because of the commitment everyone had to offer to the build.
“I have learnt a lot from building the garden. We were working under a substantial amount of pressure to ensure everything went to plan.
“Having this achievement will open new doors for employment and this is because of the skills I have learnt throughout the journey.”
Celebrity horticulture expert, David Domoney, added: “The garden featured a stunning abstract instillation of race day.
“The finished garden is a beautifully sleek and modern space offset by the pretty pink blossom from the prunus accolade.
“Carex ‘Prarie fire’ grasses are planted in swathes which provide calming movement and a gently sound, inter planted with Cirsium rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’ to provide some of the colours in this landscape.”
This could be you! Discover more about our Further Education Horticulture courses:writtle.ac.uk/FE-Horticulture