Horticultural Advisor
Wisley Diploma in Practical Horticulture 1998–2000
Helen's introduction to horticulture came on a family holiday when she was given a kit with a plastic rack and test tubes for rooting cuttings. They rooted well and she ended up with a bedroom full of plants.
Already having a placement at York University to study History, Helen took this up but wasn’t excited by it, applying to Askham Bryan Agricultural/Horticultual College once her degree finished. The National Certificate in Horticulture was a very practical one-year course, which gave Helen an excellent grounding in the basic skills and science of horticulture and acted as a springboard for new and exciting times.
Attending interviews at Balmoral, Cambridge Botanic Gardens and Wisley, she accepted a placement on the two-year Wisley Diploma in Practical Horticulture which was just starting. She’d be paid, fed and housed so what more could a student hope for!
Starting in September 1998, the course consisted of three months in each garden department but with few additional practical sessions or workshops apart from insect walks and the weekly plant identification test. RHS Diploma lectures were done at Merrist Wood College, but were a little disjointed partly because they were the first group to go through the system.
Helen chose cut flower gardening as her dissertation subject and visited Sarah Raven’s cutting garden in order to take pictures and follow the process through. She ended up being awarded a NAFAS prize (National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies) and put the money together with an RHS bursary towards a trip to the Eastern States of North America visiting cut flower farms. Having to do the dissertation opened up opportunities she would not otherwise have been aware of.
Towards the end of the course, Helen had an opportunity to spend a Sunday in the Advisory kiosk answering members’ enquiries, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Upon leaving Wisley, Helen decided to get experience in floristry shops and later applied for a two-week course at the Jane Packer School in London. However, straight after she was back at Wisley, taken on as maternity cover in Advisory. Helen loved it so much that when a permanent position came up, she applied and has been in post ever since.
Overall, Helen had a fantastic grounding in working with experts who could answer her questions, and believes the Wisley course drew everything together - her written skills from her degree, her passion for plants, and she uses it everyday.