Award nights- AIH in Brisbane & BBM Youth Support in Sydney

The past 6 months have been some what intense, more so then I realised. The highlights were attending the award nights for both Australian Institute of Horticulture (AIH) and BBM Youth support.

It all started with a trip up to Brisbane, for the AIH awards night. Mick and I spent a wonderful 3 days meeting and talking to people throughout the horticulture industry. We were very lucky to have private tour around Roma St Park lands, with Donna and the Student of the year award winner Kerri Lennox. It is a beautiful garden in the heart of Brisbane- Tropical plants a plenty and my first taste of perennial coriander ! it is amazing !
That night I was very fortunate to meet Annette Irish, president of AIH- and an opportunity arose for my trip - she asked me if I would like to met her in Germany, to show me some of their spectacular gardens- of course I said yes and dates have been arranged.

That night I also met Michael- from Singapore, I spoke to him for some time and was offered some work experience in his country on my way home- opportunity number 2.... So I have made arrangements to stop in Singapore on my way home.

I also happened to be seated across the table from Wes Flemming and his wife Paige that night- He talked to me about winning RHS Chelsea show last year and how Tristan Krepp ( Last years winner of the Sir John pagan award) came and helped them set it up ! Though he informed me that he was not returning this year with an Australian team. A lost opportunity maybe? but wasn't going to stop me trying to get in to help other ways at RHS Chelsea show, as it was on the top of my agenda.

There were of course many other people I met that night that influenced the path that I was to take for organising my trip, and I say thank you to all I spoke to in Brisbane. http://www.aih.org.au/youth-award-2013-catherine-grace/ This is a link to a press release that AIH has written.

A couple of weeks later, Mum (Ros) Mick and I made our way up to Sydney for the BBM Youth Support Award ceremony. It was a very glamours night with many inspiring young people, from all sorts of different industries; sport, music, dance and more, came together to be presented with their award.

It was wonderful to meet people from BBM and talk to them about what they do. Symon Scott (CEO) also recommended that I come into the office and have a read about some of the past winners experience with this scholarship- So the next day we did just that.

We met John Pagan- (son of Sir John Pagan) and his wife, they spoke of Sir John Pagan and what he did for Horticulture and also about their travels around the UK and Europe.

Andrew Price and Chris Poulton from AIH also attended, and were full of advice for my travels.

A big thank you to BBM Youth support and everyone I met there that night also. http://www.bbm.asn.au/photos.php?galleryNum=15 this is a link to the BBM Awards night pictures

But now it was time to get organising .....

right place at the right time...

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to click through the links and to stumble across my blog, If you know me then skip over this first paragraph....

I am Kate, a young aspiring horticulturist from a small town of Moruya on the South Coast of N.S.W Australia. At the age of 22 I have completed my Cert 3 in Horticulture, started my own garden maintenance and design business Your Oasis Garden Design and Maintenance, have completed my first year of Landscape architecture at the University of Canberra, have received a travel scholarship to the UK to explore horticulture further through BBM Youth Support and the Australian Institute of Horticulture (AIH) and now I have started a blog.

Why? It seems to always be the question that I ask myself- Why did I get here in my life ? Why were those decisions made ? why am I in this particular place at this particular time?
These questions always seem to baffle me.

 I'd like to start this story off by telling you about how I came across the BBM Sir John Pagan award, a travel Scholarship to the UK. I have to admit it was never something that I had always strived to achieve in my life. Though when the opportunity came up I grabbed it with both hands. It came up unexpectedly as I guess many of the good things and bad things in life do. I asked Mum, Ros, if she and I would like to go to Sydney for the first ever Sydney flower and Garden show in 2013. She agreed and next minute she had booked us two nights accommodation in the heart of Sydney.... I was thinking we would just drive up for the day ( we live 4 hours sth). It was in the middle of my most busiest time in Uni and two days before leaving I distinctly remember saying to Mum, I don't think it is a very good idea to go to this show any more I'm way to busy. Mums response was " Kate. don't be silly. It will be fun- You'll be right"
 So, up we drove. I took all my Uni bits and pieces and studied on the way up and in our hotel room.
It was the day of the garden show and we caught a designated flower show bus there, filled with men and women with a large demographic of them being, well...... old. I was the youngest person on that bus and I couldn't believe it.

We wondered around the Garden show and saw many inspiring show gardens and other stalls. Though the best stall for me on that day was the AIH stall. I had met Tony Salter last year at a landscape expo that we had also attended. When I saw her again, she asked me how my studies were going. I got talking as I can, not realising who I was talking to, with other members of the AIH  chatting with me too. After explaining where I was at that particular point in my life, an application form for the BBM Youth award was placed in my hands. I said my goodbyes and we sat down for a coffee.... after reading the application form through and through I looked up at mum and said " I tick a lot of these boxes. " with an expression on my face that screamed excitement !

Having won this award was such a highlight of 2013 for me and I am honoured to be recognised by the industry that I work for and love.

Was it luck that I happened to be at the right place at the right time ? Or is it the sequence of events prior that brought me there. Either way I am very stoked that it did, and I can't wait to see where it takes me.