As part of the on-going relationship between Alitex and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Alitex sponsor one of the final year prizes for students at the School of Horticulture.
We are delighted to announce Ben Houston is the 2012 winner of The Alitex Glasshouse Award.
Ben was a student on the three year diploma course at Kew, in which nine months of each year are spent working through a practical rotation of the glass houses and three months are spent in the classroom. The course is popular because of the practical elements and the encouragement of the pupils to develop their own judgement and responsibilities. Field trips have included the Wakehurst Millenium Seed Bank, a study of the ecology and eco-systems of Bangor in Wales and a two week field course in Spain. Ben’s particular project explored the flora of the scrubland after the fires had raged through.
Ben was surprised to be singled out from his peers to win the award but obviously delighted,
“It is a nice achievement to have”, he commented “and is great for my CV”.
Ben will be working in the rock garden at Kew from henceforth and building on his horticultural foundation earned from this highly credited course.
Good Luck for the future Ben and happy gardening.