Brayden Fitzpatrick

2019 - travelled 2022

Sponsored by Mayfield Garden

I’d like to start with a big thank you for the opportunity to head overseas to pursue further development with my career. My time overseas was fantastic, learning loads, gaining lifetime friends and developing as a person.

The scholarship goals were to create networks across the world and learn new skills. I wanted to bring home innovative ideas for my business and find inspiration for the present and future. This was fulfilled beyond my expectations, especially how much inspiration I found.

Before I travelled, my perception of the United States culturally was only based on media and word of mouth. Although I had an understanding of the sheer size of the U.S, I didn’t understand how divided and culturally different the states were from each other. I was certainly taken aback by the California’s rich history of gardening and horticulture, past and present. 

This trip certainly changed me as a horticulturalist. Since a young age I have been a purist with only liking Australian native plants, but this trip has persuaded me to expand into a variety of exotics. It won’t change the goal of my business educating customers and selling Australian natives. However, it has broadened my species knowledge and expanded my personal collection. With my future goals of creating and owning a botanical garden it certainly has inspired me to add a California native section along with an exotic plant conservatory. This trip has made me extremely grateful for the beautiful country we live in and has made me aware that I am heading in the right direction with my career.

My most memorable experience was visiting Theodore Payne Foundation because their mission and current operations is exactly what I’m working towards with my business. They not only sell native plants (Californian) to the public, but they interact with and educate people on designs, propagation, water usage, plant care and so much more! This has given me a template on how to set up my company in the future.

Everyone I met throughout my trip influenced me. Talking to like minded people with the same passions, I found loads of inspiration from them all! It was great to be told by fellow Horticulturists that I was heading in the right direction and making the right steps towards my future goals. 

This trip was hard for me both professionally and personally because I had to let go of being in control of my business. It was great being exposed to this because it taught me that I have people around willing to help and letting people in to do things is healthy. It was also extremely challenging organising this trip where I am now compared to three years ago, when I was first awarded the scholarship but couldn’t travel because of the pandemic. However, once I was over there everything came together perfectly and I benefited greatly from it. 

My greatest success was the friendships I made at the botanical gardens. I have plans to work with them on helping them expand their Australian Native sections by sending seeds over when I do collecting. The best part is I’ll have an opportunity to select unusual species from South Australia that aren’t usually available on the market through seed suppliers. I have been offered to be paid or even have seeds sent over in return, either way I believe it’s going to be beneficial in the near future having these friendships. 

I follow a lot of people on social media, however it was great finding overseas businesses to be inspired by. In the first few weeks since returning home I pieced together new ideas to improve my social media presence. Seeing the success of these businesses first-hand gives me the confidence that they’re doing the right work on their social media platforms. I had many of them explain the importance of the social media presence and I was about to meet a few people who worked in the area. This is certainly an area I wouldn’t have thought much about before heading over. 

Due to the water shortage over in California the biggest topic was water usage. I came across many landscaping projects that involved low water use and landscapes that utilised certain volumes of water over the course of the project. They also have government incentives to rip up lawn and create water saving gardens. This incentive was brought up many times from people I met with landscape businesses or growing plants. 

I found inspiration from a fellow Australian over there with his own business. He creates landscapes with local natives plants mixed with Australian and South African. The mix of species from these countries were very water saving. I was very impressed with the outcome of some of his landscaping projects. 

This trip has only enhanced my aspirations and drive to achieve my goals and dreams. I still want to educate and inspire people to join the horticultural industry and work with plants. My plan is to be working for myself in 12 months time growing, selling, educating and creating sustainable landscapes for customers Australia wide. The dream of owning a tissue culture laboratory to help grow and preserve rare and endangered species is still within my reach. The idea of creating and owning my own Botanical Garden has also been pushed to the forefront of my mind. It would be an awesome way to showcase my knowledge and experience in a form of art and educate people about plants from around the world here in South Australia. 

The most important step for any new scholar heading overseas is to be open minded and understand that you might not find what you set out to find, but know that you will find something. Understand that you’ll never know everything about your field of interest and that you can always learn so much more. When given the opportunity to do something that wasn’t originally in your scope have a go and step outside of your comfort zone to experience something new. These are the types of experiences that will inspire you and allow you to be innovative, by bringing different fields together that are not usually joined.