John Morrison

Horticulture 2021

With thanks to Sponsor Mayfield Garden.

My Scholarship journey started at the Eden Project in the South of the UK, Cornwall.

Now being a 22-year-old who had never left Australia before this was quite the journey, not only because the combined flight time was over 24 hours, but because I had managed to get a placements at The Eden Project and Monet’s Garden. Both of these placements were dreams come true for me.

My overall experience wasn’t what I thought it would be, which made it surprising as I enjoyed myself and experienced a lot more than I thought I would.

Having to organise my own transportation without the use of a car proved to be one of the biggest culture shocks, which meant I got to experience more of the country side through walks and bike riding to and from my placements and other gardens that I got to visit throughout my scholarship.

One of my key memories from the whole experience at the Eden Project was getting there and realising how big it was in person. I had no scope, no point of reference for just how big it was! This was quite the surprise to me not only as a horticulturalist but also as an individual. Entering the bio domes for the first time and seeing fully grown and established trees measuring over 18 metres tall.

It leaves quite the impression and to think that the Eden Project site just used to be an old china clay mine that was turned into these unique and diverse bio domes with surrounding gardens just gives me great hope for Australia and the world alike. It demonstrates that when we want to we can rehabilitate used and abandoned mines and repurpose neglected and unsustainable areas for teaching the next generation.

While in the rainforest bio dome, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to hand pollinate the couroupita guianensis, which is commonly referred to as the cannon ball tree. The Eden project has yet to have any fruit be produced from the cannon ball tree; hopefully with this technique this will change! It was such an awesome experience to be a part of as I’d never done anything like it before.

One of the greatest challenges for me personally was at my placement in France. Before my trip to Monet’s Garden I had never studied or spoken French before. So, naturally I started taking French lessons from my Nan and picked up some key phrases. Thankfully I also had Jan who was my contact at Monet’s Garden helping me where ever she could. When it came to finding my way around Paris and its train line system I was at a loss. Not knowing where to go nor having the ability to read or understand the language made catching the train to Monet’s very difficult! Luckily, a complete stranger named Paul would be my unlikely hero. Paul was a French student who had just moved to Paris to continue his study’s as a civil engineer, who funnily enough was catching a train in the same junction as mine. Without Paul, I don’t reckon I would have caught my train to Monet’s. 

Over the course of my three-month scholarship I got to meet so many wonderful people. Ranging from roommates who shared their passion for horticulture with me to hosts who shared their stories of horticulture and how they got to where they were today. If I had to choose the two people who influenced me the most over the trip it would have to be Neal from the Eden Project and Jan from Monet’s Garden. Neal hosted not only myself but also Ash and Tyler who both had also been awarded scholarships. Neal was actually the first person to be on the payroll when The Eden Project was in its infancy, he shared what it was like when The Eden Project first started and how it’s changed over the years. He showed me what dedication and devotion can do. He made me excited for the future and the rest of my journey. The other inspiring person on my trip was Jan. Jan runs the boarding house for both international students wanting to do horticultural work and artist looking for inspiration at the gardens. Her warmth and hospitality made it very easy to ask her questions about the gardens as well as the local town. Nothing seemed impossible for her as she either knew the answer or the person who knew the answer.

If I could give any tips to future scholars it would be this, don’t be afraid to try, and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it and you’re feeling unsure of yourself. I had so many unique situations where I, the tourist, was far out of my depth. But now having gone on my scholarship trip where I had very few contacts, asking the locals for a hand often led to positive outcomes and great memories.  I feel better equipped for future endeavours now having experienced this trip of a life time.

Hopefully from here I can incorporate what I learned in the form of preservation and sustainability back into my work, whether that’s supplying customers with organic alternatives or educating them on the practices done around the world. I would really like to go abroad again, whether it’s to the same places at different times in the season or to completely new placements only time will tell.

Right now though I’m hoping I can work on the Triabunna saw mill, which is currently in the process of being repurposed from an old saw mill into a new restored landscape. By involving local businesses and the community as a whole, they’ve made some significate changes the landscape by incorporating the use of camps sites and using to an extent Tassie endemic plants to help teach not only tourist but locals alike on what used to be there before the mill and what’s being done to reuse/ repurpose the land so that other generations may enjoy Tasmania and what it has to offer.