The Landscape Institute speaks out on the green skills shortage after government publishes new research The government has recently published a research briefing on ‘Green skills for education and employment’, in which it defines green skills as “the knowledge,...
Cash flow is the lifeblood of any successful business. Cash flow is what allows a company to pay its staff, purchase stock, and ensure contractual overheads are paid on time. Once cash flow becomes squeezed, problems can quickly spiral, taking a once thriving company...
The expansion of the ULEZ is causing concern across London’s trade sector as the added charge inflicts unsustainable financial pressure on a number of trade businesses, and for good reason. As of today, drivers of non-compliant vehicles will have to pay £12.50 a day to travel in the now affected areas, which cover a majority of Greater London....
Over the last year, Arron Grange has been playing a significant role in establishing and managing Green-tech’s new warehouse in Ireland. The key account manager, who became became one of Pro Landscaper’s 30 Under 30: The Next Generation last year at just 27 years’ old, was originally employed as a sales advisor in 2016 and has since risen through...
It’s no secret that the sector is facing a substantial succession crisis thanks to an ongoing skills shortage. Encouraging more young people into the sector is the obvious solution, but it’s not quite as easy as it seems. The latest effort is the introduction of new T-Level courses in Agriculture, Land Management and Production. Educational...
The Great Comp Summer Show, scheduled to take place this weekend, will feature over 25 specialist award-winning exhibitors, including Dan Cooper. Many will recognise Cooper from his acclaimed gardening blog, The Frustrated Gardener, which he launched in 2012. It quickly took root and he was celebrated in the press for creating a ‘subtropical...
A year after becoming one of Pro Landscaper’s 30 Under 30: The Next Generation winners, Rachel Platt has scooped a hat-trick of awards at this year’s RHS Flower Show Tatton Park, including the coveted People’s Choice Award. Platt’s show garden at this years Tatton Park, ‘Chained to Tech’ in partnership with J. Parkers, explores the behavioural...
This years’ RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival saw a significant emphasis on sustainable gardening, with designers showcasing the means to garden for wildlife all year round in a variety of spaces, featuring pollen centric ornamentals to encourage attendees to garden with pollinators in mind. Pollinators contribute the equivalent of more...
A community centre in Maybury, Woking has undergone a vibrant transformation to better respond to the community’s needs, designed by budding RHS Diploma student, Lois O’Connell. The Arch Community Centre in Maybury, Woking owned by Woking Borough Council and leased to the Woking Asian Business Forum was the muse for level 4 students on the RHS...
The global pandemic saw a significant push for global mental health reform and an uptake in mainstream media coverage, singling out the therapeutic benefits of engaging with nature. Now as we enter into a post COVID world, the line between therapeutic horticulture and horticultural therapy remains dangerously blurred for many. Annabelle Padwick,...
The National Wildlife Trusts’ first Hampton Court Show Garden ‘Renters Retreat’ designed by Zoe Claymore, highlights ways to support the natural colonisation of local wildlife in residential gardens, employing transient tenant friendly features. Over eight million households in England alone rent, of those eight million, over five million...
Menopausal support takes centre stage at this year’s BBC Gardeners’ World Live (GWL) with menopause expert Dr. Louise Newson partnering with award-winning garden designer, Ruth Gwynn to create a show garden representative of the nutritional and physical power of nature. Over 50% of the world’s population will go through menopause, with the...
In celebration of World Green Roof Day (6 June), The Green Roof Organisation (GRO) has partnered with children’s author and nature enthusiast Jenny Bailey to release ‘Journey to the Green Roof’, an interactive children’s book, to inspire nature engagement from an early age. With continued urban expansion, green roofs provide a great many...
Katerina Kantalis is set to make her show garden debut this month. The Australian designer is creating a garden for the APL Avenue at this year’s BBC Gardeners’ World Live in Birmingham alongside contractor New Look Landscapes, which will also be making its debut. “New Look have done quite a lot in the commercial space and want to transfer their...
We feel that Chelsea is the annual opportunity to learn from our incredible horticulturists on a number of levels; about how plants benefit not only plants and soil but our bodies too. Surely this is as relevant as finding out the latest on cultivating a stunning rose, and there is a place for both. Weeds are taking centre stage at Chelsea this...
Food education charity, School Food Matters is celebrating its 15th year anniversary with an edible show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, designed by Harry Holding Studios, to promote the importance of having access to nature and outdoor learning for children. Over those 15 years, the charity has benefited hundreds of schools and 200,000...
The Fauna & Flora Garden at this year’s Chelsea has been four years in the making. Garden designer Jilyane Rickards was fresh from winning a Gold medal and the People’s Choice Award at the 2019 show when she started designing the next one – one which would have as much gravitas as the last. Whilst her show garden four years ago highlighted...
Chelsea had a renewed buzz today, and it wasn’t just from all the biodiverse gardens. Hundreds of visitors flocked to press day to immerse themselves in the variety of show gardens on display, and what a variety – designers this year have tackled everything from mental health and grief, from diversity to a colony in Korea, and from community...
Over the last 70 years, the Samaritans has answered 134 million calls – that's millions of people in need of its free services over the last seven decades. Last year, volunteers spent nearly one million hours responding to these calls, and so it’s thanks to these 23,000 volunteers that the support provided by the Samaritans is even possible. And...
Tell us about the concept behind the garden. The garden is an evocation of Mount Jiri in South Korea, a primeval forest (the last remaining) rich in medicinal plants. It is a rare and beautiful place that has been protected from humans. I began thinking about the positive balance between humans and nature through the Jiri Mountain National Park,...
Every year, there is a garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show that gets people talking. It could be an unexpected planting scheme, a wild take on a theme – or, in the case of Sarah Eberle’s garden last year, an extraordinary material used in dramatic ways. At the show last year, Eberle – Chelsea’s most decorated designer – created the MEDITE...
The decline of nature is continuing apace, with the UK in a particularly worrying condition, having just 53% of its biodiversity left, according to research by the Natural History Museum. Significantly below the global average of 75%, the need to boost biodiversity across both built and natural environments is a national imperative. It is to this...
Professional horticulture might be exempt for now, but a ban on using peat is looking ever more likely by 2030. The government announced last August that sales of peat to amateur gardeners in England will be banned from 2024, and it pledged to help the professional horticulture sector speed up its transition to peat-free alternatives, recognising...
The TV programmes of Sir David Attenborough, Chris Packham and the like have informed us that our future world must be greener and that we ought to be the technologists to affect this. So, we want to do the right things to journey ourselves, our clients and the public down this road. But do we know what the right things are, or are we just...
Time for a dirty secret. Years ago, when I was coming into the grounds maintenance business, I was told, “you make your money doing the work you don’t do”. You price the work into your contract and then work your hardest to avoid delivering it. From an ethical perspective, this never sat well with me or for many of us in the profession that work...
From Brexit to COVID-19 to the cost-of-living crisis, businesses worldwide have had to adapt to a host of unpredictable, evolving economic conditions. For instance, as lockdowns came to a close, over eight in ten employees who had been working from home said they planned to adopt a hybrid model. Pro Landscaper looks at which changes are here to...
For International Woman’s Day, Pro Landscaper has compiled a list of its Top 10 Most Influential Women in the industry. All 10 women below were shortlisted for Pro Landscaper’s Most Influential Awards 2022. In no particular order: Sarah Eberle – Garden designer: Eberle is a decorated garden designer across RHS shows, with 20 Gold medals to her...
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