Sunlight breaking through the trees in the New Forest
21 year old Jamie Butterworth has become a Royal Horticultural Society Ambassador and join luminaries such Alan Titchmarsh and Mary Berry who were respectively the 1st and most recently appointed RHS Ambassadors. Jamie is the Joint Show Plant Manager at Hortus Loci and joined the award winning trade nursery last year after 2 years at RHS Garden Wisley.
The RHS is keen to encourage gardening as a career for young people and appointing Jamie to the role as RHS Ambassador for secondary schools, is part of this on-going RHS remit.
Jamie has been instrumental in the growing popularity of the ‘Young Horts’ movement and his enthusiasm for his chosen career is boundless. At Hortus Loci Jamie works with two other young horticulturists, Pedro Mayor and Michael Buck, together they are jointly responsible for the production of over 200,000 thousand plants that Hortus Loci grow for the some of the best landscape architects and garden designers in the world who are putting on show gardens at RHS Chelsea and RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Shows.
Jamie joins James Wong, Nick Knowles and Adam Frost and with Alan and Mary they make up the RHS Ambassadors. Each brings a different skill set and passion to the role and for Jamie his role will be to continue trailblazing and help to attract more young people into the world of horticulture.
Jamie said, “Becoming an RHS ambassador truly is a dream come true for me, I am over the moon to be joining such a prestigious line up of ambassadors. I am 100% passionate about horticulture, and I am extremely grateful to the RHS for giving me this opportunity to help promote horticulture to young people across the UK, At the moment, horticulture is seen is only seen as a career option if you have failed academically, this simply isn’t true, Horticulture has to be one of the most fun, exciting, rewarding industry out there, and I want to use my ambassadorship to show young people this”
“My day to day work at Hortus Loci is both stimulating and challenging and I continue to learn each day. Growing the plants for major RHS shows is both equal parts exhilarating and nerve-wracking! I really do have my dream job, and I hope to convey my passion for growing and gardening to young people via my RHS Ambassadorship. I can’t wait to get started!”
Directors at Hortus Loci, Mark Straver and Robin Wallis are both 3rd generation nurserymen who came into the industry as young men and believe passionately that the success and growth of British horticulture is dependent on bringing on the best of the best through continuing education and hands on experience at Nurseries such as their own.
Mark Straver said, “We couldn’t be prouder of Jamie. He is a credit to the industry and with this platform that the RHS have given him he will be able to convey his passion and knowledge and promote our industry to young people as an exciting environment to work in and one with sky’s the limit prospects for those that seize their opportunities”
