Wisley student wins 2008 Young Horticulturist of the Year

June 2008

Patrick Wiltshire receives his prizes. A student from RHS Garden Wisley has taken first place in a national competition winning a £2000 travel bursary.

Patrick Wiltshire, who is currently in the first year of two year course studying for a Wisley Diploma Practical Horticulture, was named the 2008 Young Horticulturist of the Year by the Institute of Horticulture at a ceremony in May. The prize money from the Percy Thrower Travel Bursary was boosted with life membership of the Eden Project and a wollemi pine. He plans to travel to California to study native and cultivated plants once he finishes his studies at Wisley in 2009.

Patrick is no stranger to the competition, first entering in 2006 when he reached the final and finished 7th. He entered again in 2007 where he also made the final and finished 4th.

More than 1500 students from Britain and Ireland took part in the competition.

For more about the competition visit the Young Horticulturist of the Year page on the Institute of Horticulture website