The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) will team up at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2018 (2 – 8 July) to jointly fund a feature show garden to promote and celebrate the skills of landscape contractors.
The joint initiative replaces (and will build on what has been achieved) the Young Landscape Contractor Competition, held for the last two years at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park, which involved trainee Landscapers and Planting Designers working together on a show feature.
RHS Director General Sue Biggs, said: “The RHS cares very much about promoting and recognising the skills of Landscapers, which is why we introduced the Young Landscaper Competition at Tatton two years ago, as part of our Horticulture Matters campaign. However, the competition struggled to attract applicants, because it seems young landscapers have been unable to be released from work or their own in-house training programmes.
“For some time, we have been discussing with BALI other ways that we can support and promote Young Landscapers at our RHS Shows, so I am very excited to announce our new plan for a feature garden at RHS Hampton next year, and look forward to sharing more details in 2018.”
BALI’s Chief Executive, Wayne Grills, commented on the joint announcement: “I am delighted to confirm that BALI has reached an agreement to jointly fund a feature show garden at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show next July with the RHS, to continue the efforts of what has been achieved over the last two years at Tatton.
“BALI has an obligation to its members, and the industry, to continue to promote, support and inspire our younger generation of landscape contractors as well as garden designers, and this is a great way of achieving this through BALI’s GoLandscape initiative and alongside the RHS. I am pleased to see that we will continue to fly the flag for promoting the benefits of working in our industry. This announcement will now grant access for young talent to design and build a show garden that is supported by the GoLandscape brand, our Ambassadors, the RHS and the wider industry. BALI and the RHS will provide further announcements detailing how designer and landscaping students/apprentices can get involved with the project in the New Year.”
www.rhs.org.uk/hamptoncourt