I knew I wanted a career that would allow me to enjoy the outdoors, something that was less restrictive than a career based in an office. I stumbled on horticulture by chance when I started doing a weekend job for a couple who were passionate about their garden and horticulture. Discovering this passion is what drew me into horticulture at the beginning.

Initially I found out about the career opportunities available through my own research and ultimately through college. I got my career started by taking up a position as a Management Trainee with Johnsons of Whixley.

I have worked in the industry for 15 years now in private gardens and commercial nurseries. I began working in a private garden where I developed my desire to have a career in horticulture. After learning of educational opportunities I went to work at Belwood Trees in Penicuik, Midlothian. I spent 5 months lifting and rootballing trees and then went to Pentland Plants for 7 months to learn a bit about bedding plant production.

I studied Horticulture at the Scottish Agricultural College for 2 years before going back to Pentland plants for a brief spell prior to taking up the Management Trainee position with Johnsons of Whixley.

Johnsons have kept me suitably occupied for the past 9 years! After completing my two-year traineeship, I took up a position as the Retail Plant Preparation Supervisor. This was the first job I had that I could call my own and it really gave me an opportunity to prove myself and begin to develop my people skills. I had to make sure that all the plants despatched to Garden Centres were to the right standard and correctly labelled.

An opportunity arose when Johnsons bought a derelict glasshouse unit and I applied for the job to manage that. This was a wonderful position and again an opportunity to develop my skills. The first five months of this job was spent cleaning up the unit and getting it to a standard that Johnsons of Whixley would be proud of. The first crops were Fuchsias and Lavateras – producing these was a real triumph. I was in this position for 5 years and in this time gained a knowledge of hardy nursery stock production and built up a strong unit specialising in crops for sale to Garden Centres.

In 2002, due to the expansion of the company, I was offered the role of Retail Operations Manager. This is my current role and is based around the co-ordination of retail crops from all of the Johnsons sites. On a daily basis it is my responsibility to ensure all crops are back to the main site for despatch to customers. On a broader scale it is my job to ensure the continued development of the Retail Operations to ensure that they can cope with the expansion in sales. The position is ever changing and ever challenging and although anything that goes wrong in retail ops is `my fault`, I love every day.