Ideal Young Gardeners of the Year Competition 2016
For the sixth year running, I have teamed up with the Ideal Home Show and the Prince’s Foundation to find the best Ideal Young Gardeners of the Year.
Watch ITV Regional News coverage of the Young Gardeners of the Year competition.
Students from six of the UK’s top landscaping and horticultural colleges compete to be crowned the Young Gardeners of the Year.
They design and build beautiful, sustainable show gardens at the Ideal Home Show, Olympia London.
The competition aims to champion young green talent and give students first-hand experience of creating professional show gardens from scratch.
The gardens are judged by a panel of industry experts and one is awarded the Best at Show trophy.
And there’s another challenge: students have just six days to build and plant their gardens.
Participating Colleges 2016
Meet our inspiring colleges and their students – and see their stunning show garden designs!
Askham Bryan College, North Yorkshire (2016 Champions)
Capel Manor College, Middlesex (2011 Champions)
Chichester College, Sussex (2012, 2013 & 2014 Champions)
Pershore College, Part of the Warwickshire College Group
Video tour
Video tour of the gardens
Judging and awards
How we judge the gardens
The show gardens are revealed at the opening of the Ideal Home Show in London on 18 March. They are judged by a panel of experts, including horticultural industry leaders, home and garden magazine editors and acclaimed garden designers.
The judges can award gold, silver gilt, silver and bronze medals, as well as the Best At Show award.
Students from the winning college are crowned the Ideal Young Gardeners of the Year!
The gardens are then exhibited throughout the Ideal Home Show, where around a quarter of a million visitors were be able to see and enjoy them, plus vote for their favourite! The People’s Choice Award is presented to the winning college at the end of the show.
Show Garden Build
Each college is given a 5.5x4m plot and a design brief. They can prepare parts of the garden before the build, but once on site they have only six days to finish their show gardens.
Build Stop-Motion Animation
Amber Winship from Pershore College reveals what it was like to be part of the Young Gardeners team.
The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community
Prince Charles congratulates students from winning college Chichester in 2014
The competition links with the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community to encourage more sustainable gardening techniques.
The organisation sets clear guidelines for the gardens based on the organic and sustainable principles that the charities’ president, The Prince of Wales, has championed for so long.
HRH The Prince of Wales has also visited the gardens numerous times to meet the young gardeners and congratulate them, as well as offering them words of encouragement for the future.
Video Reel
ITV Regional News came to explore our show gardens.
Chichester College garden
Pershore College garden
Shuttleworth College garden
Writtle College garden
Launching the 2016 Competition
In November 2015 we launched the Young Gardeners of the Year competition for the sixth year. We also revealed the new design brief.
Students, staff and organisers of the Young Gardeners of the Year competition at the November launch
Watch our video from the competition launch.
The 2016 brief asked students to design gardens to inspire city-dwellers and create a sense of tranquility and sustainability.
The Prince’s Foundation tasked the students with incorporating elements of an educational garden into the design. That can be health and nutrition, sustainability, biodiversity or art and science.
The finished gardens should also aim to inspire young people to reconnect with nature and engage with green space.
The judges also look for clever planting, a sense of harmony and proportion and clever use of the vertical dimension.
