News - Young Horticulturist of the Year

Posted On03/09/2024

Introducing Taylor Leabourn, Young Grower

If there’s a prize for the Young Horticulturist competition finalist with the healthiest diet, Taylor Leabourn is arguably a strong contender.Afterall, during his work hours as produce lead at SKU Ltd in Wiri, he is surrounded by bananas… grapes, oranges, melons and pineapples. Suffice to say, potassium and vitamin C levels are high amongst Taylor and his growing family. He and his wife, Bianca, are expecting their first child in January. Taylor, who will represent the Young Grower sector ...

Posted On23/08/2024

Young Horticultural finalists gather in lead up to competition finals

Five skilled young people will this year compete for the coveted title of New Zealand's 2024 Young Horticulturist of the Year.The five - representing different horticultural sectors - met this week for an orientation day in the lead up to the Young Horticulturist finals, to be held in Karaka, Auckland at the end of October.The five finalists are Craig Scott of Hamilton, Kyla Mathewson of Dunedin, Tai Nelson of Kumeu, Taylor Leabourn of Pukekohe, and Anna England of Christchurch. They represent t...

Posted On11/01/2024

December 2023 Newsletter

Welcome to our December 2023 NewsletterThe 2023 Young Horticulturist CompetitionThe Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Education Trust, are thrilled to announce Meryn Whitehead as the winner of the 2023 Young Horticulturist Competition! Also, a big congratulations to all our 2023 Finalists, they were exceptional in this years’ closely contested Competition.Finalists from left to right: Meryn Whitehead (winner), Lydia O’Dowd, Caleb Washington, Tahryn Mason, Jason Gwynn, Sarah Ewe and...

Posted On10/11/2023

Meryn Whitehead wins 2023 Young Horticulturist of the Year title

Nelson orchardist Meryn Whitehead has won the coveted title of New Zealand Young Horticulturist of the Year.Meryn battled it out against six other competitors - representing various horticultural sectors - during a two-day final held in Karaka this week.The 29-year-old is a team co-ordinator at Vailima Orchard, a fourth-generation, family-owned business with more than 200 hectares of apple orchards stretching over the Tasman District’s Waimea plains.Speaking after being announced the Kaiahuone...

Posted On12/10/2023

Local Florist amongst impressive young horticulturists competing in Karaka

She’s fought fires, established an “unruly” floristry business, and next month she’ll battle it out against the great young guns of New Zealand’s horticulture world.Ramarama’s Sarah-Lee Ewe will represent the Young Florist/Flower Grower sector at the New Zealand Young Horticulturist final, to be staged in Karaka on November 7 and 8.Sarah-Lee owns a floral and styling business called Faux & Thorn – The Unruly Fleuriste, although all things floral have not formed her entire working l...

Posted On05/10/2023

Caleb selected to compete at NZ Young Horticulturist Competition

The chance of a Cantabrian winning the coveted New Zealand Young Horticulturist of the year title has just doubled thanks to landscaper Caleb Washington. Caleb, who lives in Bishopdale and is an operations manager at Goom Landscapes, has won the Young Landscaper of the Year title, which gives him right of entry to the national Young Horticulturist Competition.Also attending the competition finals in Auckland on November 7,8, will be Christchurch’s Lydia O’Dowd who was recently judged NZ’s ...

Posted On05/10/2023

Meryn Whitehead heading to the Young Horticulturist Grand Finals in November

Marlborough’s chances of bringing home the coveted Young Horticulturist of the Year title have just doubled, thanks to orchardist Meryn Whitehead.Meryn, who is a team co-ordinator at Vailima Orchard, has been selected to compete at the NZ Young Horticulturist of the Year competition finals in Auckland over November 7,8. She will be joined at the finals by Blenheim viticulturist and Indevin Grower Relations Partner Tahryn Mason, representing the NZ Winegrowers sector. Meryn’s selection comes ...

Posted On05/10/2023

Welcome to our September 2023 Newsletter

The 2023 Young Horticulturist Competition:The Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture Education Trust are pleased to announce the dates for the 2023 Young Horticulturist Competition, where we will also be celebrating our Competitions’ 18thyear. We are thrilled to have 7 Finalists competing for the title again this year.The Grand Final dates are set for: Day 1: Tuesday 7thNovember 2023Business Components Day @ New Zealand Bloodstock Centre, Karaka, Auckland Day 2: Wednesday ...

Posted On26/09/2023

Renee reaps rewards of career switch – now off to Young Horticulturist Finals.

Leaving a deskbound job in favour of the great outdoors has paid off for Renee Johnson.Only four years since leaving a computer job and starting at Bark Ltd (a company focused on the care of significant gardens and grounds throughout New Zealand) Renee has won a national title and been selected to compete in the prestigious NZ Young Horticulturist Competition.Renee won the Young Amenity Competition this year and will represent her sector at the Young Horticulturist finals in November, competing ...

Posted On21/09/2023

Toasting Tahryn

A Blenheim viticulturist has been selected to represent the NZ Winegrowers sector at this year’s Young Horticulturist of the Year Competition.Indevin Grower Relations Partner Tahryn Mason will face representatives from six other horticultural sectors at the competition’s final in Auckland during November 7,8.Tahryn is the third Indevin employee in recent years selected to battle it out at the Young Horticulturist of the Year (Kaiahuone rangatahi o te tau) final. He follows in the footsteps o...

Posted On07/09/2023

Arborist hoping to soar

Following in his brother’s footsteps has paid off for the Waikato’s Jason Gwynn who will represent the arborist sector at the NZ Young Horticulturist finals this year. Jason, who grew up in Te Awamutu, is an arborist team leader at Waipa Networks Limited. Initially unsure where his career path would lead, Jason made the call three years ago to join his brother, Tyrel, at Waipa Networks. While Tyrel has moved on to other things, Jason’s been fully focused on his journey as an arborist. He s...

Posted On03/08/2023

Canterbury’s Lydia O’Dowd off to Young Horticulturist Finals.

Taking a plant biology paper at university was a game changer for Lydia O’Dowd who was recently judged NZ’s Young Plant Producer of the Year.The Cantabrian - who initially began studying health science - will now go ahead to represent her sector at this year’s Young Horticulturist of the Year event. Held in November each year, the Young Horticulturist Competition is a grand finale that brings together the country’s best young talent in horticulture.Lydia is head propagator at Southern Wo...

Posted On17/07/2023

Top Accolade for Young Tauranga Flower Grower

A twenty-four-year-old Tauranga woman, with a love for hydrangeas, has won NZ’s Young Florist and Flower Grower of the Year competition.Samantha (Sam) Searle, and her partner James, own and run Te Puna Blooms, a business dedicated to hydrangea plants available for domestic and international markets.Sam’s win follows a two-day competition in Christchurch late last week. She will now go on to represent her industry (Florist and Flower Growers NZ Incorporated) at the New Zealand Young Horticult...

Posted On13/07/2023

Welcome to our June 2023 Newsletter

The 2023 Young Horticulturist CompetitionThe Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture Education Trust are pleased to announce the launch of the 2023 Young Horticulturist Competition, where we will also be celebrating our 18th year. The RNZIH Trust look forward to running the 2023 Competition Grand Final this November.During the Grand Final seven sector winners will take part in a selection of activities over two days to test their practical skills and knowledge as well as desk-based skills, presenting...

Posted On27/06/2023

Professional Development Day 2023

Once again, we would like to say a big thank you to all our 2022 Young Horticulturist Competition Finalists, Trust Members, Speakers and Sponsors who attended the Professional Development Day on Tuesday 9th May 2023.This is a one-day event at the Auckland Botanic Gardens held six months post Competition where our Finalist develop their emerging leadership capabilities through networking, hearing presentations and receiving leadership training such as personality profiling and goal setting.Althou...

Posted On20/04/2023

March 2023 Newsletter

The RNZIH Education Trust are underway with planning for the 2023 Competition and are currently reaching to the supporters and new supporters as we hear up for another great Competition!2023 SupportIf you are interested in finding out more on how you can be a supporter of the Competition, please let us know.We have re-branded some of our sponsorship tiers to reflect the differing levels of support.We can't run this valuable Competition without the support from businesses in and around the indust...

Posted On15/12/2022

December 2022 Newsletter

The 2022 Young Horticulturist CompetitionThe Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Education Trust, are thrilled to announce Regan Judd as the winner of the 2022 Young Horticulturist Competition! Also, a big congratulations to all our 2022 Finalists, they were exceptional in this years’ Competition.This year we had seven Sector Finalists, including NZ Arboriculture for their second year, competing in the 2022 Competition held on November 8th & 9th followed by our Grand Final Awards Dinne...

Posted On21/11/2022

Proudly presenting our 2022 Prize Winners

A big thank you to our finalists, their employers and sector organisations for their outstanding support of this year's competition. After two challenging years, it's been heartening to see the combined sectors come together again and celebrate excellence in horticulture.A special thanks to the Young Horticulturist Official Partners - Countdown, Fruitfed Supplies and T&G Fresh, for their ongoing support, not just of the competition but the future of horticulture through our young ...

Posted On14/11/2022

Regan Judd has been named the Young Horticulturist of the Year.

Regan Judd has been named the Young Horticulturist of the Year. Speaking after winning the coveted Young Horticulturist (Kaiahuone rangatahi o te tau) title at the finals in Karaka last night, Regan said he was “blown away” about winning, given he was up against “such a strong group of people”.Regan represents the Young Grower of the Year, Horticulture NZ Fruit & Vegetable Sectors and works as an orchard sector manager with T&G Global in the Hawkes Bay. The 26-year-old was...

Posted On02/11/2022

Introducing the finalists for 2022!

We're proud to introduce the seven finalists for the Young Horticulturist Competition 2022. This video was made with the generous assistance of the Horticentre Charitable Trust. Thank you to our competition partners Fruitfed Supplies, T&G Fresh and Countdown.

Posted On28/09/2022

Young Amenity

Jodie McDonnellWe are excited to introduce you to Jodie McDonnell, representing the Young Amenity Horticulturist sector at our Young Horticulturist Competition in November.

Posted On12/08/2022

Young Florist and Flower Grower

We are excited to introduce you to Courtney Chamberlain, representing the Young Florist and Flower Growers sector at our Young Horticulturist Competition in November.Courtney has years of first-hand experience and is assistant manager of Hadstock Farm in Canterbury.We look forward to meeting Courtney in November with the other finalists.

Posted On03/08/2022

June 2022 Newsletter

The 2022 Young Horticulturist CompetitionThe Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture Education Trust are pleased to announce the launch of the 2022 Young Horticulturist Competition, where we will also be celebrating our 17th year.We were thrilled to have run our 2021 Competition in February earlier this year and are working hard to come up to speed and looking forward to running the 2022 Competition this November.The 2022 Grand Final dates have been set for - Day 1, Tuesday 8th November 20...

Posted On29/07/2022

2022 NZPPI Young Achiever Winner

A huge Congratulations to Amy Clark from Kings Plant Barn Botany, who was competing this week in Christchurch and has been awarded Young Achiever 2022 Winner Amy was announced Young Achiever 2022 at the business breakfast in Christchurch on Thursday 29th July during which all five finalists delivered speeches on the future of the industry after taking part in a Challenge Day at Lincoln University on Wednesday.We are very excited to meet Amy and seeing her in November for the Young Hort...

Posted On28/07/2022

March 2022 Newsletter

The 2021 Young Horticulturist CompetitionThe Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Education Trust, are thrilled to announce Rhys Hall as the winner of the 2021 Young Horticulturist Competition! Also a bit congratulations to all our finalists, they all did an outstanding job in Covid-19, Red Light Setting Competition.This year we had Six Sector Finalist, including NZ Arboriculture for their first year, competing in the 2021 Competition held on February 22nd & 23rd 2022 at the Karaka ...

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Introducing Taylor Leabourn, Young Grower

Young Horticultural finalists gather in lead up to competition finals

December 2023 Newsletter

Meryn Whitehead wins 2023 Young Horticulturist of the Year title

Local Florist amongst impressive young horticulturists competing in Karaka

Caleb selected to compete at NZ Young Horticulturist Competition

Meryn Whitehead heading to the Young Horticulturist Grand Finals in November

Welcome to our September 2023 Newsletter

Renee reaps rewards of career switch – now off to Young Horticulturist Finals.

Toasting Tahryn

Arborist hoping to soar

Canterbury’s Lydia O’Dowd off to Young Horticulturist Finals.

Top Accolade for Young Tauranga Flower Grower

Welcome to our June 2023 Newsletter

Professional Development Day 2023

March 2023 Newsletter

December 2022 Newsletter

Proudly presenting our 2022 Prize Winners

Regan Judd has been named the Young Horticulturist of the Year.

Introducing the finalists for 2022!

Young Amenity

Young Florist and Flower Grower

June 2022 Newsletter

2022 NZPPI Young Achiever Winner

March 2022 Newsletter