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Meet the Gardeners
Steve Edney
Head Gardener
…has been in horticulture since he first left school at 16, when he worked and trained at Hadlow college in Canterbury in Amenity horticulture. Moving onto Merrist wood college to train in Arboriculture, he continued to work in tree surgery for a further 2 years before returning to his first love ‘flowering plants’. Here he worked in designing and maintaining private gardens, winning a number of awards for gardening in the process. Steve is the first employee at The Salutation to hold the Head gardener position, and he has been at the forefront of the restoration, with the family, for five years.
Louise Dowle
Assistant head gardener
…started her career in horticulture here at The Salutation as a student, gaining a NVQ 2 in amenity horticulture. Her retail background wasn’t wasted however, as she has a great eye for colour and detail, which are so important in a flower garden. She has since also gained further qualifications with the R.H.S. Louise’s primary role is supporting the head gardener in day-to-day garden tasks, training students and the ongoing planting designs and planning.
Rebecca Voice
Propagator
…or Boo as she prefers to be called, spent a large portion of her working life in financial services only to realise her passion for gardening could be a career. She first worked in horticulture at Howletts wild animal park, as well as training at Hadlow college, to achieve her R.H.S advanced qualifications in horticulture. In the past 4 years, Boo’s primary responsibilities have been looking after the nursery and growing all of the plants for the garden and plant sales.
Elizabeth Mortimer
Student gardener
…having pursued a teaching career for nearly 20 years, Liz is retraining here at The Salutation on a 2 year training program, which all of our students undertake. From this she will gain two nationally recognized qualifications, and currently Liz is in her second year of training.
James Higginson
Student gardener
…James has had a varied career before joining us at The Salutation including studying fine art! James is just beginning the second year of his training.
Sarah Lane
Student gardener
…Sarah used to be an archaeologist before realising the error of her ways and deciding to dig trenches to plant things instead of to find things in! Sarah is in her first year of training.
Josh Wood
Student gardener
…Josh is the youngster of the team but has already spent a year at Hadlow doing a first diploma and is now in his first year of training at The Salutation.
