Learning at Loftus

Blog written by Frances (Head Gardener)

James our apprentice gardener has been with us at Loftus now for six months and I’m pleased to say has settled into our team like part of the family.

He loves his job and really appreciates this great opportunity that he has been given.

He is keen to learn all he can, attending Pencoed college on a Friday each week and the rest of the time learning from on-the-job training delivered by Paul and myself.

Part of his goal to become a qualified gardener involves the somewhat daunting task of learning to recognise plants. Trees, shrubs, flowers, and weeds all have to be identified by both common and Latin names, including correct spelling. No easy feat, I know as I’m still learning myself after 30 years in the business, but James is eager to make a start and has taken on to write fortnightly plant profiles for our My Loftus website.

Jo our last apprentice made a start on this and James is going to carry on the good work. Once a fortnight our website will feature different plants, all of which can be found growing at Loftus.

We hope you will find them of interest and that they help you recognise and name some of the plants that you walk past every day.

You can download the first of James’s plant articles here: Erigeron-Karvinskianus.docx (1175 downloads )