Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment
Gardening has become cool, with a big rise in the number of 16- to 18-year-olds signing up for horticulture courses
By Lucy Tobin
Tuesday 6 July 2010
Hampton Court flower show turns 21 this year, with its coming-of-age party featuring a festival of roses. But if you thought that the 160,000 visitors to the annual flower show would all be grey-haired gardeners whose own 21sts were decades ago, think again. Two of the flower show’s own designers weren’t even alive when it was created: gardening has gone cool, and nowhere is that more evident than in the hordes of students flocking to sign up for an education in horticulture.
At specialist college Capel Manor, in Enfield, admissions staff report a 25% increase in demand this year from 16- to 18-year-olds for courses in horticulture and related industries such as arboriculture, garden design and floristry. It is opening a new site in Crystal Palace in September to meet the extra demand. Madeline Hall, head of the college, thinks the flock to horticulture courses is a result of the economic downturn….Continue Reading