Jessica Evans, Head Gardener at Tintinhull Gardens, National Trust, won the much sought after and nationally acclaimed Chartered Institute of Horticulture’s 2015 Young Horticulturist of the Year competition.

Jessica, representing the South West Branch of the Institute, won the coveted £2,500 Percy Thrower Travel Bursary, provided by the Shropshire Horticultural Society. The Bursary enables the competition winner to undertake a trip, anywhere in the world, to study a subject related to their chosen field of horticulture.

Jessica said: “I am delighted to have won the Young Horticulturist of the Year 2015 competition and look forward to using the travel bursary to further my training in horticulture. Having finished second in the competition last year, my over-whelming emotion when the final scores were announced was relief, especially as this was the last year I would be eligible to enter.

"I would now really like to support the running of the competition, and to encourage others to take part, as it is vitally important to celebrate the quality and knowledge of young horticulturists. I’m not sure yet where the travel bursary will take me, but I will be looking to find best examples of horticultural standards to give myself something to work towards.”

The contestants from the Institute’s eight branches battled it out in a closely fought competition in front of an audience of 60 supporters from across the industry, including the national competition sponsors; James and Julie Hodgson representing the Shropshire Horticultural Society, Peter Hunt from MorePeople and Ruth Ashfield from the Horticultural Development Company (HDC).

There were cash prizes for all contestants, plus a year’s free membership of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture and Plant Heritage.  Overall, the prize money for the eight finalists was £5,000, as well as other prizes throughout the competition, totalling in excess of £13,000, for those who took part in the heats and regional finals.

This prestigious competition is now in its 26th year and over 1,800 young horticulturists from across the UK and Ireland have taken part this year in local heats and regional finals over recent months.

For the eight finalists it was a hard slog to reach the Grand Final, having answered 40 questions in the heats, as well as upwards of 40 questions across every aspect of horticulture in their regional finals. They also had to cope with tough plant and pest and disease identification rounds to secure their places in the Grand Final. 

Rosie Yeomans, Broadcaster, Lecturer, Writer, Garden Consultant, and Question Master for the Grand Final said: “What a friendly and impressive group of young horticulturists gathered at Barrington Court for the 2015 Grand Final of the YHoY, their calm professionalism stood out. Well done to winner Jessica and all the finalists, it was an exciting and closely fought battle.

"After the competition we toured the gardens, notebooks and cameras out again; it’s great to know that the future of our profession is in such good hands.”

The 2015 finalists, from the eight Chartered Institute of Horticulture branches were:

• 1st place - Jessica Evans, Head Gardener, Tintinhull Gardens, National Trust - representing the South West Branch
• Runner-up - Alexander Hankey, Student at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew - representing the South East Branch
• 3rd place - Josh Egan-Wyer MCIHort, Nursery Manager, Pershore College - representing the West Midlands and South Wales Branch

Other finalists:

• Jonathan Davies-Coleman, Student at Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh/Scotland's Rural College Edinburgh - representing the Scotland Branch
• John Grundy, Student at Myerscough College - representing the North West and North Wales Branch
• Samuel Moore, Student at Writtle College - representing the Eastern Branch
• Francis Mulholland, Student at Greenmount Campus, CAFRE - representing the Ireland Branch
• Sian Nichol, Student at Kirkley Hall Campus, Northumberland College - representing the Northern Branch.