Thumbing a new direction at the Botanic Gardens

Shizuka Sato, trained as an architect in Japan, is embarking on a new career as a horticulturist with the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.

She has been accepted into the Gardens' trainee programme and will now study for a National Certificate in Horticulture Level 4 while working full-time at the Garden.

Ms Sato, 27, is presently learning the rearing procedures at the Nursery: next she moves to the flower beds near the Canterbury Museum.

Her three-year contract with the Gardens will include two-month-long stints learning every aspect of the operations.

And she is happy that she is doing something that she loves and has loved from a very young age.

"I love flowers and I especially love roses. So, being here and doing all this is very good for me," says Ms Sato.

Having moved to Christchurch last year (her partner is from these areas), Ms Sato began doing volunteer work for the Gardens for almost six months.

The work was mostly in the Central Rose Garden.

"I was attending language classes in the morning and working at the Gardens afterward," she says.

Her dedication paid off when management offered her the trainee position in July.

"As with anything the more you put into something the more you will learn," says Richard Poole, Assistant Grounds Coordinator with the Gardens, of the trainee programme.

"Attitude plays a big part as well and the trainees that do well are the ones that put in the work and gain the knowledge," says Mr Poole.

He pointed out that having a core interest in plants is very important to begin with. For Ms Sato, that is a prerequisite easily met as she has had a green thumb from childhood.

In Japan, gardening has become a popular hobby, especially among women, who utilise even balconies (due to shortage of space) to put together tiny gardens of exceptional beauty.

Ms Sato says her interest in things horticulture continues to grow as she settles into her job.

She will be soon joined by two more trainees as the management sifts through applications received through a recent trainee vacancy advertisement.

The trainee programme has been running at the Gardens since the 50's.

"It was for many years an apprenticeship and basically still is. We changed the name to traineeship about four years ago to differentiate it from the new modern apprenticeship for which we did not fit all the
criteria," says Mr Poole.

The trainees are on a fixed-term contract for three years and are given no guarantee of employment after this time.

During the three years they are rotated around the gardens and Nursery and Conservatories every two months.

"This gives them a good chance to see all aspects of the organisation. They get to work with the collection curators on a one-on-one basis and have hands-on learning about the different collections," says Mr Poole.

"The traineeship is a great opportunity to learn and gain a qualification in Amenity Horticulture," he says.

Trainees study towards a National Certificate in Horticulture Level 4 through correspondence at the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand.

The National Certificate covers such topics as Botany, Soils and fertilisers, Plant protection, Plant identification, Organic horticulture and Landscaping.

Ms Sato is set to ace the landscaping aspect of the course as she has already done it in her architect degree.