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Garden Centre Manager Chester Comes Up Smelling of Roses After An RHS Course At A Local Adult Learning Centre Sets Him On The Right Path

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As Well As Talking To The Great And The Good, Celebrities And Bosses, We Like To Get Stuck In And Talk To The Everyday Person In The Street To Really Get The Word On The Street. So We’re Always Looking Out For Interesting People. Happily At The RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Hampton Court Garden Festival July 2022 There Were Lots of Interesting Friendly People Around. Including A Friendly, Attentive And Engaged Looking Young Man Who Seemed Like He’d Know What Was Going On As He Kept A Watchful Eye On The General Comings And Goings, As Well As On His Own Stand Inside The Rose Tent. 

So We Decided To Have A Little Chat With Him. And It Was Worth It Because He Turned Out To Be Very Lovely, Interesting And Educationally Inspiring. We Introduced Ourselves, Asked For An Interview, And After He Kindly Obliged – We Decided To Share A Few Highlights With You, Our Followers, Supporters And Readers.

That Man Was Seasonal & Outdoor Plants Manager, Chester Allen From Sanders Garden Centre In Somerset sandersgardenworld.co.uk

We Asked Him How It Was All Going And How He Got Into The Gardening Scene. He Told Us How His Horticultural Career Was Helped By Doing A Course With The RHS Which Now Stands Him in Good Stead. Especially When It Comes To Roses (Our Favourite).

His Experience Highlights How Education Can Come In Different Forms And Led Down Different Wonderful Avenues.  https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning

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TO.P:  So Where Are Your Lovely Roses From?

CA: Blue DiamondAre A Group of Garden Centres And They Own Fryers Nursery In Knutsford, Cheshire FryersRoses.co.uk.  So We Sell Fryers  Roses Exclusively In Our Garden Centres And Online. You Can Get Them Mail Ordered. 

[We Checked Out The Blue Diamond Website And It Is Nice And Bright And There’s Loads to Find].

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TO.P:  Wonderful.  Earlier, You Were Talking About How Roses Can Be Surprisingly Hardy And Easy To Maintain. Can You Please Explain More About That.

CA: Yes. Once You Know What You’re Doing.  There’s Just A Few Strict Rules. They’re Hungry Plants And They’re Thirsty. So As Long As You Give Them Enough To Eat They’ll Be Fine.  Deadheading Doesn’t Have To Be Too Complicated. If You’re Not Wanting To Go Too Pernickety With It Just Take The Shears Over The Top of Them. I Always Think of Them As Glorified Brambles Really, They Sort of Do The Same Thing In Nature. They’re A Briar Sort of Plant. They’re Tolerant, Don’t Worry About Hurting Them.

TO.P: And What Drew You To Looking After The Plants And The Roses And The Flower World In General?

CA: Well I’ve Always Had A Large Garden At Home. I Helped The Parents With It Ever Since I Was Young, Which Kind of Got Me Into It. And When I Left School I Didn’t Have Any Direction As To What I Want To Do. We Had An Adult Learning Centre In Town And They Did Classes With The RHS So My Mother Suggested I Might Go Along And Do A Course In There. So I Did A Level 2 Diploma With The RHS For A Year. And Then Coming Out of That I Started Working At The Garden Centre In The Hardy Plant Department, Which Is Where I Got My Love For Roses. I Did That For About Five or Six Years Before Transferring To The Other Department Where I Am Now.

TO.P: Which Is?

CA:  The Seasonal And Indoor Plants?

TO.P:  And Can You Tell Us When You Did Your Diploma And How Old You Are Now?

CA: It Was As I Was Leaving 6^th Form, So I Suppose I Was Probably 18. I’m 27 Now.

[Chester Told Us He Did His Course At The Somerset Skills And Learning Centre. Website: sslcourses.co.uk – And – Instagram:@sslcourses]

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RHS COURSES

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Capel Manor College Has Five Sites Across London (Crystal Palace Park, Regent’s Park, Gunnersbury Park, Enfield And Mottingham) @capelmanor. It Offers Various RHS Courses Including Level 1, 2, And Beyond. Its Website Includes Many Different Success Stories Just Like Chester’s. There Are All Kinds of Garden, Environmental And Even Animal Courses Available. And Like Chester, One Can Also Try One’s Local Adult Learning Centre.

Click The Link To Find Out More Capel Manor Success Stories

There You’ll Find The Success Stories Such As That of Former Capel Manor Student And Subsequent RHS Medal Winner Hamzah-Adam Desai of Tone And Manner Garden Design @t_and_m_gardendesign Who Won A Silver Award 2022 For His Debut RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival Entry ‘The Turfed Out Garden’. He Was Also There On The Day And Kindly Spoke To Us Too (Separate Interview).

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There’s Also Jennifer’s Greenhouse Success Story After Taking A Level 2 RHS Course

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And There’s The Wonderful Sounding Level 2 Golf-Green Keeping Course

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And There’s Also The Remarkable Success Story of Tolga Aktas Who Studied Level 2 Animal Care At Capel Manor (And Later A Level 3 Animal Management Course). He Is Now A Biologist, Environmentalist, Conservationist, Photo Journalist And Wildlife Ambassador.

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RHS HAMPTON COURT PALACE GARDEN FESTIVAL OR RHS CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW?

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@historicroyalpalaces A Little Residential History of William & Mary

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TO.P: And How Has This Hampton Court Flower Show Been For You 2022?

CA: I Love It. It’s The Third Time I’ve Been. It’s Different From Other Flower Shows. There’s A Lot More of The Retail Side of Things, Which Is Great Because You Can Actually Come Back With Something  And You Can Fill Your Boots, Everyone’s In A Good Mood, There’s A Really Nice Summery Vibe, There’s Music, There’s Entertainment. It’s Just A Really Good Place To Be.

TO.P: And How Would You Say It Compares To Chelsea?

CA: It’s Quieter. Chelsea’s Great And The Gardens Are Always Exquisite But You Can See A Lot More At Hampton Court. Sometimes Chelsea’s A Bit Too Busy For Me.

That Seemed To Be A Sentiment Echoed By A Number of Patrons And Professionals We Spoke To. So Fair Enough And Well Said Chester For His Open And Honest Opinion, Expertise And Professionalism. It’s Good To Have Choices. And It’s Good To Have Honesty. And It’s Good To Have Expert Insight.

But Be Under No Illusions. Whilst It May Be A Bit Quieter, Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival Is Still Very Busy, Still Cool & Buzzing And Still Very Beautiful And Quite Magical. And As Chester Says There’s Great Retail Opportunities For Some Serious Floral Retail Therapy.

One Such Example For Instance Is This Stunning Ultra Radiance Cream Packed Full of Honey And Rose Extracts From The Organic Skin Products Company ‘Therapi’. Two of The Company’s Executives Also Spoke To Us On The Day. A Couple of Truly Lovely Ladies Who Believe In  Natural Beauty (As Do We). It Is A Stunning Cream And Really Truly Miraculously Effective. Great For The Skin And Bringing A Sense of Well Being, Due In Part To The Natural, Organic And Plant Based Ingredients Therapi.Com

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It Was Our First Time At The Royal Hampton Court Garden Festival And We’re Looking Forward To Reporting on Chelsea Next Year For The First Time Too. Then We Can Compare Directly For Ourselves And Get Back To You!]

[Chester Says, Even If You’re Not Into Gardening And Don’t Know All The Plants, The Royal Hampton Court Garden Festival Is In And of Itself Just A Great Day Out. And We Can Vouch For That!]

We Do Love A Bit of Glamour Here At TheOrator.Press And If You Do Too, Then Treat Yourself And Get Yourself Down To The Next The Royal Hampton Court Garden Festival Whenever You Can. It’s A Great Day Out And You Never Know Who’s About!

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TheOrator.Press Editor (Michelle Rose) In The Award Winning Wooden Spoon Garden, With A Pot of Stunning Fairy Roses From Fryers Nursery Knutsford, Which Is Owned By Blue Diamond Garden Centres And Sold At Saunders Garden Centre, Somerset, From Their Seasonal & Hardy Plants Department. As Managed By RHS Alumni Chester Allen rhs.org.uk/education-learning

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