Last year, Nova Natives nursery manager Jake Linklater was named Young Horticulturist of the Year after an intense two-day competition. The Christchurch father-of-two is also studying a BSc in ecology part-time and has a budding gardener in his eldest girl, Ivy, five. We suspect his seven-month-old daughter Violet won’t fall far from the tree, either.
Read our Q&A with Jake below.
What is a plant producer?
They are the very fabric of horticulture. It is getting a plant ready to go to where it will spend its life – from seed collection, propagating, grafting, crop care, irrigation, pest control and treatment, and maintenance through to the point of sale. Every large orchard, every restoration project, every green landscape starts with the plant producer.
How did you get involved in plant production?
I left school in Year 13 without a career goal and got a job in an aluminium factory. Looking back, it gave me a good work ethic and a sense of what a good workplace should look like. I always wanted a job outside, so that’s when I looked at arboriculture and transitioned into landscaping. Every time I visited a nursery, I thought it would be such a cool job, growing plants and getting them up to that stage of selling. There are not many new New Zealand native plant breeders coming through, so I’d like to dabble in that and see where I can take it. I’d love to own my own nursery one day. Even on the wettest days, I still love being out in nature.
What did winning the award mean to you?
I entered the Young Plant Producer of the Year to grow my skills, rather than for recognition. I won that and automatically qualified to take part in the two-day competition in the Young Horticulturist of the Year Awards. I still can’t believe I won, let alone plan what I want to do with the scholarships and travel funding that came with the title. I will use some of my prize money to do more study at Lincoln University.
I am a committee member of the New Zealand region of the International Plant Producer Society, so I would like to go to the international conference in North America this year, or Australia next year. The award also provides additional education, which is exciting.
What are some little-known facts about your job?
No two days are the same – and that is dictated mainly by the weather. We have about 60 different native species and cultivars across one hectare in nursery space. We grow for other nurseries, landscapers, the public – and the majority is contract growing. Nova Trust is a not-for-profit social enterprise that works with people overcoming drug and alcohol addictions, so I get to work with a range of people and see them grow.
What native plants do you grow at home and recommend?
I have been transforming our English-style plantings to all natives and a few different cultivars. I love hebes, they don’t take up too much space and respond well to trimming. Our back garden now has fruit trees: peaches, apples and nectarines. I am a real believer in mulching and feeding the plants – for weed suppression and water retention. Five natives I recommend are: Chionochloa flavicans (miniature toetoe) is an attractive grass; Coprosma lobster brings vibrant colour to a garden; Muehlenbeckia astonii forms an excellent hedge or topiary ball; Leptinella Platts Black for groundcover; Arthropodium cirratum (rengarenga lily) flowers in abundance and is a good groundcover.
Learn more about the Young Horticulturist of the Year awards at younghort.co.nz.
Read more:
- Gardening for all budgets
- A guide to making the most of your planter boxes
- Gardening gifts for the green-thumbed
