Young Achiever
Twenty-two year old Tom Ferguson is the Nursery and Garden Industry New Zealand (NGINZ) Young Achiever of the year.
Tom Ferguson
“I believe that while I may have potential, the only way to develop it is to push myself into new experiences and learning opportunities.”
At the competition day held at Growing Spectrum nursery in Waikato, NGINZ spokesperson Frances Palmer said “Tom showed himself to be an exceptional candidate; very self-assured, knowledgeable and passionate”.
Tom has worked at Southern Woods nursery in Christchurch since he started weekend work as a high school student. His employer, Chris Smith says, “Tom’s passion for plants and horticulture is undisputed amongst his peers and work colleagues. He lives and breathes horticulture, something very rare in young people”.
Tom completed a Viticulture Degree from Lincoln University then chose to follow his passion into horticulture. “At Lincoln University I was able to develop a theoretical understanding of aspects of horticultural production, marketing and sales.” He also developed an understanding of environmental issues, plus practical skills in propagation, grafting, pruning, and pest and disease identification.
Tom says he’s fortunate to have managers who take an active interest in his personal development, and offer him a range of opportunities and experiences.
Chris says Tom is continually bringing new fresh ideas to the table. “He is also astute at spotting any slight differences in nursery plant material, and in the natural landscape, to see whether there is any future potential. He is one driven young man.”
As a high school student Tom won a number of awards at the Canterbury-Westland Regional Science Fair, including the top award for natural resource management.
As a young child he lived both in Japan and in New Zealand. He has early memories of gardening at his kindergarten in Tokyo. “I remember being proud of my first crop of Daikon radishes, taking them to the school cafeteria and having them cooked into miso soup.” As a ten year old he helped the gardener at the New Zealand Embassy in Tokyo (where he lived with his family) to germinate seeds of New Zealand native plants.
Home is now in Christchurch. “I particularly enjoy living near the Christchurch Botanical Gardens,” he says. Even in his spare time, Tom says he likes to watch gardening programmes on TV and read his plant books.
Landscape design is a key area of interest for Tom. He is currently helping his father design a Japanese garden at the family holiday home on the west coast of Japan. “Over time, I am very keen to take my garden design skills to the point where I can design a quality garden from scratch,” he says. “Long term, my dream is to start my own nursery.”
In the meantime, his next challenge will be representing the Nursery and Gardening Industry at the New Zealand Young Horticulturist of the Year competition in November. There, he will compete with this year’s Amenity Sector winner Karl Noldan (featured on page 15) and the ‘Young Achiever’ winners from four other NZ horticulture sectors.