National Garden Scheme doubles apprenticeship funding for the National Botanic Garden of Wales
PRESS RELEASE
11 February, 2026
This week – Apprentice Week Wales – the National Garden Scheme has announced additional funding for a second apprenticeship in Botanical Horticulture at the National Botanic Garden of Wales.
Commenting, Chief Executive of the National Garden Scheme, Dr Richard Claxton said: “We are delighted to be able to support a second apprentice at the National Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW) this year, plugging a funding shortfall and continuing our support of horticultural apprenticeships who are vital to the success of many of the world’s great gardens.”
Head of Horticulture, Learning and Nature at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, Don Murray, adds: “The apprenticeship programme has been developed to address a critical skills gap in horticulture, while also widening access to the profession and supporting the National Garden Scheme’s long-standing commitment to education, stewardship, and the future of gardens. The additional funding from the National Garden Scheme means that we can now support a second apprentice this year, allowing us to scale the programme responsibly, creating peer learning, resilience, and continuity within the horticultural team.”
Current apprentice, Kate Cobley (pictured) says: “The apprenticeship at the garden has breathed life into a new passion for me and I feel genuinely joyful at the thought of going to work every morning. It has given me all the skills and contacts I need to build a career in the industry, and I love that I go home each day having learned something new.”
The additional funding means that since 2016 the National Garden Scheme will have funded eleven apprenticeships in Botanical Horticulture at the NBGW.
Funding is generated from admission fees at over 3,200 gardens that open for the National Garden Scheme each year. In 2026, 307 gardens will open in Wales, you can find them all here Wales – National Garden Scheme
You can also read about Zoe Phelan’s apprenticeship with NBGW here:
It’s the best thing I’ve ever done … – National Garden Scheme
The National Botanic Garden of Wales, in Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire, opened in May 2000, and is dedicated to the research and conservation of biodiversity, to sustainability,
lifelong learning and the enjoyment of the visitor.
