My name is Chris Whitelock and I am a freelance horticulturist.

I have worked in horticulture than longer than I can remember, working on the family nursery as a schoolboy, doing an apprenticeship with a famous nursery before doing my degree in horticulture at Reading University.

After my degree I worked as a manager for an import nursery later becoming a director of the company before taking a similar appointment. I then set up a small landscaping business. My first teaching appointment was as a part time horticulture tutor at a Youth Custody Centre where I can honestly say that I had a captive audience! My interest in tutoring lead me to take up a full time teaching appointment at a local land based college.

I left my last college in 2000 and set up a horticultural training company with a colleague in which we provided product knowledge and management training for the staff of two major horticultural retailers. Since working for myself, I have worked as a tutor for the Royal Horticultural Society tutoring trainees from their school of horticulture at Wisley as well as their prestigious degree level Master of Horticulture Award. I am also the RHS Independent Moderator for their practical awards.

I am very proud of my association with the Royal Horticultural Society and its commitment to providing the horticultural industry with challenging and worthwhile qualifications. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

My other jobs include tutoring the Diploma students at Kew Gardens, training horticulturists on behalf of the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) and being a standards inspector for the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL).

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