Brisbane’s BEN FRENCH wins 2024 Australian Horticulturist of the Year!
Passionate horticulturist Ben French (MAIH RH), Director of Brisbane-based Landscaping and Horticultural Care Company Yards Pty. Ltd. Has been named ‘Horticulturist of the Year 2024’ at the Australian Institute of Horticulture (AIH) Awards held at The Link, on Gumbaynggirr Country, in Coffs Harbour.
Hosted by superstar gardener Costa Georgiadis of Gardening Australia, award attendees included Clarence Slockee of Gardening Australia, Graham Ross AM of Better Homes and Gardens, who was awarded an AIH Fellowship, as well as Queensland Horticultural identities including Paul Plant and Arno King.
It was Ben’s admiration for the pride his grandparents Beryl & Dennis put into their own gardens when he was growing up, that drove him, and he started his career working in a landscape yard after school, shovelling bags for 30 cents a piece. Ben attended Ryde TAFE - which is highly acclaimed for its’ Horticultural School’, of which Graham Ross AM FAIH was a teacher from 1970, until 1980. Ben’s first boss was taught by Graham Ross. He founded Yards in 2005 in Brisbane.
Ben was given the country’s most prestigious horticultural award for his significant contribution to the horticulture industry in Queensland, as well as his involvement to build acclaimed Irish Designer Peter Donegan’s award-winning Show Garden at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show earlier this year in March.
With a career spanning over 26 years in landscape design, construction, and maintenance, Ben has demonstrated unwavering dedication to the horticulture industry. Since founding Yards Pty. Ltd. in Brisbane in 2005, he has mentored many young horticulturists, helping to shape the next generation of industry leaders. In addition to receiving this prestigious award, Ben was a guest speaker at the AIH conference on Friday. He shared insights on his and the Yards’ Team’s experience working to build Irish Garden Designer Peter Donegan’s award-winning show garden ‘A Moment in Time’ for the 2024 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS), which was in support of the Defence Force Welfare Association.
Yards is preparing to celebrate its 20th anniversary next year (2025), marking two decades of excellence under Ben’s leadership. Yards has 15 staff, including a school based trainee and we also offer work experience students a taste of the industry each year, we are keen to see and promote more people in Horticulture. The business takes pride in having a workforce where approximately 50% of the full-time staff are women. Yards also proudly supports TAFE Queensland, sponsoring the Horticulturist Graduate of the Year Award. In late August 2024 Ben had the privilege of being guest speaker at the TAFE Queensland Graduation Ceremony and presented the inaugural ’Yards Horticultural Graduate of the Year’ award. Ben also discussed the evolving future of garden maintenance, a field in which he and Yards have become recognised leaders in.
- Yards is a proud member of: Australian Institute of Horticulture; Australian Sports Turf Managers Association; Landscape Designers Institute; and Landscape Queensland.
- Website: yards.com.au.
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yardslandscapes/
More about Peter Donegan’s MIFGS Show Garden that Ben and his team worked on: ‘A Moment In Time’
“The design aims to show what is when there is no head stone to one who has not fallen and, though a body is not lost, there remains a mind that can never be the same as it was prior” - Peter Donegan
Ben French took a team of three Yards’ members with him down to work alongside industry luminary Martin Semken and his team to construct Peter Donegan’s 2024 Design.
Why did Ben take a team to Melbourne? “I really value professional development, and in Brisbane we don't have anything on this level. We have participated in open gardens such as the Brisbane Hidden Design Festival back in 2016, I wanted my team to see firsthand the behind the scenes workings on Australia's best show gardens. And to experience what I felt those years ago, where we had 400 people come through our garden, embracing the interaction with garden lovers, seeing their excitement and answering their questions about the design, installation and plant species. It brings immense pride showcasing your garden and creations to people, particularly those who are paying to see it. Therefore Melbourne with it recognised internationally and over 100,000 visitors, we thought why not? Or as Peter puts it, “if you’re invited to go to the moon on a rocket ship, you don’t ask which seat, you just get on and go for it.”
The moving story behind Peter’s Design tells of the story of an Air Force Veteran who returns to a place he hoped to recall home, to highlight the struggles some may face when returning to civilian life, post service in our armed forces. The garden features a fragmented path winding to an aged, grass roof wood cabin and a Piper PA-28 Cherokee aircraft, the project that once was a wished for return to flight project, of a then younger man, not complete in its repair or trajectory stalled by tree growth over time, stimulated only by the turbulence of what comes with the witness of conflict. The garden was built in support and raise awareness of the Defence Force Welfare Association (DFWA), whose purpose is to promote and protect the interests of serving and former members of the Australian Defence Force and their families, and was another reason why we jumped behind to support this initiative.
*Gardening Australia Segment with Peter Donegan on his MIFGS Show Garden: LINK HERE
*Video of the Yards’ Team working on Peter Donegan’s: ‘A Moment in Time’: LINK HERE
Yards’ Industry Awards
Yards, led by Ben, has earned numerous Industry accolades over the years, including:
2024: Finalist in three categories (Maintenance, Construction - Residential 1 and Design and Construct 1, Wynnum Residence . Winners to be announced on 9th of November 2024 at the Landscape Queensland Construction Excellence Awards at City Hall.
2023:
Winner for Residential Maintenance (Chandler Residence)
- Landscape Queensland Construction Excellence Awards
2022:
Winner for Contractor Design & Construct 1 Excellence (Coorparoo Residence);
Winner Residential 3 Construction Excellence (Coorparoo Residence)
Winner Residential Maintenance (Coorparoo Residence)
- Landscape Queensland Construction Excellence Awards
2021/2022:
Crowned the overall Australian Residential Landscaper of the Year for the stunning Hawthorne Project.
2021/2022:
Winner Australian Husqvarna Champion of Champions for Residential Construction up to $70K (Hawthorne Project).
2021:
Winner Contractor Design & Construct 1 Excellence (Hawthorne Residence);
Winner Residential 2 Construction Excellence (Hawthorne Residence)
Winner Residential Maintenance (Norman Park Residence)
- Landscape Queensland Construction Excellence Awards
2020:
Winner Residential Maintenance (Wynnum Residence)
- Landscape Queensland Construction Excellence Awards
2019:
Winner Contractor Design & Construct 1 (Norman Park);
Highly Commended - Residential 1 Construct (Norman Park);
Winner Residential Maintenance (Camp Hill Residence)
- Landscape Queensland Construction Excellence Awards
2018:
Winner Residential 3 Construct (Wynnum);
Winner Commercial Maintenance (Murrarie)
- Landscape Queensland Construction Excellence Awards
2017:
Highly Commended - Residential Construction (Cleveland)
- Landscape Queensland Construction Excellence Awards
2016:
Featured Garden (Bulimba) Hidden Design Festival (one of six gardens featured, below).
- Australian Institute of Designers and Managers (now LDI).
Contact details:
kath rose 0416 291 493
