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’