Seeds of top job planted at Oatridge
02 June 2011
A former Oatridge student of horticulture and landscaping has been appointed as the specialist plant buyer for the UK's biggest chain of garden centres.
Duncan McLean, who is 35 and originally from Glasgow, spent the best part of five years at the College in the early 1990s as both a part-time and a full-time student. He first arrived when he was an apprentice gardener at Torosay Castle on the island of Mull, which is famed for its displays of rare flowers, plants and trees.
He has joined the Garden Centre Group, which owns 119 gardens centres and has a stake in 15 others, right across England, and he will be responsible for sourcing new and exclusive varieties and ranges of plants for all 134 branches, as well as helping to develop the company and its new online business.
After picking up qualifications in horticulture, landscaping and landscape contract management at Oatridge, Duncan spent some time in the landscaping sector before switching to garden centres and working for a number of independents around Scotland.
He has also spent time with the Country Gardens group at Hereford and at Rake in Hampshire, managing the latter while acting as plant buyer for the group.
Duncan says he has very fond memories of his time at Oatridge and is grateful to the tutors who helped him along the way and he has wise words for present day students:
"Knuckle down and learn about plants and you won't have to spend the rest of your life cutting grass! With the right credentials and the right experience you can go on to do many things.
"Without qualifications any progress is very limited. With them you can be anything you want to be."
