This scholarship, offered by Scottish Heritage USA, provides one American college student with a year-long gardening experience at Threave School of Horticulture in Castle Douglas, Scotland. Learning and working alongside Scottish students, the program comprises demonstrations, informal lectures, and most importantly, hands-on work experience in such areas as glass house cultivation, propagation, pest management, turf management, pruning, fruit and vegetable cultivation, plant identification, garden design and general cultivation of the wide range of herbaceous and woody ornamentals that are grown at Threave.

The gardens cover approximately 65 acres of generally rolling terrain in rural southwestern Scotland. The National Trust for Scotland which owns and manages the school, gardens and surrounding estate lands developed the property as a teaching garden. For that reason, many different garden types have been incorporated into the overall scheme and a correspondingly diverse collection of plants from around the world are cultivated. Students are responsible for all aspects of maintenance, working with and learning from the professional garden staff.

The successful applicant will be a graduate of a two-year college horticulture program or have completed at least two years of a four year program in horticulture or a closely related field by the time the program begins in late July/early August. The recipient will also express a strong commitment to horticulture as a career, and will express a real desire to live, work, learn and experience life in rural Scotland.

This scholarship provides the recipient with airfare to and from Scotland, as well as a monthly stipend. Students live in self-contained apartments in Threave House, (formerly the estate house), located on the grounds.

For more information about this award, please visit:

http://www.scottishheritageusa.org