A visit to the hairdressers prompted Claire Phillips to take up an opportunity for an apprenticeship at the Dunedin Botanic Garden.
"I actually came down to get dreads [dreadlocks] in Dunedin and the lady that was giving me the dreads told me about this apprenticeship and I thought, ‘why not?"’
She is now almost two years into a three-year apprenticeship, uncovering the needs of the different plant collections at New Zealand’s first botanic garden.
With collections including alpine plants, deciduous and evergreen trees, the camellia collection, the winter garden tropical and sub-tropical plants, native plants and the herb garden, working at the Botanic Gardens provided a lot of variety.
"Every six months you rotate into a different collection."
"You get such an array of plants."
There was much to ignite interest and to learn throughout the collections.
"There is a curator for each collection and they look after you for the six months, so you go to them with questions, and they are your teacher."
Horticulture provided a very broad career choice, Miss Phillips said.
"I have many interests, I really like perennials and bulbs, deciduous plants."
Growing vegetables and the medicinal uses of plants was also something she was enjoying learning.
"I think my big interest lies and plants themselves, I like to understand how they work.
"It just gives you so much, you know, being outdoors and being in open space."
The future was still emerging for Miss Phillips, and she was undecided what she would do next when her apprenticeship ended.
An apprenticeship allowed her to learn and get paid at the same time, and she enjoyed working underneath really skilled people.
"They are usually really encouraging and like, want to see you grow."
