The Ruth Borun Scholarship
The Ruth Borun Scholar spends a year working in the garden at Great Dixter, is paid minimum wage, and is offered subsidised accommodation on site.
The scholarship is aimed at improving the skills within UK horticulture and is open to UK citizens or anyone who is eligible to work in the UK.
Our next round of applications will open in March 2024 to commence in September 2024. Please email [email protected] for further information.
This Scholarship is generously funded by The Anna and Harry Borun Foundation in memory of Ruth Borun.
Ruth Borun was a friend of Christopher Lloyd. He visited her garden in Los Angeles back in the 70s and wrote about it in his book Other People’s Gardens. Mrs Borun died in May 2018 and her husband Dr Raymond Borun came from Los Angeles to Great Dixter later that year, aged 100 years old.
With daughter Amy, he retraced the steps his wife had so often taken on the visits she made to Great Dixter over the years. Amy remembers her as, “a hands-on gardener who enjoyed living and working in her vibrant garden every day”. The scholarship is to honor Ruth Borun for her love of the Great Dixter and to support education.
Our Ruth Borun Scholar for 2024-25 is Hannah Phillips.
Hannah (pictured left) joins us from Vermont where she has spent the last 5 years working with an old friend of Dixter, Helen O’Donnell, in her nursery- which grows a wide range of garden worthy plants, and gardening company. Her work in gardens included helping people develop mixed borders, bringing in succession planting and use of wild native plants.
Hannah was inspired to apply for the scholarship after hearing Fergus talk in Vermont, and is excited to learn more about how wild plants are used in the garden to add to the display and support and encourage wildlife.
She is writing a diary while she is with us- excerpts of which which will be posted below.
Previous Ruth Borun Scholars include Naciim Benkreira, Luke Senior, Colin Stewart, and Quentin Wallon.
It is very important to us that we preserve the international nature of our horticultural community here. If you live outside the UK and would like to volunteer in the garden, please visit our placement page to find out about further opportunities, or for any enquiries relating to this Scholarship, please email [email protected].
