A desire to move to Britain prompted Astrid Fries to pack in her job as an English teacher and leave her homeland of Germany.
鈥淚鈥檇 been in Britain a lot during summer holidays and have a love for the country,鈥� said Astrid who then decided a career change was also in order.
鈥淚 decided to try gardening but to be sure that this was what I wanted I spent almost two years as a volunteer working at privately owned and National Trust gardens across England and Scotland.
鈥淲hen I realised that this was what I wanted to do I studied for am HNC in horticulture at the Scottish Agricultural College before completing a one year placement at the Threave School of Practical Gardening in Dumfries and Galloway.鈥�
Astrid has now relocated to Aberdeenshire after being awarded a horticultural bursary studentship by the Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden - it is the second bursary the charity has funded.
鈥淚鈥檓 very excited to receive this bursary as I really wanted some experience in a botanic garden,鈥� added Astrid, who was brought up in Mannheim and taught at a school just outside Stuttgart.
鈥淢y brother trained as a gardener and I always used to help him when I was about 12 years old. When I was 16 I had to decide between becoming an organic farmer and studying music and English.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad I studied English otherwise I wouldn鈥檛 be here and Britain feels like home to me but I am delighted to be a gardener now.鈥�
Professor Ian Alexander, Regius Chair of Botany at the University, is Keeper of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden. He said: 鈥淲e are thrilled to have Astrid who was the best student of her year at the Scottish Agriculture College.
鈥淚t is also tremendous that the Friends of Cruickshank have made her post possible with their generous funding.鈥�
This year the Friends鈥� bursary was made possible by a generous grant of 拢5000 from the Finnis Scott Foundation .
Valerie Finnis (Lady Montagu Douglas Scott) VMH was renowned as a plantswoman and flower photographer, and gardened with her husband, Sir David Scott K.C.M.G., O.B.E., at Boughton House in Northamptonshire.
For more information of the Garden, including revised opening hours, visit