The forty-year-old attended the NSW Training Awards in Tamworth on Friday night and said the announcement still hasn’t sunk in.

“It was crazy,” Mr Law said.

“I was quite overwhelmed to be rewarded in something I love and something I love learning; it’s quite surreal. 

“I certainly wasn't going there with high expectations.”

Mr Law was nominated by Mackellar Care Services where he has been a full-time trainee for a year. He has completed a certificate three in horticulture through Australian Training and Consulting, which he has found “quite enjoyable”.

“I do everything from yard maintenance to irrigation [at Mackellar Care]. It’s a broad brush,” he said.

“I’ve been lucky – I’ve been involved in a couple of big projects –  the put-put, the memorial garden at Alkira [and a vegetable garden at Apex Road].

“I want to pursue a certificate four in horticulture. Certificate four comes down to a bit more of a management role and goes into a more extensive identification of plants and maintenance.”

Until 2017, Mr Law worked in the pest control industry, and made the change to horticulture because of his great love for the whole process, “from the basics to the irrigation to the landscaping to the propagation”.

“I did because [horticulture’s] been a great passion of mine,” he said.

“We’ve got three acres out at home with quite extensive gardening. The more I do it, the more I’ve wanted to do.”

“In my spare time, I’m gardening, I’m reading about gardening and I’m watching shows about gardening.”

Mr Law said he was thankful to Mackellar Care for giving him both a job and the opportunity to do training.

Support services manager Todd Southorne said for someone who had no previous work experience in horticulture, Mr Law’s knowledge of plants was extensive.

“He knew the botanical names of every plant before he started doing the training,” Mr Southorne said.

“He absolutely blitzed the first stage of his course because he already had all the knowledge through just being self-taught.”

Mr Law’s trainer Sean Handsaker said he has a bright future in horticulture.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, and he’s one of those stand-out trainees in his passion for horticulture and also land management too,” Mr Handsaker said.

“He’s got good knowledge on a broad range of skills. He’s honest, he’s a very down-to-earth bloke… He’s very willing to learn and he’s not shy about asking questions. And I like that in a trainee.”

“I was very happy for him on Friday night.”

Mr Law said he’s not sure where horticultural will take him, but he now has his “foot in the door”.

“I’d love to go on to bigger and better things,” he said.

Mr Law is now eligible to compete at the NSW Training Awards finals in September.

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