At Clifton Homestead Nursery in south Otago, famed for its range of stunning hellebores, Ken Telford is the fifth generation of Telfords to live and farm here.
He went to Otago University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in microbiology. These days, he specializes in keeping the pollinating bugs out of their plant breeding facility, but more of that later. Just now, Ken and Kate are still living on the farm in the homestead with their daughter Bryony, her partner James, and their baby Tobias, aged two and a half.
Bryony and James are poised to take over the nursery from her parents. Bryony has a PhD in genetics and James has a master's degree in biochemistry; both from Otago University. They had been living and working in Utrecht in the Netherlands for seven years. (Coming back to live at the end of a long dirt road is a culture shock for them.)
Kate, like her husband, also grew up on a farm, with her siblings and parents. Kate holds a geography degree from the University of Otago and has inherited her passion for plants from both her parents. Her father, Keith Stuart, had qualified as a horticulturist at the Dunedin Botanic Garden before becoming a farmer on his family farm.
Read more on Waikato Times.