The Landscaping Podcast

In this episode I speak with Ash Walker from Ash Walker Gardening. Ash is a horticulturist, plantsman, designer, writer and traveller and we talk plenty about his amazing travels in this episode. Ash was a recipient of the Global Footprints Garden Scholarship which allowed him to travel to England and France in 2022 working at the Chelsea Flower Show for Kate Gould as well as at Monet's Garde...

In this episode I speak with Cass Hooke from Outback Gardens. Cass is a garden consultant and writer, writing for Graziher magazine. Cass started out in the industry while she was at school working for Robert Boyle before studying in Botany, working in veggie production nurseries and working in conservation for threatened species. Cass is holding a garden event at her property in October 2024 with...

In this episode I speak with Luke Smith from The Australian Lawn and Garden Podcast about an exciting trip he's about to take where he's travelling around parts of Australia hosting events and live podcasts in various cities. Luke was a guest on episode 144 talking about how he started in the industry, but this episode is more focused on his trip, while also including some business tips...

In this episode I speak with Patrick Handley from Waterscapes Australia. Patrick also started Aquascapes Australia, where he began importing the Aquascape Inc products from the US to use on his projects and sell to others, after he first used them while working in Canada. Patrick is the first person to win the Aquascape Artist of the Year outside of North America and also travelled over to the US...

In this episode I speak with Ross Uebergang from Ross Uebergang Landscape. Ross is a designer and educator and is a joy to chat to! His episode is the perfect blend of education and entertainment I'm always looking for, and there are a couple of moments where he clicks into teacher mode, in between telling some amazing stories of his time travelling the world. Ross has a great message in the...

In this episode I speak with Ben French from Yards Landscapes, a landscape design, construction and maintenance business based in Brisbane. Ben started early in the industry, working at a landscape supply yard while still at school, and then trialled different roles within landscaping to work out which ones he liked best. Yards was originally solely design and construction, but maintenance gradual...

In this episode I speak with fellow podcast Garry Ashton from Aussie Lawnstars. Aside from his podcast which has been running for about 2.5 years, Garry also has a lawn and maintenance business based in Newcastle. In the episode we discuss both business advice as well as some life advice along the way, talking about how Garry learnt the hard way as to what he should be charging for an employee. An...

In this episode I speak with Daniel Fuller from the Plants Grow Here Podcast. Daniel is more than 200 episodes into his podcast and it is a wealth of knowledge for the horticulture world. He has some extremely interesting and knowledgeable guests on, and is also very knowledgeable himself, so it makes for some fascinating conversations, from which I've learnt a lot! Daniel talks about how gre...

In this episode I speak with Dougie Elliot from Rock Solid Stone and Landscaping and also Rock Solid Health. Rock Solid Stone and Landscaping is his stonemasonry and landscaping business, while Rock Solid Health is where he's a holistic health coach. Dougie started out in Castlemaine working for the local council in the botanic gardens, among other areas before working for his dad for 4 years...

In this episode I've done another Q and A episode via questions asked on Instagram, purely because I wasn't organised to have a guest for this week! I answer questions such as: When is The Landscaping Course going to be released? Do you have a clause in your quotes for under ground rock, extra fill etc. Would you buy a mini excavator or mini loader first? What's your current take on...

In this episode I speak with Tammy Huynh from Leaf An Impression. Tammy is a Horticulturist, Writer and also a presenter on Gardening Australia. She started studying Horticultural Science at Sydney Uni before getting a role working on the Better Homes and Gardens Magazine team. She was awarded Horticulturist of the year in 2021 by the Australian Institute of Horticulture, and also appeared on an e...

In this episode I speak with Rob Waddell from Waddell Design, a landscape design and construction company based in Melbourne, Geelong and Byron Bay. This episode also sees the reintroduction of the old intro music for one episode only, as specially requested by Rob! Rob speaks about the reasons and challenges behind opening up separate arms of this business in different towns. He's also desig...

In this episode I speak with Brent Phipps from Byron Bay Ranga, a landscape design, construction and maintenance business located in Byron Bay. It's an extremely enjoyable chat with Brent, with a great combination of education (Brent has been in business 11 years) and entertainment. Brent had a great starting point in the industry, work for Mike Cass Creative prior to moving to Byron Bay, and...

In this episode I speak with Andrew Fisher Tomlin from The London College Of Garden Design. Andrew was a co-founder of the College and is an extremely enjoyable person to talk to! He wasn't sure what he wanted to do when he started in the industry, so tried everything, from horticulture, to design, to construction. Andrew was the chair for selection of gardens to the Chelsea Fower Show and al...

In this special edition episode, I speak with 26 different people involved in the 2024 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. There's designers, builders, students and an organiser. The chats were held on the Saturday during construction before the show opens on Wednesday the 20th of March 0:00 Intro 0:52 Grahame Rowe - Challenger Garden with Charlie Albone 4:19 Suzannah Kennett List...

In this episode I speak with Peter Donegan about the story behind his upcoming Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show design. It's supported by the Defence Force Welfare Association and I loved the story behind it so wanted as many people to hear it as possible. Doing this episode made me realise it'd be great to hear from as many people as possible from the garden show about the...

In this episode I speak with Chris England from Merrywood Plants. Merrywood plants is a nursery specialising in espaliered plants and after espaliering was a hobby for Chris for 5-10 years, he then started Merrywood 25 years ago. Chris mentions how, at two of his early nursery employers, he was taught the importance of knowing how to speak to people, and the importance of good people. We also talk...

In this episode I speak with Keith Edwards of Keith Edwards Landscape Consultant. Keith has been in the industry more than 40 years so is a wealth of knowledge, and has a passion for the industry to match. He has a great path to begin in the industry, where he learnt design, but then wanted to understand how a design would all fit together, so worked in grounds maintenance, turf research, landscap...

In this episode I speak with Simon Rosa from Simon Rosa Landscaping, a landscape design, construction and maintenance business based in Bendigo. Simon has been running the business for around 20 years so has plenty of experience, starting out as a two man show to now having around 15 employees and working on the best gardens in Bendigo. In this chat Simon talks about his positive experience during...

In this episode I speak with Chloe Thomson from Bean There Dug That and also Sprout School. Chloe is an educator with her course teaching all things gardening with Sprout School, but she also wears many other hats in the horticulture industry from being an MC/speaker, to presenter/producer among other roles. She has a great story about building good relationships with employers even when leaving....

In this episode I speak with Nick Bransgrove from Lawns In Good Nick. Nick started his social media account a couple of years ago after renovating his home lawn and realising how much he enjoyed it, and wanted to provide tips to other folks on how they could do the same. He's since built the instagram page to 100k followers and recently started a YouTube and TikTok account as well. He's...

In this episode I speak with Bec Bennett. Bec is another lucky person who knew what industry she wanted to work in from an early age, taking trips to the local nursery before starting work there as soon as she was able to. She went on to start her own business and talks about the challenges of knowing your worth when charging for landscape design. Bec is the president of Encouraging Women In Horti...

In this episode I speak with Matt Ferguson from Ferguson Landscape and Design, a landscape construction company based in Melbourne. Matt has only been in business a short time, having started the business in January 2020, but he's doing a lot of things right early.  He employed a business coach in the first few months and we talk about the benefits this has brought. Matt also talks about how...

In this episode I speak with Stacey Swetnam from Legacy Gardens, a landscape construction company based in Sydney. Stacey currently works at Harrison's Landscaping where she began and completed her apprenticeship and will commit fulltime to Legacy Gardens in the coming years. I first became aware of Stacey through her podcast "Tradie Lady Talk" where she spoke with women in the cons...

In this episode I speak with Michael McCoy from Michael McCoy Gardens. Michael is a garden design, writer and was the host of the TV show Dream Gardens. Michael is an extremely enjoyable person to talk to and he's got some amazing stories about how he ended up spending 4.5 months at Great Dixter, as well as the story about how he ended up hosting Dream Gardens. Michael also talks about the im...