In this episode I speak with the former owner of InStyle Gardens, Jack Bath. Jack is currently a project manager at Landscape Solutions based on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. It was fascinating chatting to Jack and hearing about his transition from business owner to employee and going from residential to commercial, as well as hearing about the…

In this episode I speak with Chris Hose from Chartwell Nurseries, a wholesale nursery based just outside of Geelong in Bannockburn. I absolutely loved chatting with Chris, not only because he's a plant nerd, but also because he's one of the nicest people in the industry. He's got a great story about his early life in the industry where he was worki…

In this episode I answer some questions asked via Instagram. Normal interviews will resume next week. If you're wanting to sign up to be on the mailing list for The Landscaping School, you can find the link here. You can follow along with the projects we're currently working on via our Instagram page @instyle_gardens @thelandscapingpodcast You can …

In this episode I speak with Hayden from Vereya Gardening, a garden maintenance business mased in the Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne. Hayden has a great story about one of his first projects, working for someone who decided to post an ad for a gardener at the music college Hayden was studying at. He recently went to various gardens overseas for 7 we…

In this episode I speak with Mia Bueskens from Terravita Horticulture, a garden maintenance and installation company based in Melbourne and around Daylesford, where Mia grew up. She had a great start to the industry with multiple family members part of the industry, and she talks about how influential some workmates and employers were during her de…

In this episode I speak with Gareth Wilson from GK Wilson. Gareth is a highly decorated and respected landscaper in the UK and has built at least 30 show gardens, including multiple ones at Chelsea, and has won 11 gold medals as well as best in shows, best in category and best construction. Gareth is also an author, consultant, lecturer and awards …

In this episode I speak with Ashley O'Sullivan from InDepth Landscape Construction, a company based in Canberra. Ash is the operations manager there and has been for 3 months. Prior to moving to InDepth, Ashley originally worked for his father's business for 10 years and then worked in commercial landscaping for 8-9 years, so we talk about the pros…

In this episode I speak with Suzannah Kennett Lister from SKL Gardens, a landscape design business based in Melbourne. Suzannah originally started her working life in the Theatre space before studying landscape design when COVID closed down the arts world. Her mother is a successful landscape designer in South Australia, so Suzannah grew up around …

In this episode I speak with Sean Dowling from Bayon Gardens, a design and construction company based on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne. Sean has not only a unique story about the path he took to start in the industry at 27, but also about how he came up with the name Bayon Gardens. He also shares the different way he started the business, w…

In this episode I speak with Chloe Foster from Foster Your Garden. Chloe is a horticulturist, writer, educator, designer and host of the 3CR Garden Show. She started in the industry straight out of school, working at PGA nurseries while studying, and talks about the benefits she's experienced from being involved with volunteer work within the indus…

In this episode, the 200th of The Landscaping Podcast, I speak with the first guest and inspiration behind starting the podcast 3+ years ago, Grahame Rowe from Better Homes and Gardens. Grahame talks about the amount of thought and work that goes into a segment on BHG Tv, which blows me away to think about, and he also talks about the 2 year break …

In this episode I speak with Zac Connell from Evergreen Gardens and Landscape Solutions, a landscape construction company based in Benalla in regional Victoria. Zac had a great start in the industry, starting at a nursery before starting his own business doing garden maintenance and then moving more towards construction and dabbling in design. We t…

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 Sh…

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…

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, …

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 o…

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 travellin…

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 solel…

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…

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 …

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…

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…

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 In…

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…

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 Ca…

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 selectio…

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 w…

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…

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 peopl…

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 work…

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 cha…

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 goo…

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 Y…

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. …

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 …

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" whe…

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 D…

In this episode, the final for 2023, I speak with Lucy Willcox from Lucy Willcox Garden Design. Lucy is a solo landscape designer based in London and has won several design awards in her time in the industry. Lucy didn't start out in the industry but realised she had a passion for it, so jumped in and that passion has only increased since! I first …

In this episode I speak with Scott Latham from Latham Landscapes, a landscape construction company based in Geelong. Scott has only been running the business for a couple of years, but worked for some high quality companies prior to that, so we discuss that experience, as well as the pros and cons of having equipment, such as an Excavator called Be…

In this episode, I read out a collection of "Crazy client stories" that listeners sent in. There's a story about a cigarette smoking client, a client who baked Olive bread, an alcoholic client, and that's all in the one story! You can follow along with the projects we're currently working on via our Instagram page @instyle_gardens @thelandscapingpo…

In this episode I speak with Ben Scott from Ben Scott Garden Design, a Landscape design company based in Melbourne. Ben is one of my favourite designers and has a pretty cool story about how he started in the industry, working for Julian McCarthy Landscapes and working on Paul Bangay's garden at Woodend, before eventually working for Paul in design…

This episode, the final of the Instagram Live episodes, which is a recording of an Instagram Live I did on November 26, 2023, is part of our mid week release which are recorded Live on Instagram every Sunday at 8.30 EST and released as a podcast on Thursdays. In this episode I also answered questions such as: How have you gone re-homing your MIFGS …

In this episode I speak with Andy Watkins from Leaf By Leaf, a garden maintenance company based in Melbourne. Andy runs a team of four and started out studying visual arts, and still uses the same design principals he learnt, today. Andy has a great outlook on his business, treating his clients more like a friend than just another paying client. To…

This episode, which is a recording of an Instagram Live I did on November 19, 2023, is part of our mid week release which are recorded Live on Instagram every Sunday at 8.30 EST and released as a podcast on Thursdays. In this episode I also answered questions such as: What are your 3 favourite podcasts related to the landscaping industry? As a cons…

In this episode I speak with Steph Walton from Studio Es Design and Co, a landscape design company based in Adelaide. I was keen to get Steph on to talk to her about the way she's advertising her business, even though she's only been operating 12 months. She talks about the use of 3D designs to not only show her clients the potential of her design,…

This episode, which is a recording of an Instagram Live I did on November 12, 2023, is part of our mid week release which are recorded Live on Instagram every Sunday at 8.30 EST and released as a podcast on Thursdays. In this episode I also answered questions such as: What are your business values and why? Do 3D renders create an unachievable expec…

In this episode I speak with Bryce Hillig from Local Green Bean, a garden maintenance company based in New South Wales. Bryce is also studying Landscape Design, and recently had to defer his studies after he was awarded an internship to work in France at Monet's Garden, where he worked for 8 weeks, so we talk plenty about that expereince. Bryce is …

This episode, which is a recording of an Instagram Live I did on November 5, 2023, is part of our mid week release which are recorded Live on Instagram every Sunday at 8.30 EST and released as a podcast on Thursdays. In this episode I also answered questions such as: What advice would you give to yourself when you were starting out? How's your fron…

In this episode I speak with Grant Boyle from Fig Landscapes, a landscape design, construction and maintenance company based in Byron Bay. Grant shares his story about how, prior to starting Fig landscapes, he worked as a bricklayer and also had a partnership with another landscaping business. He talks about the benefits of building from the ground…

This episode, which is a recording of an Instagram Live I did on October 29, 2023, is part of our mid week release which are recorded Live on Instagram every Sunday at 8.30 EST and released as a podcast on Thursdays. In this episode I also answered questions such as: As a Landscaping Victoria judge, do you feel you learnt anything that will benefit…