I spent a lot of time in the garden when I was a child. My maternal grandmother lived with us and she was always tending to her vegetable patch. My brother, sister and I always did our best to help, but I’m sure we were more of a hindrance! My love of gardening grew from there, but I had no idea it would lead me down this garden path – I didn’t even know you could have a career in horticulture!

I studied a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture, which, surprisingly, led to a role in magazine publishing. From there, I decided to expand my knowledge and skill set and obtained a Diploma of Landscape Design.

What I love most about my work is sharing the joy of gardening with people. Horticulture is so multifaceted – that’s what keeps it interesting! At the moment, I mostly write horticulture or gardening features (including for H&G), but I also design and consult on indoor plant spaces and host planting workshops through my business, Leaf an Impression. I love that there are so many avenues to engage with people.

The owner of Leaf an Impression, a business I started in 2019 to share my love and joy of gardening and horticulture with you all.

Through workshops, writing for blogs and magazines, consults, activations, plant styling and presenting on ABC TV’s Gardening Australia (super lucky to be a part of this!), I hope to educate, inspire and impart a little bit of greenery into everyone’s lives; to leaf an impression.

I’ve spent the last 12 years in the horticultural industry—I was recently awarded the Australian Institute of Horticulture’s ‘Horticulturist of the Year 2021 Award’—but I’ve been gardening for most of my life. It started with my ‘po po’ (maternal grandmother), who was always in the garden, cultivating the soil, harvesting goodies, saving seed, and constantly chasing the chooks out of the veggie patch!

I love growing my own food, collecting indoor plants, tending to my worm farm, and trying different recipes from Recipe Tin—Nagi’s crunchy roast potatoes are a game changer!