The Landscaping Podcast

In this episode I speak with Dylan Barker from Jade Built, a landscape construction company based in Brisbane, and unfortunately we had some technical difficulties with the Zoom camera, and it's on me the whole time. So not great if you're watching on YouTube, but the audio is 100% fine for podcast listeners.

Dylan runs a 10 person team and has worked in residential and commercial, and worked for not only last weeks guest, Paul Pritchard, but also for another past guest from a month ago, Scott Wynd at TLC.

Dylan...

In this episode I speak again with Paul Pritchard from Paul Pritchard Landscape Design.

We catch up on what his experience was like winning a gold medal and best construction at this years MIFGS.

He also talks about some of the phenomenal gardens he saw in France and his thoughts on the Chelsea Flower Show.

We also talk about my upcoming garden show build next year.

You can follow Paul on Instagram @paulpritchardlandscapedesign and you can listen to his...

In this episode I speak with Rob Mihailescu from The Cutting Hedge Landscaping. Rob is a qualified horticulturist and landscape designer, and got into the industry after working as a fine dining chef.

I met Rob at a Landscaping Victoria night and after a brief chat with him, knew immediately that he'd be a great guest to have on the podcast, and he shares plenty of tips and advice in this episode.

He's also got a phenomenal garden at his own house, so we talk plenty about that and...

In this episode I speak with Suzanne Lefroy from Lefroy Landscape Design, a one person landscape design business based in Perth.

Suzanne has a great story about how she started in the industry, studying at Tafe.

She also has some great reasoning about why she's running the business the way she is, including the types of projects she works on.

Suzanne has a unique looking Instagram profile where she's using Grid Posts, so it's well worth checking it out @lefroylandscapedesign

If...

In this episode I speak with Scott Wynd from TLC Pools.

Scott is someone I've looked up to in the industry for as long as I've been aware of him, with his show garden at MIFGS in 2011 being one of my earliest memories of a garden show build. It just so happened to be a smaller version of the garden he'd designed and built at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2010, winning a Gold medal.

Scott was fortunate to start in the industry working for a company which did pools...

In this episode I answer some questions asked via Instagram.

Regular episodes will return 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 view each episode on our YouTube channel

In this episode I speak with the Icon of our industry, Graham Ross.

It was an absolute honour to have Graham agree to come on the podcast, and while the episode goes for about 70mins, I could've spoken to him for 5 hours!

It was an absolutely fascinating chat and is one I'll listen to multiple times!

You can follow Graham on Instagram @realgrahamross

If you're wanting to sign up to be on the mailing list for The Landscaping School...

In this episode I speak with Aaron Holman from Aaron Holman Landscape Design. Aaron has worked in design and construction during his time in the industry, and is currently in the process of studying Psychology to make a pivot and help out men with the health and wellbeing.

We discuss both his time in the industry, where we talk about the value of working for a good company (Aaron has worked for good and bad) as well as his time studying Landscape Architecture, and what it's been like for him studying psychology.

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In this episode I speak with Kathleen Murphy from Kathleen Murphy Landscape Design. 

Kathleen has a great story about not only working as a designer for 20 years, but also then how she pivoted to her main business now, which is Design Your Dream Garden, an online course where she teaches people how to design like she did, so that they can do their own garden or for others.

Kathleen also talks about some of the important things she discovered when designing, being the relationships with others in the industry.

In this episode I speak with Tahlia Webster from Yergan Landscape and also My Home Harvest. 

Tahlia is a horticulturist and works at Yergan Landscape as a Garden Designer and Maintenance Manager, and also has her own business, My Home Harvest, where she's doing workshops, talks and education around sustainable and organic gardening.

As well as discussing how she started in the industry, in the episode we talk about Tahlia's experience at MIFGS and also then heading to Chelsea flower show.

You can follow T...

In this episode I speak with Jason Schulz from Yergan Landscape, a one stop company based in Adelaide doing design, construction, maintenance and pool building.

Jason talks about his involvement in the Gold medal, best in show winning garden at this years MIFGS, as well as his trip to the Chelsea Flower Show.

He has a great passion for the industry and teaching others, and mentions the importance of starting with the basics a couple of times in this chat.

You can follow Jason...

In this episode I have the pleasure of speaking with Craig Castree, and absolutely loved it!

Craig is an edible garden expert and has a wealth of knowledge which he willingly shares, and explains in an understandable way.

He talks about his experience with the Werribee Park Heritage Orchard where they have 115 different Peach trees, more than 60 types of Cherry, and he also talks about his own 5 different apple trees at home, where he's grafted 18 different varieties of apple onto those 5 trees!

Craig has...

In this episode I speak with Attila Horgosi from Attila The Horticulturist. Attila is a gardener based just outside of Canberra and is an awesome person to talk to who is extremely passionate about the industry.

He has a great story about his pathway into the industry and then when he's talking about his own business that he started, he talks about a unique niche that he offers within his business.

Attila also talks about his own property he's had for nearly 30 years, including a fully netted orchard which...

In this episode I speak with BJ Wallace, from not only TBL Property Maintenance, but also host of the In To The Green podcast, and founder of the Lawn and Land Equip Expo.

BJ has a unique story about how he started in the industry, and also talks about the reasoning behind starting the Expo, which raises funds for children's charities.

He offers some advice about the best way to get the type of projects you want to work on, and also shares some ideas about how he'd like...

In this episode I speak with Ryan and Corey Shalevski from Rycor Landscapes.

Ryan and Corey are a couple of brothers from Melbourne in business together, and working on some quality projects and building the business as they do.

They talk about how the business started, with just Ryan at the start before Corey joined, and they talk about their experiences in business, on The Block and at MIFGS.

You can follow their business on Instagram @rycorlandscapes

If you're wanting to...

In this episode I speak with Kath Meier, who along with her husband Nigel, own Virtual Landscape Design and Hunter Landscaping Design + Construction. Nigel started the business 30 years ago, with Kath joining one year in, and they've gone from doing only fencing to start, to building up Hunter Landscaping and then in the past two years, starting Virtual Landscape Design as well.

Kath shares how important her home landscaping is and also shares the various different team members working within the two businesses, including employees in Egypt, the Philippines and Bangladesh, and have sponsored...

In this episode I speak with Paul Hamilton from Insight Coaching, and formerly owner and founder of Hamilton Landscapes before handing the business over to one of his employees and starting the coaching business.

Paul talks about his experiences in Landscaping and some of the talented people he came across along the way, and touches on the moment he decided he wanted out of the business, and how he came about to be a coach.

You can follow Paul on Instagram @insight_business_coach or check out his brand...

In this episode I speak with Seam Lam from Saint Remy , a landscape design studio based in Melbourne.

Seam had a great start in the industry, studying at Burnley and then getting her first job at Eckersley Garden Architecture.

She makes some great points in this chat where she talks about the value of working with landscapers and learning from them as well.

She also talks about her experience at the recent Landscape Conference which she attended.

You can...

In this episode I speak with Jackie Warburton from Terra Solarus. Jackie is a horticulturist, garden designer and columnist with the City News Canberra and is a super passionate person in the industry, so was a lot of fun to chat to.

She has a great story about starting out maintaining a property in the early days of her career, and now recently being employed to re-design the garden to bring it back to it's former glory.

She also has some great bits of advice in this episode about...

In this episode I speak with Shaun Gerring from Pure Turf Lawns and Gardens, a lawn and garden maintenance business operated solely by Shaun in Geelong.

Shaun has looked after about 7 of the projects we've built, so I can attest to the quality of work he does, and it was great to get him on to hear where his journey started.

He talks about having to do work on Air Tasker in the early days until he had built up enough work to be more selective and start targeting...

In this episode I speak with Amy Downie, a horticulturist at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne.

I was excited to talk to Amy to learn about escarpment horticulture, which she's involved with, and it was as fascinating a chat as I had hoped!

She recently presented at a Botanic Gardens Conference in Singapore about escarpment horticulture, and her passion for her job is infectious, so she was a joy to speak with.

You can follow Amy on Instagram @amydownie_

If...

In this episode I speak with Shannon Blackbourn from Panacea Landscapes, a landscaping and maintenance business based in Canberra. 

Shannon has been involved in gardens at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show the past three years, coming 1st and 3rd in the Balcony Garden competition the last two years.

Shannon talks about how she's obtained some business/accounting advice recently to make sure she's on the right track, which I think is a great thing to do being only 4 years into running the business.

In this episode I speak with Daniel Taylor from Taylor'd Waterscapes, a waterscape and landscape construction company based on the Sunshine Coast.

Daniel initially started out working for several landscape companies before starting with Patrick from Waterscapes Australia and finding his passion in aquascaping, working with him for 4-5 years and then starting Taylor'd Waterscapes.

Danie has been to the USA as part of his role as a CAC (Certified Aquascape Contractor) and also recenty spent time in Namibia working on what sounds like an insane water feature.

In this special edition episode, I speak with 20 different people involved in designing and building the show gardens at the 2025 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.

It's a great episode to listen to to get a better understanding of the special meanings and inspiration behind some of the gardens, whether attending the show or not.

0:00 - Intro

3:16 - Trent Cornish - IMG

10:28 - Rob Cooper - Distinctive Gardens

16:53 - Matt York - Ratio

24:09 - Brent Reid - Candeo

31:44...

In this episode I speak with Luke Smith, not only from Silverstone Gardening and the Australian Lawn and Garden Podcast, but he's also now the founder of Moqo App, an app for lawn mowing/maintenance contractors.

We talk about the origin of the app and what it does, as well as talking about what he's up to with his maintenance business, and  how his business course is going, now that it's almost been out for a year.

You can follow Luke on Instagram @moqo_app  , @theaustralianlawnandgardenpod and @silverstonegardening

...

In this episode I speak with Remi Willems, a gardener based in regional Victoria who spent 6 years working at Paul Bangay's Stonefields.

Remi has a great story of his first gardening memory, and also has plenty of insights into the high end maintenance he's work in his whole career.

He has great plans to coach people to do the same work he does, so it'll be great to following along with his career and see it take off.

You can follow Remi on Instagram @remi_the_gardener

If you're wanting to...

In this episode I speak with Mike Andes, founder of Augusta Lawn Care. 

Mike started his business early, and has grown it significantly, to now have 100+ franchises in North America, as well as one in Melbourne.

Mike is big on systems within business, and also employs P4P in them, which is Pay for performance, where the employees receive a profit share based on performance.

Mike also talks about the CoPilot CRM he uses for the business, and we also briefly touch on the f...

In this episode I speak with Rob Cooper from Distinctive Gardens. Rob is a landscape designer based in South Australia, and only recently stopped doing construction within his business.

He's heading a South Australian team, alongside Yergan Landscape and Desert Flower Landscapes, to design and build a garden at this years MIFGS, so we talk plenty about that.

We also talk about Rob's process of communicating with contractors who are going to build his projects so that both they, and the client win.

You...

In this episode I answer some questions asked via Instagram.

It's the shortest episode I've ever done, but we'll be back to regular episodes 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 view each episode on our YouTube channel

In this episode I speak with two past guests in Paul Pritchard of Paul Pritchard Landscape Design (ep 69) and Adam Hompas from Adam Hompas Landscapes (ep 66).

Paul and Adam are both based in Melbourne, and since being on the podcast in Spring of 2022, they've teamed up to design and build 2 show gardens in the Boutique Garden category at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, and are going back again this year to tackle a large show garden, so we talk about their plans for that, as well as what they've learnt from the...

In this episode I answer some questions asked via Instagram.

I also make a major announcement towards the end of the episode!

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 view each episode on our YouTube channel

In this episode I speak with Bridget Doyle from Bridget Doyle Landscape Design. Bridget is based in Northern Victoria, but was originally from the NSW Riverina so does a lot of work there, but works all around the neighbouring states.

Bridget started out working for companies that design not only residential gardens, but also commercial ones including early learning centres and aged care facilities, so she had a varied start which she also now does within her business.

She talks about the challenges of working in a home office and the isolation of being a...

In this episode I answer some questions asked via Instagram.

There were so many that there'll be another Q and A episode 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 view each episode on our YouTube channel

In this episode, I use a program from Google called NotebookLM to make a podcast reviewing episodes which I uploaded from the previous 10 episodes.

AI technology is phenomenal, but also has its flaws. The hosts (which are AI and don't actually exist) don't even mention three or four of the episodes I uploaded, even thought they seem to run out of content and repeat some of the same things four times.

I did have a good laugh around 90 seconds in when they mention, without any prompting by me, a famous landscape designer!

If...

In this episode I speak with Brendan Eccleston from Brisbane Landscaping Co, a design and construction company based in Brisbane.

Brendan had a great variety of experience prior to starting his business, which included owning a franchise for a lawn maintenance business, where he didn't make as much money as he'd have liked, but did learn a lot for his future businesses, one of which included a short lived partnership with a mate.

Brendan also discusses his back injury, and how he's able to take a positive out of a bad situation.

You...

In this episode I speak with Andrew Christopher Dunne, and garden designer from Ireland who also has a mentorship/course called The Garden Design Mentor, which he created after getting great feedback on the advice he was offering on Instagram.

In this episode he talks about how most people learn by doing, and the importance of putting yourself in your client's shoes, understanding their problems and doing more listening than talking.

I also took away some advice from Andrew, particularly about dressing appropriately for design appointments, and going dressed as a garden designer, not as...

In this episode I speak with Daniel O'Callaghan from Nature Build, a landscaping and water feature business based in Bendigo, Victoria.

Daniel started out working in heavy timber construction, so does some beautiful timber work, and he also developed a lot of other skills from working around other skilled tradesmen.

He discovered water features, so headed off to the US to learn from the best, and has honed his craft since.

He talks about his experience of growing his business year on year before realising it wasn't what he wanted.

And...

In this episode I speak with Emma Sage from Sage Journal, an online magazine for the garden industry, sharing stunning projects, education, gardening tips and how to's, recipes and everything else you'd expect to find in a gardening magazine.

Emma is based in Hawkes Bay in New Zealand and originally studied commercial law and marketing and has used her marketing knowledge to build the audience of the magazine.

She makes some great points in this episode, such as the importance of building a great team. She's teamed up with some great writers and photographers and...

In this episode I speak with Christian Douglas from Christian Douglas Design as well as The Back Yard Farm Company.

Christian started out in the UK, studying design and having a business partnership which also designed gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show, before leaving this business and moving to California and starting the current businesses.

He discovered a passion for permaculture, and started implementing some principles of it into the garden he and his team design, and has recently launched a book called The Food Forward Garden where he not only shows projects they've designed...

In this episode I speak with Colleen Southwell from The Garden Curator. Colleen is a landscape designer and artist based in Orange, NSW.

Colleen mentions that her artwork has taken over more of her time recently, and I was fascinated with how beautiful and unique her paper sculptures were, so we talk plenty about that and her piece which was sent to New York.

Colleen also does garden design workshops and she talks about how she teaches people how to come up with their own design style rather than copying another designer.

You...