AIH recognises commitment and excellence
By Michael Casey
Whilst 2021 may have been a difficult year, the Australian Institute of Horticulture (AIH) recognises the commitment, professionalism and excellence of those who have made a significant contribution to the horticultural industry.
This year we received a great number of nominations, with many coming from outside of our membership base which highlights to us the many projects going on around Australia and Singapore, that people feel should be acknowledged and recognised. The AIH wishes to congratulate all nominees and recipients of awards for 2021 and wishes everyone the best for their projects and future endeavours.
Golden Wattle – Jonathan Garner FAIH RH
For commitment, versatility & dedication to Horticulture
Jonathan has been a proud member and passionately knowledgeable horticulturist and a wonderful contributor to the Institute and the industry. Sydney horticulturist, gardening consultant and designer, Jonathan Garner, is recognized as one of Australia’s most skilled horticulturists and versatile garden designers.
Jonathan’s more than 20 years of horticultural experience began with his studies at the Ryde School of Horticulture while simultaneously apprenticing to one of Sydney’s most respected landscape gardeners. Moving to England after graduation, Jonathan honed his horticultural skills by working as head gardener on a private estate. His studies at Merrist Wood College also provided him with the experience of involvement in two Chelsea flower shows and RHS Wisley Gardens.
Silver Gum – Greg Bourke
For Promotion and Contribution to Horticulture
In 2021, the Australian Institute of Horticulture awards the Silver Gum to Greg Bourke. Greg joined the team at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden in 2011 and has been the Curator Manager since 2013. In this role, he is responsible for a team of horticulturists, front line staff, casuals and volunteers, and oversees 252ha of exquisite garden. The garden is home to exotic and native plants alike, including several endangered ecological communities such as the first translocation site for Australia’s own ‘dinosaur tree’, the Wollemi Pine. Conservation and exploration of plants, in particular carnivorous plants became a keen interest of his. Greg began working in the field and had the thrill of discovering several new species in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Australia, and is recognised as an expert in carnivorous plants, holding senior positions with various groups including his current role as Vice President for BGANZ (Botanic Gardens Australia and New Zealand).
Horticulturist of the Year 2021 – Tammy Huynh MAIH
AIH considers Tammy Huynh’s contribution to our industry to be outstanding, especially her role in highlighting, supporting, and promoting horticulture through her successful business and media interests. Tammy has been an excellent contributor to the horticultural sector over her career and has provided a diverse range of expertise and services to consumer horticulturists and enthusiasts in Sydney. Tammy has a degree in horticultural science, a diploma in landscape design and has over 10 years’ experience in the industry, with her career beginning as the Assistant Gardening Editor for Better Homes and Gardens magazine, and most recently, as the Consumer Experience Team Leader at Yates. She was even featured in the industry’s Plant/Life Balance campaign. Her philosophy is simple: To impart a little bit of greenery to everyone’s life. To make a mark. to ‘leaf an impression’.
Student of the Year 2021 – Lucy Anne McClymont
In recognition of her Horticultural studies in Australia and the United Kingdom.
The Australian Institute of Horticulture congratulates Lucy Anne McClymont on her studies and her efforts in raising awareness of the importance of horticulture in today’s world. Lucy’s commitment to her studies led her to a botanical internship in Kew Gardens, UK (2015), and an internship with the Australian National Herbarium in 2020. We look forward to Lucy’s future in horticulture and with AIH.
Award of Excellence – David Ting MAIH RH Galston Water Garden
David is a loyal and committed Member of Australian Institute of Horticulture and passionate in the ongoing promotion of horticulture. He is an experienced Horticulturist with strong plant knowledge and beautifully combines both skills into his very successful water gardens. His Galston Water Garden project encompasses expert horticultural knowledge, a trained eye in design and an ability to create a tranquil location for the owners and all that use this space.
Award of Merit – Kate Wall ‘Working With Weeds’ – A book changing our concept of weeds
Weeds have something to teach us. They can make us better gardeners, better environmental custodians, and they can make us healthier. All we have to do is to look at them a little differently. Kate Wall teaches us how to do just that in this book. Kate helps us learn to read the weeds, how to use the weeds, and how to garden without weeds. The Australian Institute of Horticulture congratulates you Kate on this very insightful and educating book on weed management.
Award of Merit – Wendy Whiteley OAM
A Living Art in a Landscape
This beautiful garden created in Lavender Bay, Sydney was designed and built by Wendy, along with volunteers after the death of her husband Brett. Rather than being horticulturally inspired, Wendy’s gardening was driven by aesthetics, colour, form, beauty and whimsy. The effort, energy and costs that Wendy Whitely has put into the development of this public resource is a commendable and sublime example of the therapeutic value of horticulture and gardening in overcoming grief and sorrow. It is an exemplary project of community spirit and commemoration.
Green Space Urban Award – Mooloolaba Foreshore Development Sunshine Coast Regional Council and Murphy Builders along with Consulting Arborist/Horticulturist – Arboractive MAIH RH.
This is a signature project for Mooloolaba and Alexandra Headlands and has preserved the iconic Norfolk Pines which skirt as sentinels, the shire foreshore from Caloundra in the south to Coolum in the north. This is primarily a Community Well-Being project which will deliver new pathway links, a boardwalk unlocking new open space areas, whilst promoting active transport and community movement, enabling social distancing and improved community health. David Hawthorne of Arboractive, worked closely with Council professionals to manage and protect these iconic Norfolk Pines and native vegetation within the site during the construction period. Council, and Murphy builders have been proactive with the protection of all native vegetation, as all works within nominated Tree Protection Zones has been overseen by Arboractive to ensure the best outcome.
Green Space Regional Award – The Northeast Bioregional Network Restoring Nature and Communities
The Northeast Bioregional Network (NEBN) is a non-profit, community based incorporated association dedicated to the protection, maintenance, and restoration of the natural environment on the East Coast of Tasmania. The group was established in 2002. NEBR undertake a wide range of activities in support of ecological goals including ecological restoration. The impacts of this work are impressive in terms of preserving, reclaiming and conserving previously degraded landscapes back to verdant healthy eco-systems. In 2021 Highways and Byways Ltd, a charity supporting disadvantaged communities in rural Australia, partnered with NEBR to run a 20-week eco-restoration program employing four previous unemployed local community members. The program was titled Restoring Nature and Communities.
Green Space Residential Award – The Greenwall Company
1 Markham Close Mosman NSW
When the house was built, this garden started with no soil and a sandstone base. Starting at the nature strip, the media is the depth of the kerb over sandstone, in fact 200mm is the average soil depth over the entire block. There are six large podium planters (one contains a 12,000-litre wetland and pond over the garage). It has greenwalls and greenroofs, rock (lithophytic) and tree (epiphytic) plantings. It takes into account amenity, aspect, cultural requirements, view lines and the needs of a family with two boys who need to understand about vegetable gardens, chickens, fish and tadpoles, etc. It houses a collection of plants, either self-grown, collected or received. The front has a nature strip of native grasses and sedges which are cut annually, and the three front planter beds (over rock) have a predominantly native planting, to blend with the adjacent bushland. There are 140 plant species in the greenwall and 240 species on the roof, so quite a biodiverse planting as well.
AIH International Award of Merit – Mao Sheng Quanji Construction Pte Ltd
Maintaining the ParkRoyal Collection Pickering Hotel, Singapore
The successful landscape maintenance of this iconic project has cared for, and continued, the original design intent of this iconic project. The team at Mao Sheng have applied expert horticultural management and maintenance to this garden and the results speak for themselves.
Green Space International Award – Edible Garden City
The Funan Urban Farm, Singapore
Launched in June 2019, it is one of the few urban farms in Singapore open to the public, and the first urban farm to be designed into a Singapore shopping mall from the onset. It is heralded as an example of how farming can be seamlessly integrated into city living, and envisioned as a blueprint for future developments, especially in the context of Singapore’s push to grow 30% of its nutritional needs by 2030.
Besides its purpose as a productive edible garden that is lush and aesthetic (by virtue of it being part of the mall landscaping), the Funan Urban Farm has also been activated into a community space for gardeners from all walks of life. With the goal of building an inclusive, healing garden, they welcome volunteers from all walks of life, and hire from marginalised communities, engaging them in elements of therapeutic horticulture in the garden.
Green Space International Award – Nature landscapes Pte Ltd
Keppel East Desalination Plant – Singapore
Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant, is a vital national water-sufficiency infrastructure project that features a lush green rooftop to serve as a communal space and pitstop in Singapore’s Park Connector Network.
The architecture and landscape design went against the traditional industrial look of preceding desalination plants, featuring a 20,000m2 open green space, atop an oval rooftop that serves as an observation deck for the underground treatment facilities. The green roof reduces energy costs by absorbing heat and providing natural insulation for buildings. Not only that, it can reduce and slow down stormwater runoff while filtering pollutants from rainfall. As the rooftop is designed to safely accommodate up to 500 people, citizens are welcome to use the space for recreational activities such as weekend picnics or indulging in panoramic sunset views.
Green Space Events & Engagement Award – Collectors’ Plant Fair
Collectors’ Plant Fair launched in 2005 and has grown to be the largest plant fair in Australia. The fair quickly outgrew its first home in the grounds of founder Peta Trehar’s property in Bilpin. For the past seven years, the event has been held at the Hawkesbury Race Club in Clarendon, allowing more specialist nurseries to showcase their plants, and more gardeners to find them. In 2015, Collectors said a fond farewell to its founders Peta and Peter Trahar, and Beth Stokes. After a decade of sterling effort in building the Fair, the trio passed the baton, and the responsibility for its future, onto two plant lovers determined to uphold the integrity, passion and generous spirit of the Fair, and enable it to continue as Australia’s treasured garden event. Linda Ross (B.L. Arch, Hort) and Daniel Wheatley (M. Eng.Mgt) have taken the tiller to steer the plant fair into the future. They have an unflagging enthusiasm for plants, plant growers, gardeners and gardening in general.
Further information www.aih.org.au www.aih.org.au
Michael Casey – President, Australian Institute of Horticulture