Our Team
Gabe Mostafa
Publisher & National Advertising / Marketing Manager
Hort Journal Australia is published by Greener Publishing & Media Pty Ltd. Headed by Director Gabe Mostafa who brings more than 35 years of media sales and marketing experience, and more than 26 years of dedicated specialist horticulture industry media and marketing experience to the publication.
He has managed and worked on industry-based publications, and demonstrated responsibility for annual revenues of around one million dollars.
Karen Smith
Magazine Editor
Karen is an award-winning horticulturist having received the Allan Seale Award from the Nursery & Garden Industry NSW & ACT and the Golden Wattle Award from the Australian Institute of Horticulture for her service to the industry through the media. She has worked in the horticultural industry in various roles, both as an employee, a business owner and as the Editor of Hort Journal Australia since its inception in 2008. Karen is active in the industry and has served on many committees including the Hort Media Association and the Interior Plantscape Association and is also a member of various horticultural organisations. She loves horticulture, the natural environment and believes strongly in the connection between plants, soil and nature with our health and wellbeing.
Janet Hodgkiss
Sub-editor/Database Manager
Janet has worked in the botanical, horticultural and allied industries for over 25 years. Her botany degree led to work in academic teaching roles and research laboratories, and her horticultural knowledge and skills have been put to good use in propagation/production and retail nurseries. Janet’s botanical/horticultural background, and her attention to detail, has led to rewarding roles in the horticultural printing and publishing industry, in the production of plant labels, and as Subeditor for Hort Journal Australia and Database Manager for PlantSelect.
Janet is interested in all aspects of botany and horticulture, with a particular interest in the native flora of Australia and its use in horticulture and gardening/landscaping. She is an active member of the Australian Plants Society Victoria and has served on the committee, and been leader-president, of her district group for repeated terms.
Bruce Thompson
Bruce holds undergraduate and postgraduate university qualifications in marketing, communications, export management and market research, as well as qualifications in horticulture, consultant arboriculture, landscape design, landscape construction, and conservation and land management.
Bruce is a former QUT (Queensland University of Technology) research fellow in new product development. He is also an AABR (Australian Association of Bush Regenerators) accredited bush regenerator, a consultant in bush foods, medicinal and native plants, including medicinal plant research contributing to COVID-19 vaccines. Bruce is also a dark sky conservationist, a resource recovery educator and innovator, and a specialist in nocturnal flora and fauna conservation.
Clive Larkman
Clive has worked in horticulture since travelling across Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. He has a degree in Biology and a Diploma in Philosophy. He has built Larkman Nurseries and Romantic Nursery into key production nurseries in Victoria, and built the Herb & Chilli Festival into a major event.
He sat on key Agribusiness bodies, including the Nursery & Garden Industry Victoria, the International Plant Propagators Society (previous International President), Primary Training, Australian Institute of Horticulture, The Australian Lavender Growers Association, Agribusiness Yarra Valley, the Victorian Agribusiness Council, and has served on local council. Clive has a passion for plants and cooking, and derives satisfaction from teaching people how to grow and use herbs. His philosophy is: Life is for living and we must share our knowledge.
Daniel Austin
Dan’s horticultural roots stem from work on a family orchard as a teenager in South Australia’s Riverland. His interest in plants has since snowballed into a diverse range of experience. Dan has worked in the industry for over twenty years in Australia and abroad, including the Middle East, Africa and the Pacific Islands.
Holding qualifications in horticulture, garden design, conservation and land management, and vocational education and training, he is now settled back in the Adelaide Hills and works as a lecturer in Horticulture. He has previously served on the boards of the Nursery and Garden Industry of South Australia (NGISA), the International Plant Propagator’s Society (IPPS) and continues to be an active member of several industry bodies, including IPPS, the Australian Institute of Horticulture (AIH) and the Horticultural Media Association of Australia (HMAA).
As well as being a valuable and regular contributor to ‘Hort Journal Australia’, Dan is an award-winning photographer and author of ‘Off the Garden Path – Green Wonders of the World’.
Daniel Fuller
Daniel is a horticulturist and has been working in the industry for ten years. Daniel is the creator and host of the successful, Plants Grow Here podcast (sponsored by Hort Journal Australia). Daniel could see a niche in the market for a podcast, specifically tailored to professionals in the horticultural industry and serious enthusiasts. Inspiring others to integrate ecological practices into their gardens is Daniel’s passion, not only because our native wildlife is at risk but also because our plants are stronger for it.
Plants Grow Here podcast has regular high rankings, so Dan has hit the mark with his podcast. Having started his podcast from the scratch, he knows and understands the pitfalls and what works well. He collaborates with sponsors to create audio content that industry-based listeners invest hours of time consuming. Dan also helps others start their own niche podcasts, offering a service from start-up to management.
Denis Crawford
Denis has been working with insects for about 40 years as a researcher, writer, photographer, or pest management consultant. Denis started his entomological journey with the Victorian Department of Agriculture in the 1980’s. He later worked with an Integrated Pest Management consultant servicing commercial horticulture in Victoria for many years.
Denis has considerable photography skills honed while undertaking an Applied Science degree in scientific photography at Royal Melbourne Institute Technology University, Melbourne in the 1990’s. These skills landed him a role as a scientific photographer in Antarctica as part of an Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition. Denis later photographed specimens for the colour plates in the CSIRO publication Butterflies of Australia.
Denis is the author of Garden Pests, Diseases & Good Bugs (ABC Books), and co-author of Backyard Insects (Melbourne University Publishing). He has been a contributor to Hort Journal since the very first issue and has contributed to other horticultural magazines for decades.
Denis runs a YouTube channel and a blog, both titled ‘one minute bugs’ which feature stories and advice about garden insects. He posts similar content to Instagram and Facebook. He also has a fortnightly gardening program on ABC Radio Statewide Drive Victoria.
Gabrielle Stannus
Gabrielle is an experienced environmental planner and educator, and budding horticulturist. After working on environmental policy and programs in local government for close to a decade, Gabrielle decided to make a “tree change” of sorts.
Gabrielle obtained a Master of Urban Horticulture from the University of Melbourne, focussing on landscape design both indoors and outdoors. Gabrielle now balances life and work in country Tasmania with her partner, where they run Inwardout Studio, an integrated building and landscape design practice. Their mission is to be part of a circular economy that designs out waste and pollution, keeps products and materials in use, and regenerates natural systems. Gabrielle is no stranger to Hort Journal, having written our Interior Plantscaping feature since 2018. She has served on the executive management committee of the Interior Plantscaping Association and is the current State Representative (Tasmania) for the Australian Institute of Horticulture. Gabrielle is also a member of the Horticultural Media Association of Australia (HMAA).
John Corban
John is a dynamic entrepreneur with over 26 years business experience (director of three businesses) and has over 15 years as a successful business coach and mentor. He is a certified NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) trainer. John studied hotel management and is also the Past President of the Bondi Toastmasters Club. Since 2004, John has helped many business owners achieve their goals but since 2008 has also helped many landscapers, horticulturists and suppliers in the landscape industry overcome their business frustrations, achieve goals and record profits in their business. He understands the landscape industry and the challenges business owners face on a daily basis.
John Fitzsimmons
John is one of Australia’s most experienced product and practise-oriented writers in the agriculture and horticultural spaces. With a Diploma of Agricultural Science and work experience in rural merchandise trading and packaging, he initially specialised in farm mechanisation and input supply chains with The Weekly Times. He then worked in marketing communication and advertising for leading manufacturers and importers, before planning itineraries and going ‘on the road’ with international inbound agrotourism groups and working in communications and environment for a $2b industry group.
John then returned to the editor’s chair, this time at Australian Horticulture, Good Fruit & Vegetables, Irrigation & Water Resources, Australian Fruitgrower and Eggstra Eggstra, before working closely with publisher Gabe Mostafa to launch Hort Journal Australia.
All through this career, John Fitzsimmons has been a key contributor and correspondent for local and international specialist trade journals, while observing and reporting on local and international events and developments in Agriculture and Horticulture, from The Netherlands, Germany and Italy to Australia and New Zealand. His interest has always been on practical perspectives for real world enterprises in rural and regional sectors.
Dr Kate Neale
Dr Kate Neale is a Childhood Studies and Disability Studies researcher within the Centre for Children and Young People at Southern Cross University, and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology, Singapore National Parks Board.
Kate has written a number of award-winning therapeutic gardening programs, is a regular contributor to industry-based publications on gardening and horticulture and is passionate about bridging the research to practice divide. She is Vice President for Therapeutic Horticulture Australia and a full member of the Australian Institute of Horticulture.
Michael Casey
Michael is the founder and director of MJC Horticulture and Evergreen Infrastructure and brings over 25 years industry experience. He holds a Diploma of Applied Science Horticulture (University of Melbourne), Specialist Certificate Green Walls and Roofs (University of Melbourne), and a Certificate of Horticulture (Holmesglen).
Michael is an award-winning registered horticulturist with a passion for urban sustainable horticulture, urban greening and therapeutic horticulture, where the use of biophilic principles is the backbone of his gardens and landscapes.
Michael’s expertise is sought by others in the industry as demonstrated by his external and ongoing consulting positions, impressive training portfolio and extensive authorship in industry publications, including Hort Journal Australia. He is a specialist in the field of green infrastructure, where his work extends into guideline and policy review, workshop development, and consulting in designing of greening cities. His professional standing in peak industry bodies is also a testament to his influence in the industry, and the future of Australian and international horticulture.
Hort Journal Australia has engaged a highly competent graphic design and print production team complemented by professional distribution and mailing services.