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I learnt to appreciate the joys of compost and animal pooh whilst still in nappies. My parents were demented gardeners and I had my own plot from the age of four.

I vividly remember plunging a fork through my instep aged about three. It didn't deter me one iota. The first thing planted in my very own garden bed were some precious, recently imported, crocus bulbs. I wonder if that dear nurseryman who presented me with three precious bulbs way back in the dark ages, ever imagined just what a monster of acquisitiveness he unleashed?

I was one of six keen gardeners invited to form the initial collections for the National Plants Collections Scheme here in Victoria. My own existing collection of Helleborus formed the nucleus of the national collection. Unfortunately I now live in an area unsuitable for hellebores, but still keep a couple tucked away in a shady spot. So if anyone has any questions on that genus I'll be delighted to help. Also know my way around all cool temperate garden perennials and bulbs. Abysmally ignorant on tropicals though.

For a while I subsidised my gardening passions by supplying wholesale rare bulbs and perennials to some of the classier independent nurseries. Most of these I grew from imported seed.

The past few years I've been hybridising Kniphofia and now my greedy eyes are turning towards Cannas. I figure that it's easier to live with this warmer climate than to fight it, having moved to a bare block in Central Victoria in Nov.2002. Things have stalled through lack of water, but I can envisage a totally different style of garden to that which I'm accustomed. As usual, I'll push the boundaries in trying to grow plants in a climate in which they are not quite at home. That's the fun of gardening - pushing the boundaries to see if we can.

Having gardened on a farm most of my life, I'm having difficulties coming to terms with space restrictions of a large building block! Water restrictions are also a new phenomenon to me. Can't say I'm impressed with the change, other than the fun of starting another garden from scratch.