HMAA member and passionate nursery person, Lisa Passmore, has been appointed as the Executive Office of the Nursery and Garden Industry in Western Australia (NGIWA). Lisa has a long family association with gardens and nurseries in WA and takes over from Matthew Lunn, who stepped down last year to head Turf Australia.
In her first newsletter to NGIWA members, she introduced herself:
“I am a third-generation horticulturist and have learnt the business of plant growing from the ground up. My mum, Linda Stanley (former president of NGIWA and wife of retail business consultant John Stanley), started Good Earth Garden Supplies (in Martin) and my dad is Neville Passmore, who you will know as a life member of NGIWA. Dad’s folks, Alby and Tess Passmore, started Blossoms Garden Centre, Wholesale Nursery and Florist shop in Gosnells and, as a kid, I spent my school holidays and then uni years, working weekends at Blossoms. Additionally, I have worked at other WA garden centres including Everbloom (for Sue and Andy), Waldeck’s Bentley and Waldeck’s Subiaco garden centres and native nursery Zanthorrea Nursery in Maida Vale.
Horticulture was also a vehicle for me to travel and work in the retail horticulture sectors in England (Hurrans Garden Centres) and New Zealand (Kings Plant Barn).
Returning to Perth in the late 1990s, I launched my garden design and horticultural consultancy business, Inspired by Nature, and have been designing gardens for around 22 years.
I love learning and sharing my horticultural knowledge and have been running the Garden Design Course at Homebase for the past 16 years as well as lecturing in Horticulture at South Metro TAFE for the past 3 years. I hold a Diploma in Horticulture, a Diploma in Permaculture and a Cert IV in Training and Assessment.
I am a regular contributor to magazines and to garden talk-back radio (I’m currently on the Night Shift with Tod Johnston on 6PR). I am committed to promoting the greening of our built environment and protecting and preserving our flora in a changing climate.
I am no stranger to committees, being a past-president of the Landscape Industry Association of WA (LIAWA), a foundation member and past President of Kalamunda Community Garden Inc and a long-term member of the Horticultural Media Association Australia (HMAA).”
