Since Jane Edmanson first presented Gardening Australia in 1990, millions of Australians have tuned in for inspiration and advice on cultivating an oasis of their own.
But her impressive career had a slightly rocky start.
After working as a school teacher for three years, Edmanson realised her passion actually lay with native plants, and she decided to change direction.
“In those days, plant nurseries didn’t really take women,” Edmanson says.
“They said, ‘Oh no, no, we’ve got men here.'”
Stream Gardening Australia on ABC iview
It was the mid-1970s, and Edmanson rang 25 different nurseries before finding one willing to give her a go.
That opportunity set her up as “a jack of all trades”, working with everything from indoor plants to perennials, shrubs and Australian natives.
As well as working in the nursery, Edmanson went to technical college two nights a week, the start of what became a lifetime of learning about plants and gardening.
“I loved it. It was very practical. I just thought, ‘This is the career for me’,” she recalls.
A lucky start in TV
A decade later, a chance encounter became a career turning point.
While giving an evening talk about native plants, Edmanson met pioneering ABC TV gardening presenter Kevin Heinze, who was preparing to retire from Victoria’s Sow What program after more than two decades.
Impressed by her knowledge and natural teaching style, Heinze offered Edmanson his hosting role.
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“I thought, ‘Kevin don’t joke with me — it’s a silly joke’. But he was serious,” she recalls.
“He wanted someone younger and a woman, so he told the ABC he had found his replacement.
“It was the luck of the draw — I was there at the right time.”
Edmanson says it’s a great example of why people should have the courage to back themselves.
“Take a risk. If there’s a barrier in front of you, don’t be put off by it. Jump over it — you never know where it is going to lead you,” she says.
Jane Edmanson’s career pivot into television in 1988 (left) led her to become a founding presenter (right) on Gardening Australia. (ABC Archives)
Without any media training, Edmanson began hosting the Victorian program in 1988, kickstarting her nearly four-decade career in gardening television.
Not long after, state-based gardening shows were consolidated into a national ABC program: Gardening Australia.
As a founding presenter, Edmanson joined a team of horticultural experts supporting host Peter Cundall when the show launched in 1990.
No-rules, no-worries gardening
As the show wraps up another season, Edmanson attributes its long-running success to both its audience and its enthusiastic presenters.
“It’s always had a good following of people. Peter Cundall was really essential in making it. He was a real, true gardener with a great veggie garden,” she says.
“He’d say, ‘That’s your bloomin’ lot for the week’ — he was very famous for his saying.”
Gardening Australia presenters in the early 1990s: Jane Edmanson (top-left), Malcolm Campbell, Peter Cundall (bottom left), Neville Passmore, Colin Campbell and Mary Moody. (ABC Archives)
But she says the show has developed a cult following in recent years, which she credits to Costa Georgiadis’s infectious enthusiasm for sustainable gardening.
“He brings a huge energy, and I admire him amazingly,” she says.
“He brings in young people, old people and inspires community gardens.”
Edmanson shares the same “no-rules, no-worries” gardening philosophy as Georgiadis.
Edmanson speaks with Georgiadis in her final episode of Gardening Australia this week. (ABC iview)
“We both feel it doesn’t matter how you do it — it’s that you actually do it,” she says.
“Some people are born with that gardening knack, and other people are not. It’s just a matter of trying, giving it a go.”
Connecting with communities
After filming thousands of episodes, Edmanson says the stories that have stuck with her are those that allowed her to connect meaningfully with people.
“I love the people behind their garden,” she says.
“I love hearing about the feelings they get when they get out there, and the background story of why they garden.”
She remembers meeting a woman who grew up in Papua New Guinea, who had been volunteering at an urban farm in Melbourne.
“All she wanted to grow was sweet potato, because that’s what she grew back home,” Edmanson recalls.
Another memorable episode was when she and Georgiadis went to a market garden and met a Tamil refugee from Sri Lanka.
“He was making beautiful feasts out of the lovely ingredients that he picked freshly from the garden — it was very meaningful for him,” she says.
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Edmanson says that sense of connection through gardening starts right outside her own front gate.
“People walk past my garden and peek over the picket fence, and I’ll just say, ‘Good morning, how are you?'” she says.
“I’m always swapping plants — ‘Try this’, ‘Grow that’. It’s amazing how gardening brings people together.”
As one season ends, a new begins
As Edmanson hangs up her Gardening Australia hat — and the show wraps on December 5 for another year — she’s adamant she’s not putting her feet up any time soon.
“I don’t like using that word ‘retiring’,” she jokes.
“I’m moving back from Gardening Australia, but I’m still doing a lot in the horticultural industry.”
She plans to continue volunteering at botanic gardens and sharing her passion for plants and people by giving gardening talks to community groups.
From her fragrant garden to her worm farm, Edmanson relishes every aspect of gardening. (Supplied: David Morgan)
Edmanson will continue to champion the simple act of stepping outdoors — a practice she believes reconnects us not only with each other, but with the rhythm of the seasons and the natural world around us.
“When you go out into the garden, what are the five senses you’re using? You can listen to the birds. You can smell the flowers.
“It’s really good for you — not just for connecting with nature, but for that sense of accomplishment.”
She wants people to remember that “gardening” can mean many things: indoor plants; edible beds; fragrant flowers; or simply noticing what’s changed overnight.
“It doesn’t matter if you dig, just so long as you get out and look at what’s been happening.”
Watch Jane Edmanson’s final episode of Gardening Australia tonight at 7:30pm on ABC TV or stream anytime on ABC iview.
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