the garden maker
Underpinning The Garden Curator is Colleen’s ever evolving path as a garden maker. She gently draws on her background in horticulture and landscape design in both her art practice and in the making of her own country garden. She is an advocate of “slow gardening” - this does not mean lazy gardening, but rather encourages mindful enjoyment and acknowledgement of the garden as a process, not an outcome, and gardening as a partnership, not a conquest.
Hand-made, home-made and heartfilled.
Colleen is the founder and host of The Storytelling Garden, a popular snail-mail and online workshop for budding gardeners wishing to design and grow a home garden with heart, story and beauty. Part workshop, part community, part mentorship, The Storytelling Garden is a new and heart-filled path for those seeking a new and meaningful way to garden. Read more about the workshop and upcoming dates here.
Furthermore, Colleen shares her garden and knowledge through her popular monthly-ish newsletter, and on occasion through special events.
She is a recipient of the TNSW State Medal for Excellence in Horticulture.
Image by Em Wollen
“The best garden making is a creative and storytelling process. My own family garden in the rolling hills of the Central Tablelands of NSW is filled with the plants we love, those that have been gifted, shared, propagated and raised by seed. It is slow, constantly evolving and wears its heart firmly on its sleeve. It’s imperfect, but I have no intention for it to be otherwise; my interest rests in how the garden feels, involves all senses, and engages with every creature with whom we share it. The most beautiful and resonant garden has a character that is rooted in far more than aesthetics - it’s storytelling, treads lightly on the landscape, and evolves to wear the mark of its maker.
The thoughtful gardener sees their role as one of caretaker, custodian and curator.
My hope it that through the sharing of my garden path, others will be encouraged to set aside the desire to manufacture perfection, instead to embrace the true joys and rewards of slow gardening and the natural world.”
Colleen
Image by Em Wollen