The stories she inevitably tells make people connect to the subject,
whether it is about botanical gardens or backyard vegetable patches.
You name it, she has a story about it, and these stories keep her
audiences enthralled to the very end. Ask any of her students,
community members or colleagues and they'll vouch for this.
Donna's work experiences at the start of her horticulture career,
when chemicals and disregard for the natural environment prevailed,
led her to believe there had to be more-sustainable alternatives. A fi
rm believer in common sense and practical solutions to everyday garden
problems, Donna has been a leading light of the sustainability
movement since the early 1980s.
She is a horticulture teacher at South West Institute of TAFE in
Warrnambool, Victoria, a sustainable garden consultant, a garden
designer, a writer for newspapers and a speaker to community and
professional groups.
She works with Sustainable Gardening Australia, delivering seminars
on sustainable management of parks and gardens in metropolitan
Melbourne, and with Greening Australia, developing and delivering
community workshops on backyard biodiversity throughout western
Victoria. In addition to her usual teaching, Donna also develops and
delivers sustainable horticulture training programs at TAFE to Special
Developmental Schools, a labour of love.
She is a member of a number of organisations and networks, including
Sustainable Gardening Australia, the Australian Garden History Society
and the Friends of Warrnambool Botanic Gardens. She is a past
president of the Friends of Hamilton Botanic Gardens and was a
founding committee member of Encouraging Women in Horticulture Australia.
