Horticulture student wins $10,000 grant to install garden at Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

A postgraduate horticulture student in the Faculty of Science, Ms Sheppard-Simms will lead an all-female trade team to install her winning garden design, believed to be a first in MIFGS’ history.

“I am delighted to be awarded this opportunity. It is so important that we showcase the skills of women in the landscape industry. My garden will be entirely built by a team of female landscape architects, landscapers, horticulturists, carpenters and volunteers,” Ms Sheppard-Simms said.

OGV’s Head of Giving, Dr Karen White, said Ms Sheppard-Simms’ proposal to put together an all-female team added extra appeal to the project.

“Our hope is that women who see the garden at MIFGS will be encouraged to take up a career in horticulture,” Ms White said.

Titled ‘A Place for Us’, Ms Sheppard-Simms’ installation will showcase a diverse range of native plants, sustainable practices, and promote the health benefits of gardening.

“Gardens are often described as healing and calming spaces that provide an escape from our worries,” Ms Sheppard-Simms said.

“But they can also be positive, energising spaces that remind us of the resilience and power of the living world. In celebration of this vitality, I have designed a garden that hums with colour, sensory and textural interest – an inviting space that attracts visitors, insects, and birds alike.”

Ms Sheppard-Simms said she realised her passion for horticulture at an early age, influenced by her father, who was a horticulturist and taught at the University of Melbourne’s Burnley Campus in the 90s.

“I spent my early years on a farm in Tasmania, which involved a lot of time outdoors with animals, bushwalking or in the kitchen gardens. There is a deep attachment to the landscape and plants that goes back generations in my family.”

The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show will run from 29 March-2 April 2023 in Carlton Gardens.