2024 Women to Watch
This year we showcase over 80 South Australian women to watch throughout the year. From business, to careers, arts to science. This year’s selected women highlight the depth and diversity of the women in our state and also the vast array of opportunities to develop a business or career in South Australia. Find our more about our inaugural Women to Watch initiative here.
My working life started in the childcare industry, however a passion for plants nagged at me over the years until I gave up a full-time job and began studying Horticulture. I had 2 children under 5 at the time. Being a driven and social person helped me immerse myself into the industry which allowed me to become part of our large horticultural family here in SA. The decision to start the Vertical Garden business was life changing. We were doing something no one else was here in Adelaide and quickly became incredibly busy.
Social media helped to make our brand visible, and I was honored to be awarded Young Leader of the Year at the Nursery and Garden Industry Awards of Excellence 2015. This was the turning point of my career as people suddenly knew who I was and what I was passionate about. My career was then stable for 6 years, working for a production nursery while running my own hobby business ‘The Indoor Jungle’. My passion, I discovered, was educating and teaching people about plants. So, I promptly set about running dozens of workshops all over Adelaide for 4 years and I accepted a small side job as content coordinator for the SA Life Garden Magazine, which saw me writing and finding other people to write articles for the magazine. I regularly joined Jon Lamb on his ABC Talkback radio show as special guest or chatted to Michael Keelan on 5aa.
// Favourite inspirational quote
“Some people look for a beautiful place. Others make a place beautiful.”
// Let’s get to know you
After leaving the childcare industry I studied Horticulture at Urrbrae as a mature age student. My time there allowed me to meet and get to know a lot of influential and well-known people in our industry. Before I knew it, I was co-hosting a gardening TV show called ‘Get Dirty with Milton’ and became the secretary of the Horticulture Media Association for 3 years. I found myself busy with my first business building vertical gardens which quickly became so busy that I decided to sell it after a hip injury. I then worked for a production nursery for 6 years while running another of my own businesses called The Indoor Jungle. I ran workshops all over Adelaide teaching indoor plant care to people. I write magazine articles for the SA life Garden Magazine and regularly speak on the radio with Jon Lamb and Michael Keelan. My defining moment early on was winning Young Leader of the Year Award in 2015 at the Nursery and Garden Industry’s Awards of Excellence. This allowed me to show people who I was and what I was all about back then.
// What makes you a Woman to Watch for 2024?
We (my husband and I) had a goal to turn a tired run-down hidden nursery into a destination garden center that the whole of Adelaide would know about! However, 14 days after taking over the business, Andy severely broke his leg and ankle ending up in hospital where he stayed for 7 weeks. The next 12 months was the hardest year of my life. Without my life partner able to even walk after 12 surgeries, running a 7 day a week business and still having to be a mum to our 2 children was a test of my strength. I had never worked in retail in my entire life so having to learn absolutely everything from scratch, both front of house and behind the scenes on my own was so immensely overwhelming I can’t begin to explain.
I’m building a brand unique to our nursery, and source stock to make us a point of difference. We specialize in Bamboo, huge palms and other tropical plants not available readily anywhere else. We now have a permanent coffee van built into our nursery open on weekends. I have built an online presence on Facebook that is more than just a sales page for the business. it is personal and family orientated, sharing with people our journey and life because although this is our business it is also our home, we live here and so I wanted people to share in the unique experience of living and working in the one place. Our unique tropical palm jungle nestled literally in the middle of the vineyards of Willunga is catching the attention of people from all over the state now.
In the 22 months that we’ve owned the Jungle we’ve won 5 different awards, the last being Best Boutique Garden Centre in SA.
// What is your goal or intention for the year ahead? And how are you going to achieve it?
My goal for the coming year is to start producing our own bamboo for sale. I currently have to buy it in which is our biggest monthly bill. We have mature bamboo growing all throughout the property so we are trialling different propagating techniques to see which method will work best to produce it as quickly as we can.
I have visions of adding more plants to the feature gardens and continuing the plant more specimen plants that can be viewed by customers.
I want to support one of my key staff to take up studying the Diploma of Horticulture and I want to make more time for myself. I know that finding a work life balance is important, but I really don’t feel I’m even remotely there yet. Living on the same property means that although we shut the gate at 4pm, I never really stop. I need to make my own space here in the house somewhere that I want to be and not just focus on the nursery and garden centre.
// What would being a Woman to Watch mean to you?
Being a Woman to Watch in 2024 would mean I could share my passion, business and story with so many other people and make me proud of what I’ve achieved despite 18 months of craziness. It felt like from the moment we set foot here someone wanted us to fail. Every single week was another disaster, or issue and doing it on my own for so long was incredibly difficult. People had no idea of the extent of Andy’s injury and so just thought that because he was home and out of hospital, he was fine. He still can’t walk properly and his inability to walk impacted us so much, but I just kept on going, putting all the big jobs and dreams aside and started trying to achieve the little things that I could do with the help of staff, my parents or friends.
// What would you like to see for the future of South Australian women and girls?
Equality in wages. Better support for training and education in our industry. Supporting each other’s achievements great or small is super important. One kind word could literally change someone’s direction in their career. Lift rather than laugh.
Get in touch with Haidi:
Website: www.jungleinwillunga.com.au
Check out all of the incredible Women to Watch for 2024 here as their profiles are uploaded throughout the year.
To become an SA Woman Member, check out our Membership Options here.
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