Whitehorse Council’s nursery team’s dedication to ecologically sustainable horticulture led them to be named as the Best Government Nursery in Australia at the national 2011 Nursery and Garden Industry Awards (NGIA).
ParksWide Nursery was successful in receiving this award against other quality government nurseries across Australia, including Yarralumla Nursery, also known as the ‘Government Nursery’, in ACT and Alice Springs Desert Park Nursery in Northern Territory.
Whitehorse City Council’s Horticulture and Landscape Services Coordinator Steve Day said the nursery team takes great pride in delivering results for the community and has developed a reputation across Council as a ‘can do’ business unit.
The nursery produces more than 100,000 plants each year, about 80 per cent of which are indigenous to the City of Whitehorse. The Horticultural and Landscape Services team undertakes more than 100 landscape upgrades across the City of Whitehorse each year.
The nursery has been a member of the Nursery and Garden Industry Victoria since 2002 and is the only Local Government Nursery in Victoria to hold a national accreditation through the Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme Australia. This scheme recognises professional excellence in the production of healthy vigorous plants using the best practice techniques.
Steve Day’s passion for gardening began at an early age and has led to an ongoing career in Local Government.Steve began his career in horticulture as an apprentice at the former City of Nunawading in 1992 and over the years has progressed to become a Team Leader within Whitehorse City Council’s ParksWide Department.
Steve’s enthusiasm for gardening began as young boy while helping his parents in the backyard vegetable garden.
“I am lucky enough to have been able to take such a simple pleasure as gardening and develop it in to great career here at Whitehorse,” he said. “Along the way, I have developed a great interest in environmental and sustainability issues, particularly in the area of horticulture, and this is something I have also been able to feature in my work.”
Part of Steve’s responsibility is overseeing the operations of Council’s nursery, which grows and provides plants for use in the city’s parks, gardens, main road median strips, roundabouts and shopping centres.
The horticultural knowledge Steve has learned through his role at Whitehorse assisted him in being elected as the President of the Tree and Shrub Growers Association Victoria in 2008 – the largest sectional interest group of the Nursery and Garden Industry Victoria.
In the same year, Steve was also named as the NGIA’s Victorian Young Leader for 2008.
