Open Gardens SA is a not-for-profit organisation overseen by a dedicated committee of South Australian garden lovers, including designers, horticulturalists and garden owners.
Jamie McIlwain
Jamie brings over 30 years of experience in garden design and landscaping to our committee.
He is an award-winning landscape designer who leads teams of horticulturalists in the Adelaide Hills.
He spearheads our Landscape and Harvest Garden Festivals.
Tom Wilkinson
Tom was formative in setting up our organisation, including developing our website, and he is frequently seen running the bar at events.
Tom assisted his wife, Marg, in opening their garden, Gable Ends, twice, but his heart belongs to his vineyard in the Adelaide Hills.
Victoria Winnall
Vick is a Foundation Member and was our inaugural chair.
Victoria Winnall was a much-loved and respected chair of the original Open Gardens Australia for many years – probably more than she can count!
She has been a committee member, selector and garden owner and brings years of gardening knowledge.
Rob Andrewartha
Rob was our inaugural treasurer and chair in 2018.
Rob drives Open Gardens SA's financial success and brings years of financial management experience in the wine industry.
He is also the co-owner of The Garden in Wilpena Street, a beautiful garden in Eden Hills.
Alison Edwards
Alison is a retired primary school teacher and self-taught gardener.
She has regularly opened her garden, The Knoll, in Coromandel Valley.
Her passion for gardening and enthusiasm for visiting open gardens prompted her to join our committee.
Virginia Sheridan
Virginia was heavily involved with Open Gardens Australia as a committee member and Chair of Selectors for many years. Virginia joined Open Gardens SA as a Foundation Member in 2015.
She has opened her garden Silverwood on three occasions.
Virginia is interested in anything and everything associated with gardens and gardening.
Dianne Michalk
Di is the key to promoting each open garden on radio, in print and online.
She is a very keen gardener and has been an Open Gardens SA member since it was formed in 2015.
Di has a wealth of experience in preparing and opening gardens. She has opened her garden, Ashgrove Iris Garden, annually for more than 25 years. She was rewarded for her passion by winning ABC Gardening Australia’s “Gardener of the Year 2013.”
Daniel Cooper
Since finding a selector walking around their garden 'Churston' one day, with a clipboard, Daniel and his wife Cheryl have loved sharing it through Open Gardens with South Australians. Being featured in SA Life was even stranger.
Daniel says the secret is just to keep adding things for 20 years. Churston is a mix of formality, Mediterranean-inspired cottage garden, with medicinal herb beds currently in development.
Alison Jones
Alison is very much a garden observer. She enjoys the fact that her husband is a gardener, and she gets to enjoy it. They opened their Henley Beach garden in 2021 as part of a group of five gardens—neighbourhood friends who enjoy sharing their gardens and developing their community together.
She enjoys visiting gardens and values the contribution of gardens and gardeners to a healthy environment.
Jennie Martin
Jennie was a founding partner of an award-winning Adelaide landscape design business. Now, as a retired designer, she is keen to contribute to Open Gardens SA by encouraging home gardeners to participate and share their garden spaces.
She loves to create and finds gardening an outlet for bringing ideas to life.
Emma Sadie Thomson
Emma Sadie Thomson is an enthusiastic gardener with a background in landscape architecture.
With over a decade of experience in the industry, her business specialises in plant styling, plant maintenance and landscape design. She frequently collaborates with architects and interior designers to create custom outdoor greenery. Emma is dedicated to connecting people with nature.
Fiona Watson
Fiona Watson became a Foundation and Committee Member for Open Gardens SA in 2015 after years on the committee of Open Gardens Australia.
She enjoys being involved with so many wonderfully inspirational people, members and gardens and loves getting stuck into her garden whenever possible.
Fiona has opened her garden in Wayville.
Marg Wilkinson
Marg is a keen gardener who opened her Gable Ends garden in 2012 and 2015.
She is also a Foundation Member and regularly caters for Open Gardens SA events.
John Zwar
John trained in horticulture at Adelaide Botanic Garden and worked in arid northern SA. He undertook an overseas Churchill Fellowship study tour of arid zone horticulture and, in 1981, proposed the establishment of The Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden at Port Augusta, where he still has close involvement. He was the Curator of the National Botanic Garden in Lae, PNG, and a TAFE SA lecturer at Urrbrae.
John was on the committee of Open Gardens Australia and was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1989.