Have You Ever Met Someone Like This? - May 22, 2026
Dear Gardening
Isn't it interesting how you meet someone sometimes and you feel like you know them already. That happened to me today .
I was going to a meeting in Terry Hills and I missed the driveway, and accidentally drove into a nursery. It was absolutely amazing!!!
It's called The Palms, and it services the Northern Beaches area, so it has lots of tropical plants, all beautifully arranged.
I was walking around admiring the place when I bumped into this guy. Hello I said, you must be the owner?
"Well I'm one of the partners", he replied. I love your nursery I told him. What's your name? "I'm Andrew Goldsmith". He could see my jacket, so he quickly knew who I was.
"I follow you on Facebook" he replied.
Andrew was a restauranteur to start with, but when he left school, he really wanted to be a Landscape Designer, he didn't get enough marks so he chose business.
He used his love of plants to create The Boathouse eateries in Palm beach and Shelley beach Manly. They were a roaring success, but a change of circumstances meant he had to start a new venture.
He and his partner bought the old Palmland nursery, in Terry Hills, and they have turned it into a tourist attraction with a restaurant, wedding facilities and a magical nursery.
The beautiful gardens were already here, but Andrew has used his designer gift to transform them. The nursery is in the garden. Every where you walk you see photo opportunities. The plants are used to sell the pots, the pots are used to sell the plants. There's designer eye art, everywhere.
Andrew wanted me to have coffee with him but he double books sometimes. He's a popular man. He had great glasses and great hair, and million dollar teeth. I wandered off, next door, for my meeting.
Some people think I just drive around doing nothing, looking for plants and taking photos.
P.S Andrew came out to see my nursery yesterday, he loved us which was nice and he also spent $700.
Yes he bought rare plants to plant in his nursery's garden.
Jasmine owns DJ Restaurant in Ingleburn, and I often stop to get the Rice paper rolls, when I'm doing deliveries. Jasmine is a mad gardener, she loves her roses, but she also loves Zygo cactus.
She bought this Zygo off us a couple of years ago and it's covered in flowers now. She grows it at home in a spot where it gets morning. When it comes into flower she brings it to the restaurant so everyone can enjoy the flowers.
We have some great news for Zygo cactus lovers, we've just received our winter stock from a specialist grower in Victoria. We have 11 colours and they are all named varieties. Yes they have names and a picture label and you can see what colour they are going to be.
They are all in bud and coming into flower now.
These are collector plants and we've got colours that nobody else has. You have to come, we don't do phone orders.
The plants cost $18.99, pot them up into bigger pots using Tim's Best Potting mix. They grow beautifully in pots or hanging baskets. They are easy to grow.
They like morning sun then shade.
Grow them outside for best results.
It's so easy to make yourself happy, we've forgotten that it's the simple things that make us smile, we don't need fancy things or lots of money. We just need flowers in our life, we need something to nurture that will pay us back with flowers.
Every autumn I plant this pot up with Johnny Jump Up Violas, they look so tiny when I plant them out. I always top up the pot with Tim's Best Potting mix. I mulch with Sugar cane, I plant the seedlings 15cms apart. I water them.
Within a week they start to grow, they begin to flower straight away. I watch them grow, they catch my eye every time I walk past this pot. Before I know it they have become my friends, they have joined the family.
They flower like this right through winter and early spring. You simply can't believe that a plant can produce so many flowers with so little help from me.
These plants are givers, they welcome me home with a smile, they make me smile too.
I've just had the most amazing experience, I've just met Bob. Bobs not his real name, But Bob has the most amazing garden, and he's not a gardener, he tells me.
Bob is a gardener and he's grown almost everything from cuttings or friends have given him a plant. He's only been to Tim's Garden Centre maybe once or twice. But someone gave him a Tim's Gift Voucher just recently, so he will be visiting soon.
Bob bought this townhouse in Ingleburn and it had a Mothers in law plant growing out the front, he noticed it was doing well so he spilt it up and planted more. That got him started, he started his garden through trial and error.
Bob doesn't know it, but he's an artist, he has a natural gift for arranging plants by leaf shape and colour, so they all go together. The garden has splashes of colour, using flowers and foliage.
The backyard is a private oasis, I can hear the birds and smell the freshness of the garden, but I can't see windows or fences or other signs of humans. Bob tells me he loves coming out here after a hard days work, it's so relaxing.
A lot of the plants have meaning for Bob, the plants have names, the names of the people who gifted them to him.
He has an amazing Port Jackson Fig Bonsai that he grew from a cutting from his Grandfathers plant. The trunk looks a 100 years old, it's priceless.
He's got collector plants thriving here, he tells me he's had to move things around as the area became more shady. Bromeliads in hanging baskets was something new for me, and don't they look spectacular!!!!
Golden Cane Palms and Pink Cascade Lillypillys have been used to create privacy. It's become a private oasis. It's amazing what Bob's done with this tiny space. It gives hope to everyone, and he's not even a gardener? I came away with a cutting, Bob and I are friends now.
Happy gardening
Tim