Jerry Coleby-Williams
Jerry Coleby-Williams is a curator, author, Director of the Seed Saver’s Network, Patron of Householder’s Options for Protecting the Environment, and member of the Australian Institute of Horticulture. For the past 12 years Jerry has been a presenter on ABC TV's Gardening Australia show.
Gardening since the age of four, trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and by the Royal Horticultural Society, Jerry is qualified in horticulture, management, conservation, arboriculture, and botanical sciences. A scholarship took him to Western Australia where he discovered new species, such as the critically endangered Darwinia polychroma. Fascinated by Australia's flora and landscapes, he decided to emigrate.
Jerry has managed nurseries, urban forests, heritage parks, London's busiest garden centre and has helped establish Mt Annan Botanic Garden, Australia's largest native plant garden. For over 11 years, Jerry managed the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. During this time he helped project manage the development of new special collections, including the Sydney Fernery, Herb Garden, HSBC Oriental Garden, and First Encounters Garden.
In 1998, Jerry created the award-winning Rare and Endangered Plants Garden, where he planted ‘Dorothy’, the first Wollemi pine. The gardens successfully hosted the 2000 Sydney Olympic Triathlon.
Jerry has been the horticultural consultant for the relandscaping of St Mary's Cathedral, Central Station and Sydney International Airport. He was also the horticultural consultant behind 'Flora', Australia's largest illustrated plant dictionary.
In 2003, Jerry founded ‘Bellis’, an award-winning sustainable house and garden in Bayside Brisbane. In 2009, Bellis won a national Save Water Award (built environment) and in 2011 he won a HMA Horticultural Laurel for the Best Technical Television Gardening Segment.