Nursery & Garden Industry Tasmania

Mark Van der Staay is a 3rd generation nurseryman with 17 years experience in the industry.

Mark's is a director of his family business Westland Nurseries, a wholly Tasmanian owned and operated wholesale nursery, specializing in advanced trees at Seven Mile Beach.

Twelve months ago, with the support of the committee, NGIT underwent a restructure; a new committee was created with Mark elected as President.

Mark looks forward to working closely with all NGIT members over the next year and encourages all members to take advantage of the information and benefits NGIT has to offer.

Mark Van der Staay

Joe Kerin began working full time in the family business ten years ago; however growing up next door to the nursery, Joe had developed a keen interest in the nursery industry from an early age.

Originally selected to receive a scholarship with the Royal Horticultural Society, Joe eventually accepted an internship offered by the Ohio State University and worked for a year on a large scale production nursery in Monterey, California.

With the support of his parents, Joe has now taken over the running of Granton Plants. Managing a production nursery can be a challenging job, not leaving a lot of time for extra curricular activities, however Joe still manages to play hockey, bushwalk and travel whenever he can.

Joe Kerin

Lauren Chandler is the Office Manager and giftware buyer at Chandlers Nursery in Sandy Bay. Lauren has been at the nursery for 3 years, coming from a retail management background previous to this position, working in the nursery industry is in her blood. Lauren, along with her brother Luke, are fifth generation to work in their nursery, which has been in the Chandler family since 1888. Lauren looks forward to keeping the nursery in the family for the next generation. Lauren has strong interests in organic gardening, sustainability, and permaculture. Lauren has been involved with NGIT for 12 months, and enjoys being on the committee.

Lauren Chandler

Karen Brock is the Manager of Brocklands, a production nursery situated in the Tamar Valley of Northern Tasmanian. Brocklands are contract growers of a large range of trees and shrubs for retail and landscape use specialising in propagation of roses, Clematis and blueberries.

Until recently, Karen previously held the role of the President of NGIT, and remains a Director on the Board of the Nursery and Garden Industry of Australia.  

Karen Brock.

David Drysdale started his nursery out of his parent’s backyard at the age of 17 and sold plants on the Channel Highway in Kingston for around 9 years.

With the help of his family, David started his business Greenhill Nursery from scratch.

Greenhill Nurseries has been operating for over 8 years, they now employ 10 staff and specialise in growing advanced trees and shrubs.

David is a 4th Officer with the Sandfly Volunteer Fire Brigade, and loves fly fishing and snow boarding.

David sees his role on the committee by assisting in keeping NGIT active in Tasmania, as well as keeping the nursery industry moving forward with plan to be easily managed into the future.  

David Drysdale