Jarryd Kelly

Jarryd Kelly is the Curator Manager of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and The Domain Sydney who specialises in turf, grassland, and natural area management. 

He holds a Diploma in Horticulture (Sports Turf Management), Diploma in Project Management, and a Certificate III in Parks and Gardens.

With over a decade of horticultural experience, Jarryd has become an authority on Turfgrass, a unique type of grass that is low-growing, has a fine leaf, and can tolerate high traffic areas and low mowing heights. His expertise in managing these grasses has enabled him to finely manicure lawns to perfection; a task that still excites him.

Jarryd's interest in grasses extends beyond Turfgrass to the entire Poaceae family. He believes grasses are the most economically important and versatile plant family as they provide food such as cereal crops, forage (material eaten by livestock and wild animals), building materials, and habitat.

Jarryd’s favourite plant is Backhousia citriodora, a tree with an amazing aroma in its leaves that features heavily in his childhood memories, and which he finds equally useful and beautiful.

On a typical day, Jarryd is responsible for managing a team of 57 highly skilled horticulturists, to ensure over 65,000 plants are cared for and curated at the Garden. His work also includes managing the construction of new garden beds, landscaping, horticultural displays including The Calyx, arboriculture, turf and nursery operations.

Jarryd loves the fact that no two days are the same in his line of work and enjoys the unique challenges of working with living things, both people and plants. His favourite work memory is the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan’s 30th birthday celebrations in 2018, where the effort put into making everything perfect proved extremely rewarding.

When he’s not busy with his work, Jarryd enjoys watching and participating in various sports, bushwalking and enjoys spending time at the beach.