Phil Pettitt has over 20 years’ experience as a horticulturalist and is passionate about community outreach and development.
He is the Manager of the Garden's award-winning Community Greening program, where he is responsible for leading and supporting a team of educators to deliver transformative outreach horticultural education programs across New South Wales.
His primary focus is to empower communities to make positive changes through horticultural programs, guided by the tenets of people, plants and place, and he is passionate about the science behind horticultural therapy. Phil and his team work with young people from low socio-economic areas, First Nations communities, refugees, and people living in social housing, with the goal of enhancing their lives through horticultural therapy and green and blue space benefits.
Phil is responsible for co-designing and co-building communal gardening spaces, as well as developing and maintaining key relationships with corporate, industry, government and non-government organisations, securing funding through partnership proposals and grants. He is also responsible for social and therapeutic programs, food security programs, and community training and development initiatives, and runs the occasional workshop or corporate working bee.
During his time at Botanic Gardens of Sydney, the Community Greening program has won multiple awards, including a national award from Parks & Leisure for best community program, a national merit award from the Australia Institute of Horticulture, and recognition from Keep Australia Beautiful NSW for making the state a more vibrant and attractive place to live.
Phil's favourite plant – Worsleya procera – is a bulbous evergreen perennial from the Brazilian forests, commonly known as the Empress of Brazil. He is proud to have been successful in growing it from seed, overcoming the many difficulties this entails. In his free time, Phil enjoys spending time outdoors with his family and friends, gardening, ocean swimming, surfing, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, and snowboarding.
Hear from Phil in a recent Branch Out episode:
