Mat Murray developed his passion for plants, particularly bulbs, at a young age. One of his earliest memories is of grabbing an armful of red tulips from a local park. Bulbs and all.
He has grown a wide variety of plants over the years and it was a natural direction to pursue when he finished school. He enrolled in Horticulture Certificate 3, continued onto the Associate Diploma of Horticulture (Nursery Management) and then began work in the horticulture industry, first in wholesale nurseries and then in parks and gardens.
On an excursion for TAFE, he visited the Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens Mount Tomah just before it opened in 1988. Mat decided one day he would love to work there. He particularly loved the Rock Garden with its collection of alpines and bulbs.
In 1996 a position came up at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney in the Nursery and Mat was successful in his application. In the meantime, he moved to the Blue Mountains to enable him to buy a house, grow the cold climate plants he particularly loved, and start his own garden.
A position came up at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah as a horticulturist and the rest is history! Mat applied and secured this position and to his delight it was in the Rock Garden!
Since 1998 Mat has been a Senior Horticulturists at the Garden and he now leads a team of 8 horticulturists who maintain and develop the Ornamental Horticulture across the 45-hectare site.
See some of Matt's work below: