About Us

The original business was founded by Mr. Ken Harrington in 1974, as a part time business specialising in domestic landscape construction. By the early 1980’s, having expanded the business into garden maintenance and irrigation installation with 12 casual staff, a decision was made to ‘go full time’.

Since 1974 the business has grown and evolved to its present day, position in the industry, with Ken gaining a wealth of knowledge, both formal and informal and hard earned, experience along the way. The staff and sub-contractors chosen by Ken to work on landscape projects and garden maintenance are all trained and thoroughly conversant in their field of expertise.

Over the years Ken has undertaken to improve his knowledge, skills and qualifications to better serve you, the client, and to this end has achieved a;

• Certificate in Irrigation Systems (Installation, Design & Maintenance), 1984
• Associate Diploma Applied Science (Landscape Management), 1994
• Certificate in Basic Autocad, 1997
• Advanced Diploma Applied Science (Park Management), 2000
• Certificate IV in Workplace Training, 2000

Ken has won numerous recognised Landscape Industry Awards, for care, attention to detail and finish to the project. In 1998 Ken was nominated in the top 12 Landscapers for Australia and in 2005 one of the top 12 Landscape Designers in Australia.

Ken has also been involved in the industry as a trainer, improving the skills of his own people and others within the industry. He has written numerous accredited training manuals for the industry and has also co-authored a book on gardening and design in a Mediterranean climate. Ken has also been a consultant for both the Botanical Gardens & Gardening Australia Advice Line.

Over the years of doing landscape design, Ken found researching suitable plants for the designs, laborious both on the internet and using hard copy. The idea of a fully searchable horticultural data base that could be used to find a plant that would suit a particular location or be used to identify a plant was formed. After several years of research and a lot of trial and error, Hort Data was developed. The data base for Hort Data is growing on a daily basis and is aiming to include Plants from across the world as well as Ferns, Fern Allies, Mosses, Lichens, Fungi, Moulds and Algae.

Since 2014, Ken divides his time between working on select landscaping projects, garden maintenance and researching and compiling data for the Hort Data program.