Global Garden - about the magazine and the people who bring it to you

Global Garden founders
Kay and John Gee

Company Background. Founded in December 1996 as Australia's first national internet gardening magazine, Global Garden continues to be a rapidly-growing, free, monthly, internet-only gardening magazine with high quality, knowledgeable, fresh content. It is the most popular site of its type in Australia. Eleven editions are published each year from February to December. Each edition has new feature articles, news and advice, planting guides, garden planning tips, kids' section, beginners' section and gardening book reviews. There is a strong emphasis on Australian plants. The Global Garden shop stocks non-genetically modified seeds for delicious vegetables, as well as other gardening items.

Kay Gee - Contributing Editor. Kay has a B.A. Dip. Ed. (University of Qld) and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Science (Horticulture) from Burnley College, University of Melbourne. After an earlier career as a secondary school teacher, she changed direction and began freelance horticultural writing when her children were small. She has been editor of the nursery magazine Australian Better Gardens and Home Ideas for many years and along with her husband John, established Global Garden in December 1996. Kay is also regular contributor to Greenworld magazine and works in various capacities as a horticultural consultant. Kay is a member of the committee of the Horticultural Media Association (Vic) Inc and a member of the Australian Institute of Horticulture. She enjoys the challenge of trying to fit all the plants she loves into a city garden.

John Gee - Adviser. John performed a diverse range of roles with the BP Group in the areas of Operations, Accounting, Marketing and Computer Audit. He is a CPA with a B. Business (Accounting & Computing) degree. John's last position with the BP Group was as the Financial Controller (CFO) and deputy CEO for the chemicals division in Australasia. After several positions in the IT & Telecommunications industries, John (a Global Garden co-founder) developed the Marketing & IT areas for Global Garden before returning to more conventional employment. John maintains an interest in Global Garden and likes growing things that he can eat!

Melanie Kinsey - Gardening Writer. Melanie has a Diploma in Horticulture from Burnley College (University of Melbourne). She worked as a gardener and later supervisor at a variety of educational and municipal institutions. In the early 1990's she went back to study environmental science at Monash University and later began her own horticultural consultancy. Melanie is now a freelance horticultural writer and a mother. She is a member of the Horticultural Media Association (Vic) Inc. and is a regular contributor to Australian Horticulture. Melanie holds the Registered Hebe Collection at her garden in country Victoria.

Helen McKerral - Gardening Writer. Helen is an author and freelance journalist who writes highly-regarded fiction for young people and non-fiction for gardeners. Helen’s horticultural journalism includes numerous photographs and feature articles in national and regional publications such as Australian Garden Journal, Your Garden, SA Gardener, Country Looks, as well as in local and state newspapers. She is the SA columnist for Your Garden magazine, and her book Gardening on a Shoestring (Hyland House) was published in July 1999. Helen holds a Diploma of Applied Science in Natural Resources and a Graduate Diploma in Environmental Studies, and lives in the beautiful Adelaide Hills with her partner and children.

Alex (Akira) Endo - Japanese Correspondent. Alex is a Japanese businessman with a passion for Australian-style gardens and Australian plants. He lived in Melbourne from 1987 to 1992 where he learnt to "drink, garden and play golf." When he returned to his home in Yokohama, he decided to establish his own Australian-style garden. Despite difficulty in obtaining Australian plants, Alex has managed to propagate many of his own plants from seed and spores.

David Beeson - UK Correspondent. David is an ex-Lecturer in Biological Science. He has written and photographed gardens for most of the UK glossy magazines including for the UK's RHS. David and his wife own a B&B called Forest Edge. Their garden has been featured on BBC2 and in other media. It is open to the public and is featured in the Good Gardens Guide.David’s special interests are native wildlife and its conservation.

Global Garden is thrilled & honoured to have won the Australian Horticultural Media "Information Technology" award presented for "outstanding achievement in communicating through a website or CD Rom"

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Photo of Kay & John Gee courtesy of the City of Boroondara and the Boroondara Business Award / Ron Carr Enterprise Award