Meet the judges

City judge, ABC’s Gardening Australia presenter Sophie Thomson

Sophie Thomson’s enduring love affair with gardening stems from growing up in the family nursery in the Adelaide Hills, and has led to her becoming a national figure in the horticultural media.

In more than 14 years on television, Sophie has actively promoted gardening and its benefits. Seen on ABC TV’s Gardening Australia program, her infectious enthusiasm inspires people of all ages and was voted Best Lifestyle Program at the 2019 Logies. In addition, she is a popular national public speaker, TEDx presenter, broadcaster, author, weekly newspaper columnist and horticulturalist. Sophie’s first award-winning book From the Ground Up was a complete guide for South Australian gardeners and her most recent tome Sophie’s Patch – released in March 2018 – is a national best-seller. Known for her strong environmental beliefs and resilience, combined with her infectious enthusiasm, vitality and love of sustainable gardening, Sophie describes herself as an “obsessivecompulsive gardener” who, were it not for her family and career, could spend every day in the garden. She is passionate about the role gardening can play in people’s lives to improve both their mental and physical well-being and relishes her opportunities to address these issues.

With more people experiencing stress in their daily lives – let alone having to deal with the challenges when experiencing natural disasters such as drought, flood or fires – Sophie is convinced that gardening has a vital role to play in individual and community wellbeing, which is backed up by worldwide research.

In 2018, her Royal Adelaide Show Garden ‘Buzz – the Bee Lover’s Garden’ highlighted the importance of bees and showed practical ways to create a beefriendly garden.

A recent project focuses on increasing public awareness of native bees and, together with expert Dr Katja Hogendoorn, she designed and constructed native bee habitat or ‘Native Bee BnBs’ with eight local councils along Adelaide’s iconic River Torrens, from the hills to the sea. Sophie is an ambassador for Horticultural Therapy SA and Nature Play SA, as well as patron of many environmental organisations – including the Beekeepers’ Society of South Australia and Friends of the Waite Arboretum.

She is also on the Advisory Board of TREENET.

She lives at Sophie’s Patch - a threeacre property in the Adelaide Hills, with her husband and five children, and an assortment of animals. Over the last eight years, they have created a remarkable garden around the old stone cottage, on what was once a bare paddock. The Patch includes numerous contained spaces as well as a fully productive organic vegie patch, more than 120 fruit and nut trees, and what she hopes one day will be a breathtaking, climate-compatible ornamental garden.

Her bi-annual open gardens attract thousands of visitors each year. Visit her website at www.sophiespatch.com.au or contact Sophie via email at sophie@sophiespatch.com.au