Meet the Head Gardener
Meet the Head Gardener – a storytelling series celebrating the people behind the plants.
The Gadi Rooms, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney
1 April 2026
5.30pm – 7.30pm
$65 per person
$50 Foundation & Friends members
2 hours
The Meet the Head Gardener series is back this Autumn.
Meet the Head Gardener is a new storytelling series from Foundation & Friends that celebrates the people behind the plants. Through candid conversations with Head Gardeners across our network, we’ll explore their unique career journeys, the diverse gardens they manage, and the lessons they’ve learnt along the way, including practical advice for gardens of any size.
For this event, we will hear from the owner and manager of Breenhold Gardens in Mount Wilson, Tom Breen, and Head Gardener at Everglades House & Garden in Leura, Simon Cooper.
Hear their unique stories, from what it’s like to manage, maintain and develop a heritage listed estate, both privately and publicly owned, to what it takes to care for some of the country’s most iconic landscapes. Whether you're a green thumb or just garden-curious, this is a rare chance to go behind the scenes and learn from the best in the business.
Come and enjoy a glass of wine and an evening of garden knowledge with Tom & Simon.
Top image: The Star Pond in the Celestium Garden at Breenhold.
A bed of flowering yellow tulips at Everglades House & Garden. 
A stone structure at Breenhold Gardens. 
A path through the garden at Everglades House & Garden. 
A moss wall at Breenhold Gardens.
Meet the presenters
Ashley Filipovski, the Curator Manager at Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah, is a seasoned professional with over 20 years experience in horticulture. As a versatile leader, he has held various management positions, cultivating expertise in conservation, landscaping, and business. His journey began as an apprentice in Geelong, Victoria, where he developed a passion for plants and nature, leading him to become the manager of several gardens before taking on his current role.
At the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah, Ashley skilfully manages and supervises a diverse array of projects, including landscaping, design, living collection management, conservation initiatives, arboriculture, turf, and horticulture-related operations. Leading a team of 26 dedicated individuals, he sets priorities and oversees the direction of projects, ensuring the Garden flourishes under his guidance.
Ashley believes that being well resourced and positioned amidst some of Australia's iconic conservation sites gives the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah enormous potential for impactful work, and his goal is for the Garden to become a global leader in cool-climate horticulture and conservation.
Graduating from the University of Sydney in the 1960s, Tom commenced a career in the sand and quarrying industry in Sydney, before moving on to the industrial minerals sector, in which he spent over 25 years consulting internationally. In 1995 Tom took over the management (on a part time basis) of the family garden estate, Breenhold at Mount Wilson, from his then ailing father. His parents had established the gardens from scratch 30 years previously. He later became CEO and director of Breen Resources, a company his father founded.
In more recent years Tom was asked to join the boards of Musica Viva and the Sydney International Piano Competition, from which he is now retired. Together with my wife, Rachael Kohn, I support a number of Australian musical organisations and other charitable bodies. Music, travel, gardens and writing, as well as Breenhold and the board of the family company, fill his weeks more than adequately.
Simon was raised on the Mid North Coast of NSW but has been living in the Blue Mountains for the last 15 years. He has 25 years’ experience in the field of Horticulture with the last 14 years focused on cool climate gardens. With a passion for plants and different landscapes he is most at home in the outdoors.
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