Woodside Plants & Design is an online plant nursery devoted to growing plants that are inspiring and beautiful.
Specialising in ornamental grasses, we grow high quality plants that enhance the landscape. All our plants are grown outdoors as nature intended with the majority being frost hardy.
Established in 2010, we operate from the small country town of Gloucester, located on the mid coast of New South Wales. Here we can experience extreme climatic conditions from below zero in Winter to high 40’s in Summer.
Rob Willis
Originally from South Africa, Rob’s childhood involved holidays to Kruger National Park where he quickly grew an interest in African wildlife and native plants. His early childhood passion for African wildlife then came to a halt when he immigrated with his family to Australia at age 10. Living in Sydney, growing snapdragons in his mum’s garden then sparked a new interest that has become a life long passion – growing plants!
Completing a Bachelor of Applied Science (Hort) and a Masters of Agriculture at Sydney University, Rob also spent time studying in Israel in the research of arid-zone horticulture for fruit tree crops and is qualified in permaculture design.
Following the completion of his formal studies, Rob’s interest for growing plants then lead to him owning and managing for 12 years what became an iconic boutique nursery in Sydney. During this time Rob sought to provide plants that would inspire both the landscape industry and the keen home gardener. Concurrently, Rob also ran a design practice where he provided landscape consultation and planting designs to countless residential and commercial properties.
As a horticultural scientist, Rob continues to grow, trial and test new plant species to see if they are suitable for the constantly changing weather patterns we are experiencing.