Steve has always loved plants and gardening and from a very early age he could always be found dabbling in his mother’s garden. Steve trained as a professional horticulturist at the Hawkesbury Agricultural College in New South Wales and has worked widely throughout the horticultural industry including ten years as the Curator of Wollongong Botanic Garden. The call of the tropics eventually saw Steve moving to the Northern Territory where he enjoys the challenges of gardening in the extremes of the dry tropics.

Steve lives on a rural property on the outskirts of Darwin where he combines a love of wildlife particularly birds, with his dream of establishing a garden that displays all of his favourite plants. A true plant lover Steve has given up on having a beautifully designed garden admitting that he would rather have another plant than sticking to a master planned garden. When it’s too hot outside for gardening, Steve enjoys sharing the simple pleasure of plants and gardening with others through his practical writings on gardening in the tropics.

Feature Articles by the Steve Popple in subTropical Gardening

• Top end gardening for native birds – Issue 2
• Growing fruit trees in the tropics – Issue 3
• Fruiting plants in the tropics; dragon fruit, avocado, pineapples – Issue 4
• Fruiting plants in the tropics: tamarind, passionfruit – Issue 5
• Gardening on the tropical coast – Issue 6
• Places to be: Howard Springs Nature Park – Issue 9
• Wet season wonders for the tropics – Issue 10
• Curcuma Magic – Issue 14