“I adored attending Natasha's Garden Design workshop. Natasha warmly welcomed us and was so generous from the minute we entered the gate Little Cottage on the Hill. Every little detail made it such a unique experience as Natasha happily shared so much about her garden and more while we all took it in enjoying a delicious orange cake and copious cups of tea. Loved exploring the garden and learning the concept of garden design with the take home kits in our goody bags with some of Natasha's gorgeous produce and herbs. I never wanted to leave and look forward to attending more workshops.” Annette

“I attended the Garden Design with Natasha Morgan. The space was absolutely beautiful and we were provided with a pack of materials to use. Natasha was generous with her time and answered all our questions. The workshop gave me permission to play with design and be less fixed on trying to get it 'right' or perfect the first time. Natasha brought the elements of design to life.”

“Wow, what can I say! Natasha’s offering is not just inspiring and educational, but practical and such great value. Freshly baked cakes and tastings of her famous syrups upon arrival. Endless cups of tea or coffee, many chances to ask questions, as well as small gifts to take home. Each guest receives a design ‘packet’, combine this with the directions Natasha gives and you can start creating your own new garden at home. You can’t ask for more than this, would highly recommend to anyone wanting to improve the experience of their outdoor space.”

Natasha Morgan is an award winning landscape architect with a passion for sharing her go-to skills so you can design your own garden. She generously imparts her lifelong experience, landscape design knowledge, design principles, clever tips and tricks, and her design journey in creating the internationally renowned 'Oak and Monkey Puzzle' and her latest personal project at Little Cottage On A Hill, to help you realise your own garden design dreams.

The Garden Design Workshop includes:

Participants will receive a garden design kit, guided digital tour of Oak & Monkey Puzzle, Natasha’s garden design principles, and an opportunity to develop your newly acquired garden design skills.

• An in-depth delve into the design of Natasha’s internationally renowned home and gardens at Oak & Monkey Puzzle, Spargo Creek (2013-2022), and its design aspirations, inspirations and gardens.

• Natasha’s will share her key garden design principles. How to start your own garden design, what to consider, how to create a garden design brief and the questions to ask yourself to get the garden you are dreaming of.

• An understanding of Natasha’s garden design principles by stepping into a real garden in the making at Little Cottage On A Hill, Daylesford

• Natasha will share her favourite go-to resources, tips and tricks and ‘secrets of the trade’.

• Morning tea from Natasha’s verge and kitchen gardens, and local seasonal produce.

This workshop requires no previous knowledge and is set in a relaxed and informal environment where participants can ask questions and chat with respected landscape architect, passionate gardener and teacher, Natasha Morgan.

Class sizes are limited to 8 participants to ensure these are intimate affairs.

About Natasha:

Natasha Morgan is an award winning landscape architect by profession and a multi-disciplinary creative collaborator by natural inclination. 

For a decade Natasha worked on some of Australia's most significant landscape architecture and urban design projects - notably several years spent managing the design and construction of The Australian Garden, Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne. Concurrently she shared her craft as a sessional lecturer in Masters of Landscape Architecture at RMIT and Melbourne Universities. 

In 2014 she made a tree change with a purpose to Spargo Creek, a tiny hamlet just outside of Daylesford in the Central Victorian Highlands.

Here Natasha transformed a dream into reality, creating Oak and Monkey Puzzle, the internationally renowned design, event and horticultural production focussed property and its idyllic gardens. 

Oak and Monkey Puzzle not only provided an evolving special hub for, garden design, artisans and craftspeople by way of workshops, collaborations, and bespoke events. It engendered a warm sense of community, sparked dynamic conversations, fostered collaborative connections, cultivated creativity and provided a place for meeting of the minds. 

It is here, also, that Natasha began her journey creating a way of life she had long yearned for. Rooted in her flower, berry and kitchen gardens, orchards and forest surrounds, she learnt to live with the land, the shifting season’s, and how to live ‘well’. 

Natasha is a sought after public speaker, workshop teacher and facilitator, and creative collaboration partner.  Natasha shares her inspiring story of tree change, garden design, and country life, through guest speaker events, writing, her workshops, social media following, print and digital media.  She has been widely featured both locally and internationally, including Australian Woman’s Weekly, Country Style magazine, Better Homes & Gardens (Channel 7),  and recently The Block (Channel 9). 

Oak & Monkey Puzzle - Creating an internationally renowned garden and fulfilling a dream:

Up until 2022 when the property was sold, Oak and Monkey Puzzle was the design, event and horticultural production-focussed property of Natasha Morgan and her young children. It was also the physical manifestation of a dream held by a family from the city that made a tree change with a purpose in 2014. It was an internationally renowned and evolving hub for landscape architecture, garden design, artisans and craftspeople by way of workshops, collaboration and bespoke events.

Given Natasha's creative background in architecture and landscape architecture, she set upon creating a masterplan for the property given its dilapidated state after many years being grazed by horses.

This workshop will share the story of the creation of Oak and Monkey Puzzle, with its passionate focus on productive landscape activities. Natasha will discuss the development of its masterplan designed by her, its vision and inspirations, and subsequently the construction of the orchard, birch forest, cut flower and kitchen gardens.   Natasha will also share a little of her next garden design adventure at her newest project and home, Little Cottage On A Hill, in Daylesford.

A new garden in the making - Little Cottage on a Hill:

In 2022 Natasha and her family moved on from the idyllic property. In this next chapter, Natasha has set herself the challenge of taking the best of the lessons learnt at Oak & Monkey Puzzle’s 5 acres, combined with her love for gardens, growing, harvesting, cooking and preserving, and distilling this in the design of beautifully productive and sustainably focussed gardens at her new 515 square metre Daylesford property, Little Cottage on a Hill.