Written by Kirtsen Stoltmann | Photos of Jo O'Connell by Francine Gealer

It is four o'clock on Friday afternoon: Beer O’Clock. Jo O’Connell, owner of Australian Native Plants, and artist Kirsten Stoltmann are sharing a drink. This has become a tradition (read: habit) over the last several years at Jo's three-acre nursery in Casitas Springs — across the street from the infamous Johnny Cash house. Kirsten has been cajoled into interviewing her good friend by VORTEX editor Jules Weissman.

What follows is a transcript of their conversation.

Kirsten: Testing 1...2...3... So, when did you first come to Ojai?

Jo: In 1883.

Kirsten: Whoa, wait — what? In a horse and buggy?

Jo: On a ship. I stowed away on a ship from Australia.

Kirsten: Really? Tell me more.

Jo: My grandfather actually did that, yeah? When he was 12 or 14 he stowed away on a ship from Sydney to California for the Gold Rush. He got caught and they sent him down to one of the missions in San Diego until another ship went back.

Kirsten: Wow. (Sounds of cheese and bikkies being crunched and beer being gulped)

Jo: So, anyhow, John Taft invited me to come over and put a bird-attracting, Australian cut flower garden on his 380-acre property. One of my professors, Robert Spoonerhart — an entomologist — and his wife were visiting Ojai when they met another entomologist, a friend of Mark Whitman, who is John Taft’s son-in-law. John Taft asked them who they would suggest to help with his Australian garden and they recommended me. And so that's how John Taft tells the story.

Kirsten: So, you came here to help. How long did you stay?

Jo: I was here a year to help and I also took a class at UCSB: Elements of Landscape Design. I ended up meeting Byron, my husband, in that class.

Kirsten: So, is that what kept you here?

Jo: Well, I had to go back, actually. I had to go back because I was finishing off my degree in horticulture at the University of Western Sydney. I still had about three months to go. Then I got a job with Mount Isa mines in Northwest Queensland. I went there after I finished my studies and I worked as a horticulturist for the mines.

Kirsten: Why did the mine need a horticulturist?

Jo: They needed a horticulturist to help them with revegetation — growing plants — and liaising with the town because this mine was enormous, probably one of the biggest mines in Queensland. It was right in the middle of the town. And so, anyway, I was probably the first qualified horticulturist and first female horticulturist that had ever worked at Mount Isa.

Kirsten: Wow! So what about Byron?

Jo: While I was working at Mount Isa, I got a call from Byron asking if I would want to come back and visit. So I said, yes, I would. But I waited until I had a holiday because I was in Outback Australia, so they paid me really well and gave me long holidays. I got a six-week holiday each year. I made sure I had my six-week holiday and enough money. I didn't really have much money. That was my first big job with a degree under my belt.

Kirsten: Right, so you were taking a leap of faith for love?

Jo: I came back here for 4 or 5 weeks and stayed with Byron and his son, so yeah.

Kirsten: Hmmmm, romantic indeed.

Jo: More beer?

Kirsten: Yes please, and more bikkies! Now, when you came back to visit Byron, did you go back to Taft Gardens and do some work?

Jo: I have always been interested in Taft Gardens, so yes. I think I went about five times. That first year I was planting. I brought seed over from Australia — okay — I grew that seed while I was here, and I set up the nursery. I also went around to other nurseries and collected Australian plants that already existed in California. I made trips north and south until I got to know people in the nurseries in California with Australian plants. And I was a really keen horticulturist, a young horticulturist, right?

Kirsten: So, you had things to do while visiting Byron? You weren’t just sitting here making googly eyes at each other?

Jo: Yeah, you could say. But regarding Taft, I’ve always sold them plants or given them plants, and at the same time, I would collect seeds and cuttings, take photos, and I've labeled their garden.

Kirsten: Byron asked you to marry him on your holiday?

Jo: He asked me about three times during those five weeks. I didn’t want to seem too eager or desperate, so I waited until the last day before I had to fly back and said yes. We went to the Government Center in Ventura and made it official and then had a brunch with the Taft family in their garden. Then I flew back to Australia.

Kirsten: Was it a shotgun wedding?

Jo: Most certainly not! More cheese?

Kirsten: Most definitely. And another beer.

Jo: I returned 3 months later, after I quit my job, told my family, and got my visa. Byron said I could do whatever I wanted with the property. So I said, okay, I'm going to start a nursery.

Kirsten: So, how long have you been here?

Jo: Thirty years, nearly. Actually, a friend of mine, Dennis Perry — a big Protea grower — said to me, Jo, you should build a nursery from the top of the property on Nye road. And I built it and so I listened to him, yeah? And he was really helpful.

Kirsten: What was it like for you when you first moved into the neighborhood?

Jo: I just worked and worked. So I had my head down a lot and didn’t meet any of the neighbors for a while. Slowly people became curious and I am now friends with most of the neighbors except the one who poisoned my trees. That's a story for another day. 

Kirsten: So, when did you start getting into landscape design?

Jo: Well, pretty much when I first came here, because growing plants takes time. So Byron built me a seed house, but it takes about eighteen months to two years to get a decent plant; ready to be planted. Particularly the plants I was growing, which were in the Protea family. I had to earn money in the meantime. Mark Whitman, John Taft’s son-in-law, is an architect and he introduced me to one of his clients, Melinda Pepper. And the day I turned up at Melinda's place to sort-of interview to help her with a garden, I knocked on the door and she opened it and we were dressed exactly the same. We were both dressed in a chambray shirt and sort-of khaki pants and we had the same hats on.

Kirsten: Kindred spirits!

Jo: Yeah, and when she invited me in she said, What would you like? Would you like an iced tea, a glass of water, or a beer? I said, Oh yes, I will have a beer, thank you. That's true. Yeah, that's exactly how it went. Oh hey, have a beer. And then we had a beer and then we started talking plants. She had citrus and roses all in her front yard and a big circular driveway and we went, right, let's get rid of this. And she pretty well said, do what you want and that's what we did.

Kirsten: People get to see that work if they go and pick up bread from Kate’s Bread.

Jo: Yes, I started working on that yard when Kate was about ten years old. Melinda and I picked out plants for the yard. She was from West Virginia — which had different plants — and I from Australia, which is lush. We picked out plants together and tried to incorporate different vegetation styles, but I also knew which plants were drought-hardy because Australia had droughts. So we were both learning what would work here in Ojai. Melinda did not like the dryness of California so we combined the lush tropical sort-of look with drought hardiness, and that's what I still do.

Kirsten: Her place is lovely. I love visiting it. It feels like you are in another world. That's why I like coming here, too. I feel like I’m in Australia. I feel that way because I had the pleasure of accompanying you to your homeland and visiting your family. It was such a treat and I still dream about going back and seeing the landscape, vegetation, and wildlife. It was just incredible.

Jo: Yeah, that was a fun pool and pub tour.

Kirsten: It was, but the beer there tastes like piss.

Jo: Well, not all of it.

Kirsten: Maybe, but I suspect not. Anyhow, do you have a favorite plant?

Jo: It changes, but I have groups of favorites. I specialize in growing plants that come from the Protea family. So, that includes Grevilleas, Banksias, and Hakeas — all from Australia. From South Africa, I grow the true Proteas: the pincushions, Leucospermum, and Leucadendrons; any other members of the Protea family that I can get access to their seeds or cutting material. But also, since I've been in the fire and my house burned down, I've really loved the Lomandras, which have big, strappy grass-like leaves and get quite tall. They grow in most areas in Australia. I like them because they are so useful. Look at them, you know, they're so useful. So, yeah, I think they saved this little wooden cottage (in which she and Byron are currently living while their new house is being built) from the fire — I think they slowed the embers down so much. If there had been other sorts of grasses — more ignitable grasses — then it might have been impossible for the guys to save this house. But I think that because they were really slow to ignite it saved this little house we were renting out.

Kirsten: Well, I think it's very strange that the house you were living in is the only thing at this nursery that burned down. But the nursery did not burn down, thank god!

Jo: No, the nursery didn't burn, just our house and studio did. When the fire was coming over the mountain, Byron, the dogs, and I packed up the truck and left. An ember from a palm tree probably struck our roof and burned the house, studio/office, and bunkhouse down. The cottage we are living in now was saved by the grasses. And, also, our gardener, Israel, and two local guys came and sprayed the fire out around this house, not the fire brigade, but neighborhood guys. They were amazing — and thank god for them.

Kirsten: That is amazing. The fire trucks were nowhere to be found here in Casitas Springs. Anyway, so now that your new house and studio are almost finished, what are your plans for the nursery?

Jo: I think I will get a little more focused. We get a lot of young people wanting houseplants. I don't know if they want to pay for the cost of houseplants because growing Australian rainforest plants takes time. So, therefore, it's gonna cost more, right? But that's one thing I'm going to work on. I've always tried to grow a diversity so that I have diversity over volume because I have so many people coming in. Mail-order is a big part of my business.

Kirsten: Is Byron in charge of mail-orders?

Jo: Yes. He helps with packaging up the plants. We send our plants to Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The Singapore government came over and bought out half our nursery at the time. And the cost of sending them over there was the cost of the plants that they bought. That was probably the most stressful thing I've ever done and we'll not be doing that again. 

Kirsten: Wow!

Jo: We have sent plants all over the world: Bolivia, Hong Kong; Europe. I have also given lectures to horticulturist groups and have taken a group to Australia for a horticulturist tour.

Kirsten: What tour was more fun — the horticulturist tour or the pub and pool tour with your mates from the Ojai Athletic Club?

Jo: Take a guess. Do you want anything else?

Kirsten: Oh, thanks. Thank you. All the cheese. It's like I don't eat all day and I'm like, oh cheese.

Jo: I’m the same.

Kirsten: So, let’s end this because there is no more cheese. What is your favorite type of customer?

Jo: Plant nerds. People who love plants and understand I specialize in Australian natives, not California natives. My entrance to the nursery is on Nye Road, and I am open by appointment only. 

Kirsten: Great, I need to go to the loo.