Jamie Paul DurieOAM (born 3 June 1970[citation needed]) is an Australian horticulturalist and landscape designer, furniture designer, television host, television producer, and author of eleven books on landscape architecture, garden design and lifestyle.[1][2][3] He is the founder and director of a design company PATIO Landscape Architecture and Durie Design[2] and also is a 2008 Gold Medal winner at Britain's prestigious Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show in Chelsea, London for Australian Garden and designed by Durie.[4] As of 2018, Durie has hosted more than 50 design shows around the world.[5]
Durie was the television host of the 2008 Australian lifestyle program The Outdoor Room, broadcast on the Seven Network.[6] He hosted the dynamic design makeover show HGTV Showdown in 2009.[7] Durie hosted the US PBS series The Victory Garden from 2007 to 2010. The show is PBS network's longest-running gardening TV series.[8][9][2]
Following the end of The Outdoor Room on the Seven Network in 2010, Durie relocated the concept of the series to broadcast on the American HGTV network as The Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie. Unable to bring his own Australian design team along, Durie put together a new team of top-notch designers, horticulturists and contractors.[10] In his HGTV series, Durie rescues forlorn yards in Southern California with design schemes inspired by gardens and landscapes from around the world. Filmed mostly in and around Los Angeles, The Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie uses sustainable ideas - such as low-water plantings and reclaimed hardscape - to design intimate, livable environments for erstwhile non-gardeners.[11][12][13]
In November 2024 Durie's most recent program "Growing Home with Jamie Durie" aired on Channel 7. A series documenting the creation of his family's off-grid, sustainable dream home.
Durie is currently managed by Bravo Management.
Early life
Durie was born in Manly, northern Sydney, New South Wales, and spent his formative years living in the mining town Tom Price in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, with his mother and maternal grandmother both Sri Lankan. His grandmother, Daphne de Zylva, was born in Sri Lanka and met his English grandfather in the air force during World War II. They moved to Australia in the 1950s. Durie recalls that he and his grandmother baked and gardened together. She taught him how to make his first curry. He has inherited a love of the Sri Lankan culture and lifestyle.[2] His parents separated when Durie was age 10, and he relocated with his mother and brother Clyde Hep, to the Gold Coast, in Queensland. His paternal grandmother, called Nanna, was a volunteer surf-lifesaver on the NSW Central Coast.[14]
Having left high-school in Brisbane at age 15, he tried his hand at cabinetmaking, and modeled beachwear part-time. Durie got his showbiz start in his teens as an exotic dancer in the Australian all-male revue troupe called Manpower Australia. Durie's agent introduced him to Manpower Australia, a touring dance troupe best known for its male dance performances and for its dancers' distinctive physical attractiveness and sex appeal. For seven years, Durie toured internationally with Manpower Australia, acting as manager, and also as principal dancer, performing acrobatics and trapeze acts to large audience venues in Las Vegas, NV. "I was the lead performer and designed the sets and costumes" he says.[15]
Durie notes that while Manpower Australia was perceived as putting the risqué into risky, the shows were highly professional acts that even his grandmother was comfortable with. The timing was ideal, as "The 1960s, 1970s and 1980s in Australia were very chauvinistic and the female body was overexploited", as he explains, "There needed to be social change." Retiring from Manpower Australia at age 26, Durie made up for his early exit from schooling by completing a four-year horticultural and landscape design course.[16]
Landscape design and television hosting
Durie founded the landscape design company Patio Landscape Architecture and Design in 1998.[16] In 2002, Durie registered the Australian business company, JPD Media & Design.[17]
Within a few short years, he made hosting appearances on Australian reality showDIYtelevision programs. Durie was the main host and the lead landscaper on the garden makeover program Backyard Blitz, on the Nine Network - created and produced by horticulturist Don Burke - from 2000 to 2005. Don Burke, whose production company recruited Durie in 1999 to front Backyard Blitz , describes him as a "born showman".[5][18][19][20]
Durie was the host on the TV renovation show The Block, on the Nine Network. The original The Block TV series first ran for two consecutive seasons in 2003 and 2004, hosted by Durie.[21][20]
In 2007, Durie participated in the 6th Australian series of Dancing with the Stars, in which he was eliminated in 7th place, on 17 April 2007.[22]
In 2007, Durie has filmed lifestyle segments with Oprah Winfrey, on the Oprah Winfrey Network (U.S. TV channel), whom he credits as giving him his US TV breakthrough. Durie states that Winfrey "wholly and solely" is responsible for his career being launched in the US.[3][24][25] When Oprah came calling, Durie relocated to the US. And with her ringing endorsement it meant that executive doors were opened, and Durie's already significant businesses were expanded in a country far bigger than Australia.[26]
Durie hosted the US PBS series The Victory Garden from 2007 to 2010. The show is PBS network's longest running gardening TV series, which equips viewers with the confidence and inspiration to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty in the garden and in the kitchen.[8][9][2] Durie hosted the dynamic design makeover show HGTV Showdown on the HGTV network in 2009.[7]
In 2008, Durie was the television host of the Australian lifestyle program The Outdoor Room, broadcast on Seven Network, with repeats broadcast on 7Two. The premise of the show was that Durie set out to "bring the world to your very own backyard".[6]
Following the end of The Outdoor Room show on the Seven Network, in 2010, Durie relocated the concept of the series to broadcast on the HGTV network as The Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie. Unable to bring his own Australian design team along, Durie put together a new team of designers, horticulturists and contractors.[10] In his HGTV series, Durie rescues forlorn yards in Southern California with design schemes inspired by gardens and landscapes from around the world. Filmed mostly in and around Los Angeles, The Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie uses sustainable ideas, such as low-water plantings and reclaimed hardscape, to design intimate, livable environments for erstwhile non-gardeners.[11][12][13]
In November 2024 Growing Home with Jamie Durie is Jamie Durie's latest television program, aired on Channel 7 and 7plus. This four-part series chronicles the ambitious three-year journey of designing and building a family home that is entirely off-grid, self-sufficient, and deeply aligned with principles of sustainability. The program showcases innovative design, eco-conscious practices, and Durie's commitment to creating spaces that harmonise with the environment, offering inspiration for viewers to reimagine sustainable living.
Furniture design and merchandise lines
In 2010, Durie's company Patio Landscape Architecture and Design was renamed Durie Design, committed to not just rejuvenating the existing gardens, but offering new exciting outdoor destinations for the clients, and with an emphasis on funky furniture design.[32][16]
With his furniture design success, Durie has worked for Hollywood celebrity clients, such as designing 100 pieces of furniture for American talk show host and comedian Chelsea Handler and he designed garden landscapes for actress Charlize Theron for two years.[25][14]
In November 2024, Jamie Durie relaunched Patio by Jamie Durie, his signature outdoor living and lifestyle brand. With the iconic vertical garden blankets, aimed at transforming outdoor spaces into beautiful, functional, and eco-friendly sanctuaries. The relaunch reflects Durie’s enduring passion for connecting people with nature through thoughtful design, encouraging sustainable living, and enhancing the way we experience the outdoors.
Awards and accolades
The Australian reality television garden makeover program Backyard Blitz, on the Nine Network, was the winner of six Logie Awards of Most Popular Lifestyle Program (from 2001 until 2006). Durie won the Logie Award for the Most Popular New Talent award in 2001, and was nominated for the Most Popular Presenter award for his role in Backyard Blitz from 2003 to 2005.[5][18]
Durie's 2003 landscape design book, Patio - Garden Design and Inspiration, (Allen & Unwin - ISBN9781741146547) was short-listed APA Book Design Awards, for Best Designed Illustrated Book 2003 Australia.[33]
In 2008, Durie won a gold medal at Britain's prestigious Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show in Chelsea, London. A team of 22 workers built the AU$800,000, 200sqm celebration of the Kimberley landscape, called Australian Garden and designed by Durie, in 16 days. Australian Garden won one of the eight Gold Medals given in the Show Garden category. All the materials were shipped from Australia.[4]
In 2013, Durie began collaborating with the Italian luxury furniture brand Natuzzi Group Riva 1920. Durie and Riva 1920 launched a bespoke collection of five furniture pieces, including the Tubular dining table, to widespread acclaim at Milan Furniture Fair 2013. The Tubular table and chair (the range also includes bookshelves) and Durie's Bungalow range were both finalists in the New York Design Awards, announced in Manhattan on 20 May 2014, for Product Design Category, Furniture Indoor & Outdoor.[35][16]
Bibliography
Patio: Garden Design and Inspiration - Author: Jamie Durie (2003), Allen & Unwin Publishers (Reprint: 2016).[33]
Outdoor Kids: A Practical Guide for Kids in the Garden - Author: Jamie Durie (2005), Jamie Durie Publisher.[36][37]
The Outdoor Room - Author: Jamie Durie (2011), HarperCollins Publishers.[40]
Edible Garden Design: Delicious Designs from the Ground Up - Author: Jamie Durie (2014), Lantern Australia Publishers.[41]
The Source Book: Plants, Materials, Products and Ideas for Contemporary Outdoor Spaces & Where to Get Them - Author: Jamie Durie (2011), HarperCollins Publishers.[42]
Living Design - Authors: Jamie Durie and Nadine Bush (2016), Lantern Australia Publishers.[43]
Personal life
Durie owns properties in Pittwater, on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia, and in Los Angeles.[25] Durie is unmarried, but he has been engaged three times. He has stated, "I've always been career-focused and my relationships have suffered because of that".[14]
Durie has a grown-up daughter who lives in Los Angeles named Taylor, from his previous relationship with Michelle Glennock.[44] Durie says, "We go camping together, surfing and bike riding".[14][25][45][46] Durie describes his life as "I want simply to find more balance and walk down the little path of self discovery...".[47]
Durie is currently engaged to Ameka Jane.[48] They have two children together.
Each year, Durie donates his time and resources to many charities, including FSHD Global Research Foundation facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), the Children's Cancer Institute and The Children's Hospital at Westmead (also called the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children or Sydney Children's Hospital Network, Westmead), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.[49] Durie has been a dedicated supporter of Tour de Cure, frequently serving as an MC at their gala events in recent years. In March 2024, Durie took on a huge personal challenge, cycling over 1,200 km in just one week as part of the Tour de Cure Signature Tour to raise vital funds for cancer research, prevention, and support initiatives across Australia.
To make her neighbours' balconies into miniature Edens, Oprah sends a call Down Under to get help from Jamie Durie – one of Australia's biggest TV stars and one of the world's most famous gardeners.[24]
Backyard Blitz was a Logie Award winning Australian lifestyle and DIY television program that aired on the Nine Network between 2000 through to 2007 before its cancellation. It was hosted by Jamie Durie and was created by Don Burke and produced by his CTC Productions team.
Donald William Burke is an Australian television presenter, television producer, author and horticulturist. He is best known as the longtime host of Burke's Backyard, a lifestyle program produced by his wife's company CTC Productions, which ran for 17 years from 1987 to late 2004 on the Nine Network. He was also responsible for the creation of garden makeover program Backyard Blitz, starring former colleague Jamie Durie.
Gardeners who have achieved fame through their pioneering innovations, writing or, more often, their television personas, may be classed as celebrity gardeners.
Tygert Burton "Ty" Pennington is an American television host, artist, carpenter, author, and former model and actor.
Scott Cam is an Australian television presenter, a recipient of the Gold Logie appearing on several lifestyle programmes on the Nine Network. He is best known as the host of the hit reality TV renovation show The Block.
Burke's Backyard was an Australian gardening and lifestyle series presented by horticulturist Don Burke, broadcast on both radio and television. On television, it was a regular weekly series on the Nine Network from 12 September 1987 to 26 November 2004.
The Victory Garden is an American public television program about gardening and other outdoor activities, which was produced by station WGBH-TV in Boston, Massachusetts, and distributed by PBS. It was the oldest gardening program produced for television in the United States, premiering April 16, 1975.
Australia's Best Backyards is an Australian lifestyle TV series on the Seven Network. The program is hosted by landscape gardener Jamie Durie, who previously hosted Backyard Blitz on the Nine Network.
Surprise Gardener is a TV series on Home & Garden Television (HGTV) which aired from 1998 to 2003. Each week, host Susie Coelho welcomed a guest designer to perform a much needed backyard or garden makeover. Each makeover was performed in a single day.
Domestic Blitz is an Australian lifestyle and DIY television series that originally aired on the Nine Network from 18 May 2008 to 18 April 2010. The series is based on the format of Backyard Blitz, which had previously aired on the Nine Network, and generally occupied its same former timeslot of Sunday 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Rather than rewarding nominated candidates with solely a garden makeover though, Domestic Blitz introduced the element of house renovations as well. The series exhibits similarities to the American television series Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and the Angry Anderson A Current Affair "challenges" (1994–1998) in that the candidates either come from a disadvantaged background, or include someone with a terminal illness.
The Outdoor Room was an Australian lifestyle television program hosted by Jamie Durie on the Seven Network in 2008 with repeats broadcast on 7Two. The Outdoor Room is a backyard improvement show that saw Durie design a new backyard for a worthy family, similar to his previous show Backyard Blitz. He was seen travelling to various countries around the world to seek inspiration and gain new ideas before coming home to start work on the design with his team. Along with reuniting with former Backyard Blitz horticulturist Jody Rigby, each week Durie was also joined by a prominent Australian chef who serves up a dish from each episode's country of inspiration.
Robert Whyte is an Australian writer. He was a founding co-owner and director of the Brisbane-based multimedia firm ToadShow. After 2012 he participated in the Australian Government's new species exploration program Bush Blitz. His works include The Creek in Our Back Yard: a practical guide to creek restoration (2011) and A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia for CSIRO Publishing 2017.
Jody Rigby is an Australian horticulturist and television personality, often appearing on gardening programs.
Matthew Finlason is a designer, art director, and producer of film and television projects. He is the host of HGTV's television series The Stagers.
Lifestyle Home is an Australian subscription television channel dedicated to home and property programming. It ranges from home improvements to home investments, renovation, gardens and property.
HGTV is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate.
Top Design Australia is a reality television series focusing on interior design and renovation, hosted by Jamie Durie. Durie also serves as main judge, along with design critic Amanda Talbot and architect Nick Tobias. The show is heavily based on the American series of the same name, with a similar format and elimination process. The winner of Top Design received $100,000 in prize money. The first episode premiered on 13 July 2011, on the Nine Network.
The Living Room is an Australian lifestyle program. The show is hosted by Amanda Keller with co-presenters Barry Du Bois, Chris Brown, and Miguel Maestre. The program began airing on Network Ten on 11 May 2012, and aired at 7:30 pm on Fridays. It is a quadruple award-winner of the Logie Award for Most Popular Lifestyle Program, winning it in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
The first season of Australian reality television series The Block, retroactively re-titled The Block 2003, aired on the Nine Network. Jamie Durie was announced as host and John McGrath was announced as Judge. The season premiered on 1 June 2003.
Gardening in Australia reflects the different styles of Australian art, including influences from Roman, Islamic, Italian, French, and English gardens. Modern Australian gardening emphasize gardens and their surroundings, focusing heavily on both urban horticulture and landscape architecture.
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