After five years working (and living, with a small baby!) in the original Lygon Street Nursery site in Brunswick, Michael Khalil and his team have packed up their plants and moved down the road to their new location. The new space combines everything under one roof, and we’re talking literally everything a green thumb could ever want or need!
Micheal has been in the horticulture and landscape industry for 15 years, and is still as passionate as ever. He explains that when he moved to Brunswick over a decade ago, the area was starting to experience a ‘real explosion of cafes, bars and apartments buildings.’ Drawing on the success of CERES Community Environment Park and Fitzroy Nursery, Michael was inspired to create a welcoming space that catered to all demographics. He is driven by the belief that ‘we need more green around us, in the inner city especially.’
In addition to his passion for plants, Michael is an advocate for keeping bricks and mortar retail trading alive. He explains ‘I think it is a really important part of maintaining a community, where people can have contact with one another, including me!’ The new space carefully combines retail with the environmental specificities required for keeping the stock alive. Michael explains that a nursery requires careful lighting, sufficient drainage – and temperature control to avoid a tropical green house! The transformation of the previous Lygon Hardware store, as well as a general re-branding was completed with the help of Press Room Partners, Huw Severn Smith, and Fishbone Glass.
Visitors to the new store have a jungle of options to choose from, but Michael highlights that Devil’s Ivy, Monstera Deliciosa and Ficus plants are eternal indoor favourites. He describes ‘for outdoors we always encourage people to consider native plants, Grevilleas, Eucalyptus and edibles.’
For those with a tendency to kill their pot plants, Michael generously offers some final words of advice. In addition to offering a great selection of books to help build confidence and knowledge for beginner gardeners, Michael says ‘my number one piece of advice is to choose the space before the plant, a common mistake people make is they fall in love with a plant and then realise they don’t have a suitable environment for it.’ And Lygon Street Nursery are sure to be able to help you find a suitable plant for any urban space!
245 Lygon Street
Brunswick East
Melbourne, Victoria
Monday – Closed
Tuesday – 10am-5pm
Wednesday – 10am-5pm
Thursday – 10am-5pm
Friday – 10am-5pm
Saturday – 10am-5pm
Sunday 10am-4pm
