HOLTS have been making gardens in Newcastle look good since 1993! That’s over 30 years of reliable, capable gardening services

About Holts Prestige Gardens

I am a gardener in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie providing regular gardening services only to residential clients and have the experience and knowledge to help you.

Let me transform your gardens and outdoor areas into beautiful liveable spaces for you to enjoy.

For regular garden maintenance, make HOLTS your first call. We are not a landscaper or a lawn mowing contractor.

You will receive reliable personal service and a genuine ongoing commitment.

Explore our site to view extraordinary before and after transformations, read testimonials and more.

Gardens Maintained By Holts

Garden Makeovers

Are your gardens a mess or in need of some changes? HOLTS are garden makeover specialists. We can deal with weeds, remove tired plants and re-plant your gardens so they become beautiful spaces.

Regular Garden Maintenance

The ultimate way to keep your gardens looking great. You can have consistent access to help from Newcastle’s most experienced garden maintenance service.

Weeding and Weed Control

Do you have weed problems? HOLTS have decades of experience in dealing with all types of weed situations.

Mulching

HOLTS can apply all types of mulch to your gardens so that they are healthier and look good at the same time.

Planting of Shrubs

We can supply the right plants for your situation and plant them out correctly.

Trimming & Pruning

HOLTS have the equipment and experience to maintain hedges, prune your roses and help keep your gardens in good shape!

Fertilising

Supply and application of the best products to suit your gardens so that they grow beautifully.

Container Plantings

We have a passion for growing spectacular potted and large container plants. The possibilities are endless. Enhance your garden, courtyard, pool area or outdoor space and provide greenery or colour.

How Holts Prestige Gardens can help you!

We carry out long term regular garden maintenance services in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie; offering reliable and competent servicing with 30 years of wide ranging experience. Over this time, using this experience, many very unsatisfactory, messy and difficult gardens have been transformed into beautiful spaces; making these properties more pleasing places to live with and greatly improving their re-sale value.

When you take a look around our website, you’ll see the positive reviews and photos which show multiple examples of gardens which have had a lot of help from Holts. This is something which sets us apart from everyone else. I won’t just tell you what I can do for you and your gardens; I can show you what I have done; with a lot of impressive before and after photos. There is no other gardening service anywhere with more experience or more examples of gardens which have been so greatly improved. A number of my competitors were not even born in 1993.

Holts can also help should you wish to plant out your gardens with good performing, suitable plants. I know what will work in your situation as a result of many years of maintenance gardening. And just as importantly, I can prevent problem plants from ever making it to your place.

Finally, you can rely on HOLTS to provide you with a level of service, hands on experience and commitment which is unrivalled. And the result will be that your gardens will become better maintained, neater, more beautiful and with little or no noxious weeds over time.

HOLTS can help!

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Brian looks after my hedge which serves as my front fence. He does such a wonderful job. I am so proud of how my hedge looks! He is communicative, professional and knowledgeable. He knows exactly when to schedule in a trim based on the season and weather. When he first started one side of my hedge was not as thick as the other side, and he knew exactly what to do to encourage more growth. Highly recommend!
Danielle Amos

Brian's Gardening Guide

The Gardening Guide include’s Brian’s favourite plants for low maintenance, colourful garden and simple ways to make your garden beautiful

Holt's Prestige Gardens Maintenance

Top 6 reasons to call Brian
  1. Brian knows what he’s doing, with 30 years of experience
  2. Others tell you what they can do. Brian can show you great examples of what he has done
  3. Brian is creative and this creatively shows up in the results that he delivers
  4. Brian is particular and pays a lot of attention to detail resulting in continual improvement of gardens in his care
  5. Nearly all who have hired Brian over the long history of this business have said how happy they are that they made a very good choice
  6. Many properties maintained by HOLTS have sold for higher values than expected, as a direct result of the gardens
Home » holts prestige gardens
About The Gardener

Hi, I’m Brian Holt.
I’ve been around gardens all of my life and a professional maintenance gardener for 30 years. Prior to that I was a school teacher, after graduating in 1980 at Mitchell College of Advanced Education in Bathurst. My own beautiful gardens are testament to how much I love gardening!

What do Brian's clients say

Gardening Tips & Ideas

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186 Posts
94 Followers

Follow me for great garden tips & amazing pics. I’ve been making gardens look good since 1993 as a maintenance gardener. That’s 32 years folks!

It’s okay if you don’t know what this is. But it’s important that your gardener does. These are the eggs of a really helpful insect, called Lacewing. They eat all kinds of pests in gardens, so it’s helpful to leave these when you see them. They’re tiny and easy to miss. Do you want a gardener who cares for your gardens, right down to the tiny details? I’m Brian from HOLTS and I’m one of those types of gardeners
Claret Ash trees I planted in 2014, now looking good in 2026, 12 years since planting. I also put the timber borders in, positioning them and the trees, so that they looked good in relation to their surroundings and each other. It’s trickier than you think #gardens #gardenmaintenance #trees #gardeningservices #gardenersnewcastle #claretash
One of 2 Crepe Myrtle shrubs from Diamonds In The Dark, planted poolside in a large enclosed garden by HOLTS (that would be me). They replaced some ailing Olive trees. To find these plants for my customer I went online and sourced them from Mountain View Nursery on the south coast of NSW. They delivered to Sydney but not to Newcastle, so I arranged with a friend in Hornsby Heights for a delivery to there. Then I drove there and picked them up; catching up with a good friend as a bonus. They were planted in spring and my own home grown compost was used to give them a good head start. That way they take in moisture easily and hold it, while benefiting from soil which is alive with microbes. Large brick wall retained gardens are difficult in hot positions because the soil often dries out and roots hug the walls, often burning the roots on extreme days. You can see how well they’re doing now in summer. Needless to say, the customers are happy. Solutions and service like this comes from 32 years of specialising solely in garden maintenance #gardening  #mygardenlife #gardens #gardener #bestgardeningservice
This is a tiny native Australian snail. It’s a good guy & garden friend because it is carnivorous & it eats the European snails which we commonly find eating our plants & vegies. So if you’re working in your garden & you come across these, remember to toss them back into the garden. They are not a pest #australiansnail #nativesnail #gardenfriend #gardening #snails #mygardenlife
This ‘Little John’ Callistemon  was too big for my customer’s liking. The common name is a bit deceiving as it does grow to quite a size over time. So it needed to be lopped by about one third. There was one problem with that, however. Our spring is more like summer at the moment; hot & dry. Ideally this type of pruning is done in late winter. So I painted the cuts with oil based paint, which I’ve found to reduce or eliminate any chance of die back in woody shrubs that are sensitive to a heavy prune. The paint seals the cuts and preserves the bark around those cuts. Examples of plants to be careful with hard pruning include Hakea, large Grevilleas & Lilly Pilly. How did I find this out? That comes from 30 years of experience and observation #pruning #littlejohncallistemon #gardening #gardenmaintenance #gardenersnewcastle #mygardenlife
Do you have citrus trees? You are probably familiar with these critters. They’re Bronze Orange Bugs aka Stink Bugs & they drive gardeners crazy due to their rapid proliferation and offensive odour which they squirt out of their rear ends at any threat, including you. This is an acid and can severely damage your eyes. They go from green to orange & then black when they’re adults. It’s easier to see them at the orange stage. At my place they were all squashed by me after donning gloves & eye protection. It was an epic process but entirely worth it. Let me know in the comments about your stink bug stories  #stinkbugs #bronzeorangebug #citrus #lemontree #growingcitrus #gardening #gardener #gardenersnewcastlensw
Karen’s garden is now a garden full of flowers but when I took it on, it was a garden ham packed with weeds. This is what regular maintenance can achieve #regulargardenmaintenance #newcastlegardener #garden #flowers #weeding #weeds
We are back home after a 4 week visit to the UK. Here are some garden & green space scenes we saw while we were there; both in London & while further up north in Durham & Scotland. Do you think there’s anything we could apply here in Australia?  I loved the streetscapes, the pubs decked out with flowers, the street trees & beautiful scenery plus the many flowers in bloom #ukgardens #gardens #londongardens #greenery #streetscapes #flowers #mygardenlife
This is a rare annual job I do for a London based customer in August, at their Lake Macquarie property here in Australia. The roses are pruned, sprayed with Lime Sulphur & given a boost in anticipation of imminent warm weather with pelletised chicken manure. The Buxus hedges also get a quick trim, with lines improved, plus a bit of pruning out of dead material. The weeds you see are the tenant’s responsibility. It’s hard for me to ignore them. I have a thing about weeds after dealing with them for decades. So one good thing is the fact that the hedges give the property a formal look & they’re reasonably easy care, even with residents who have no vested long term interest in the gardens #mygardenlife #lakemacquariegardeners #gardens #gardencare #gardening #hedges #buxus #inaustralia🇦🇺
Do you like Camellias but don’t have room in your garden, or you don’t even have a garden? This Camellia has been growing in a pot at my place for over 20 years. So long as these are in dappled light or morning sun only they will do well. If you are a regular customer of mine I can sort it for you #camellias #camelliasinpots #newcastlegardener #gardenersnewcastle #mygardenlife #inaustralia🇦🇺
Star Jasmine at my customer’s gardens. Check out the straggly one. That’s the before image when I took over that garden. The ‘after’ images, among the first on this reel, are hard to reconcile with that beginning point. How did I do that? A magician never reveals his secrets 😂#beautifulgardens #starjasmine
A freshly cut piece of fruit from my Ruby Red Grapefruit in a pot. Planting & maintaining citrus in pots is one of the services I provide as part of regular garden maintenance. And that fruit was sensational eating. This is something I’ve done for myself for years  #citrusinpots #citrus #growingcitrus #growingfood #delicious #mygardenlife #gardenmaintenace #newcastlegardener
Here is a good case for growing a lawn but keeping it meadowy. This is the grass in my backyard & a lot of different birds love grazing on the winter grass, including these resident Rosellas. So lawns are good for the environment if they provide food for creatures like this. My lawn has no noxious weeds but it does have the odd bit of clover (great for the bees) & the winter grass (Poa Anna) which is the most common weed in the world; found even in Buckingham Palace lawns. Lawns also trap dirt & provide a pleasant manageable space for relaxation in the garden. They look good against a garden space. My lawn clippings go into the compost bin which helps the composting process; another tick for the environment. I don’t use chemicals on my lawn & I very rarely irrigate it. There are many other environmental benefits; too many to list here. Grow a lawn but keep it environmentally friendly like mine & the birds & insects will love your place #mylawn #composting #theenvironment #birds #rosellas #mygardenlife #inaustralia🇦🇺
Some of my trimming work. Are you looking for an experienced gardener? Try 32 years of garden maintenance. That makes me the longest in business & most experienced gardener in Newcastle & Lake  Macquarie #gardenersnewcastle #mygardenlife #mywork #gardening #hedgetrimming #topiary
Trimming Buxus microphylla Microphylla ( Korean Boxwood ). I’ve been slowly improving this hedge for a number of years. It’s very slow growing so it all takes time. This hedge can be sensitive to hard pruning & dislikes dryness. It can have yellow unhealthy sections & die back. I found this out from experience. But if you like the look of the smaller leaves & its usefulness in smaller spaces, it can look good if it’s in the right situation & its soil is both rich & well drained. If you need capable gardening services in Newcastle or Lake Macquarie then contact me. Experience like this is the difference between good & mediocre results in your garden  #gardenersnewcastle #gardeningservicesnewcastle #mygardenlife #gardener #inaustralia🇦🇺
One of my regular maintenance gardens; this delightful space is kept looking good with 4 weekly, 2 hour services & the occasional bit of extra love such as mulch on the garden beds. There’s weed control, trimming, plant health & those miscellaneous details which all add to the gardens being kept at their best #gardenmaintenance #newcastlegardener #gardeningservices #mygardenlife #inaustralia
These are growing in my garden. I’m a gardener for my living but also a gardener in my life aside from my work. I love what I do because it’s a part of who I am. I’ve been making gardens look beautiful for more than 30 years. That’s the best kind of gardener if you are looking for one. There are some spots left in my regular maintenance client base. But don’t leave it too long as I’m looking at downsizing to a limited list of true believers, prior to my eventual point of slowing right down, when I’m well past my 70s. Check out my posts to see what I can do #bestgardener #beautifulgardens #regulargardenmaintenance #newcastlegardener #mygardenlife #inaustralia #gardening
Some garden scenes & a sunset. Most of these were from my garden as the sun went rollicking over the edge of the earth. Others are from a garden I created in my gardening work. Enjoy 🌏🌞🌸#gardenscenes #mygarden #mygardenlife
Garden installation complete after removal of masses of concrete rubble, gravel, old cement pavers & a lot of onion weed. Then soil was brought in & now plants. It’s ready for mulch. Being near the neighbour’s clothesline I used mainly lower growing plants. It’s all Grevilleas & some Brachyscome. To be safe I planted into native potting mix. The garden is a hotspot so initial watering is going to be crucial during our summer weather #gardenmakeover #gardeninstall #gardens #gardenfix #mygardenlife #gardener #newcastlegardener
In this cottage style garden I’ve created for a customer there are many vibrant flowers & lots of Australian native Blue Banded Bees. They absolutely love the perennial Basil shown here.  So there’s flowers, basil leaves for the kitchen & bees. What’s not to love? The Basil growing here is a perennial which lasts all year long & it grows very easily from cuttings #bluebandedbee #basil #cottagegarfen #flowers #gardening #newcastlegardener #mygardenlife #growing #gardens #abcmygarden #whatsnottolove❤️ #inaustralia🇦🇺
Frangipani come in so many vibrant colours. They can grow into lovely trees, bringing annual colour & fragrance. But did you  also know that they can grow successfully in pots? These are at my place & all were grown from cuttings. If you hire me as your regular gardener, I can make the magic of Frangipanis happen in your garden #frangipani #gardenmaintenancenewcastle #mygardenlife #flowers #gardeningtips #inaustralia
Scenes from my job today at Lakelands NSW. The first image is of Liriope Evergreen Giant plants which are thriving in a sunny position. They replaced some poor performing Lomandra Tanika plants #mygardenlife #liriope #gardenmaintenancenewcastle #gardenersnewcastle
This potted Olive tree is in an enormous pot in my customer’s garden. The tree was under planted with annuals (by someone else), so once they expired, I planted it out with tough low growing plants which tolerate dryness. That includes variegated Mondo Grass, Euphorbia Graminea & Aeonium. These were mostly taken from divisions & cuttings of plants already growing in the gardens. As they mature the contrasting foliage is an eye catching feature. And it’s all one part of the benefits of having a regular garden service #gardens #gardeningideas #mygardenlife
A garden i created & regularly maintain. There are minimal weeds which are easily dealt with; no noxious weeds at all. There’s colour, flowers & the soil is alive & is continuing to improve over time. The Sheena’s Mini Gold balls are kept in their round shape. This is what I do. Gardens are maintained & the results are exceptional & ongoing. No one else can say they’ve been doing this as good as this for 31 years. I have limited spaces available for the right customers. Message me today if you need a gardener in Newcastle or Lake Macquarie areas  #gardenmaintenancenewcastle #gardener #gardens
One of my regular maintenance gardens in Merewether Heights NSW. This property could rightly be described as a weedfest when I took it on. I paid lot of attention to meticulously removing a lot of onion weed, oxalis & other weeds from garden beds & this was among the roots & foliage of a densely planted garden. And then I also removed buckets of noxious weeds from the lawns, including an awful weed called  Richardia. Mulch has been applied, new plants put in, roses have been invigorated & I’m now onto creating new gardens out of seemingly impossible areas of the yard. More about that one soon #gardenmakeover #gardenfix #weedcontrol #basketcase #doingtheimpossible #beautifulgardens #newcastlegarden
One of my regular maintenance gardens in  Lakelands NSW in the Lake Macquarie area. There’s been as lot more than just trimming going on here. There’s weed control, soil amendment, mulching, health of Buxus hedges sorted & revitalising of container plants. And that’s just the front gardens. The back gardens have had much more attention, including pest control, renovation of hedges, replanting, pruning, removal of problem plants, mulch, and more #gardening #gardenmaintenance #newcastlegardener #regulargardenmaintenance #mygardenlife
This is my rainforest project in my customer’s Garden Suburbs property. It started as a terrible weed infested creek & has been transformed into an oasis where biodiversity is gradually being created by continually adding plants, mosses, ferns & the use of green waste from the site as mulch. The green material & chopped up sticks & branches will bring in insects & small creatures. Eventually frogs will stand a chance against the resident Eastern Water Dragons. At one time, decades ago, Platypus lived in this creek area. I’ve even planted a small amount of Korean Velvet Grass, which will hopefully spread. It’s a habitat garden with great potential. And all the plants are from cuttings & divisions. Needless to say, the customers love this area. Is not strictly a native garden but the plants fit well in this environment & give it a lush vibe. The plants include Lomandra Hystrix which grows by creeks in Australia  #rainforestgarden #biodiversity #habitatgarden #gardenmakeover #weedcontrol #creek #gardens #inaustralia
Results are what makes this customer happy with their gardens in The Junction, NSW. From gardens which were a mess to what you see now, they can see flowers, neatly  clipped Star Jasmine in flower, healthy roses & plants & no weeds. It’s a gorgeous property with gorgeous gardens making great use of compact spaces. And it all came about from regular garden maintenance services by HOLTS; Newcastle’s leading and longest serving maintenance gardening business; established in 1993. Call Brian Holt or leave a request on the contact form of our website. We have limited spaces available for customers who require regular gardening services #gardenmaintenancenewcastle #gardenersnewcastle #roseperfection #compactgardens #gardenmakeover #newcastlesbestgardener #exoeriencedgardener
A Murraya hedge regularly maintained by HOLTS. The owner gave me a great review. She says ‘Brian does such a wonderful job. I am so proud of how my hedge looks! He is communicative, professional & knowledgeable. He knows exactly when to schedule a trim based the season & the weather. ..Highly recommend!’ #hedgetrimming #gardenmaintenance #murrayahedge #mygardenlife
My favourite Salvia, probably known by several different names. It has crimson flowers & this one is in a regular maintenance garden which I service each 4 weeks. I’ve been taking cuttings. Salvias will grow in hot dry situations once established but do better if watered. When they are finished, you cut them down hard. There are many varieties with different coloured flowers & dimensions. They flower prolifically #salvia #flowers #gardens #gardenmaintenance #gardener
Safe hands for your gardens. This is a tiny onion weed plant. If left you will have a major garden weed problem. Spotting details like this & dealing with them comes from experience, knowledge & care #newcastlegardener #experience
Plants rambling through other plants works for me; like these red Pelargoniums. And densely planting like this keeps things cool & shelters from wind #ramblinggarden #pelargoniums #redflowers #mygardenlife #gardenhacks #gardendesign #garden #gardenmaintenance #gardenersnewcastle
A sample of the plants I planted in Karen’s front garden. This place was a weedfest which was full of onion weed & a host of other weeds. Now the weeds are very few & it’s improving with each fortnightly gardening service.  Instead of a garden of horror, it’s now a garden of delights, with a cottage garden style & lots of mauve, pink, crimson & purple. Now I’ve moved around to the backyard to deal with the particular problems which are there, including lots of weeds. Do you need a gardener who can deal with weeds & has a creative flair? #weedcontrol #cottagegarden #gardenfix #gardenmaintenance #gardencolour #flowers
Journey of a garden; from a jungle of Philodendron Selloum to a tropical look garden with easy care plants & mainly a focus on foliage. Scroll across to see the different stages. Plants have been gradually & carefully incorporated & nearly all of the plants were grown from divisions, cuttings & my own stock. The soil was largely clay & this was not discarded but amended with the addition of a mineral sand based mix, gypsum & organic mulch. It is now well drained & moisture holding. The aspect with morning to mid afternoon sun, cloistered nature of the garden & depth of soil make it a garden which never needs watering & it has a micro climate that means plants thrive in it. There are also no weeds to worry about. Does it seem to good to be true? #supergarden #easycaregarden #tropicallookgarden #gardenmakeover #waterwisegarden #droughtproofgarden #gardenmaintenance