Three things with Jane Edmanson: ‘I have them in my pocket at all times’

“I’ve been doing it for 34 years,” says Jane Edmanson. “Can you imagine that?”

Edmanson is speaking about her time on Gardening Australia, where she has been a presenter since the show began back in 1990. Outside of that role, the gardening expert has also published books on propagation and planting, and in 2004 received an Order of Australia medal for services to horticulture. She feels “very lucky” to have made a career out of her passion.

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“Gardeners are really sensational people – they are very hospitable in that they invite the Gardening Australia crew into their garden,” she says. “Everyone’s got a story, but gardeners in particular have got a story behind what makes their garden tick. And so I feel very privileged … to be able to go and find out all these wonderful details, while also looking at the most heavenly gardens.”

Gardening is a family affair for Edmanson. She inherited her love from her mother and has, in turn, passed it on to her nieces and nephews. And like fellow Gardening Australia host Millie Ross, the tool she prizes the most is a pair of red-handled secateurs. Here, the longtime horticulturist tells us why those small snippers are always in her pocket and shares the stories behind two other important belongings.

What I’d save from my house in a fire

My mother loved gardening – she’s why I have it in my blood. But she was also great at making Danish tapestries, particularly tapestries of little beautiful little plants like parsley, sage and chamomile. Inspired by her, I even took up embroidery at one stage and did a few. But not like hers, which were really clever and beautifully executed. She was a great crafts [person] and it just went hand-in-hand with her love of gardening.

For some reason I’ve landed in the position of being the family historian. And so I’ve got a little hallway full of mum’s lovely tapestries. She did one that I particularly like, which you probably describe as “cottagey”. It’s got nine different plants embroidered onto it – sage, mint, lemon balm, rosemary and thyme among them. If there was ever a fire, God forbid, I’d grab that and run.

My most useful object

Secateurs. I have them in my pocket at all times so when you’re in the garden – clip, clip, clip – you can do whatever you want out there.

My nieces and nephews are all gardeners. They’re young and just starting out but I keep saying secateurs are probably going to be the most important item in your life. In your gardening life, anyway.

Go for the red-handled, good-quality ones. They’re really handy because, if you’re doing something around the compost area and they somehow get into your compost, you’re going to see them quite easily. They’re a little bit more expensive but they are the best. I always tell people, if you’re willing to pay a little bit of extra money, you’ll get to have those secateurs for a lifetime.

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The item I most regret losing

This year, would you believe, I was on a trip to Italy and my suitcase went missing. We’d flown from Milan down to Catania, in Sicily, and it never turned up. It still hasn’t. But I thought c’est la vie, it’s only clothes and the bits and bobs you take on holiday. So I couldn’t get too cross.

But then I suddenly thought this morning, where’s the beautiful scarf that I take every time I travel? I’ve always had this really lovely scarf – a weave of orange and reds and a little bit of blue that just brightens me up when I put it on. It’s been with me on every single trip, from China to Uzbekistan and Europe. And I realised it was in the suitcase I lost!

It was not a particularly important scarf but it was important in my memories of travel. I don’t really have regrets. But realising I’ve lost that makes me grit my teeth.

• Gardening Australia’s Christmas special airs on Friday 15 December at 7.30pm on the ABC