Phillip Millar co-owns Headquarters Remuera with his wife, Anne, having been a hairdresser now for nearly 50 years. His creativity with styling hair spills over into another passion – designing gardens.

Phillip says he is driven by a keen curiosity for plants worldwide – ‘particularly tropical rainforest plants before they are destroyed.’ He has been all over south East Asia to view them in the wild: Sarawak in northern Borneo, the precipitous cliffs of Lord Howe Island and throughout Indonesia. He is an active member of the Palm Society and the Bromeliad Society.

Phillip’s expertise led to another career leading garden tours to explore the sub-tropical gardens of Northland, including visits to the nurseries of well-known collectors and growers of subtropical plants, among them such famous names as Dave Austen, Kaitaia, Peter and Pauline Endicott, Lake Ngatu, Robin Booth of Wharepuke, Russell Fransham, Matapouri, Maureen Green of Greens Bromeliads, Dick and Annemarie Endt of Landsendt and Peter and Jocelyn Coyle of Totara Waters.

“I find gardening in this frenetic world immensely rewarding – it provides a massive sense of peace, of solace. Both of my parents found the same peace working outside in the garden. I grew up watching my father, especially, garden – everyone did then, otherwise there were no spuds for Christmas dinner.”