Jamie Durie welcomes a new member to his family as celebrity gardener shares a sneak peek of his stunning six-storey Avalon Beach mansion

Jamie Durie has welcomed a new member to his family.

The celebrity gardener is already a father-of-three and shares two children with his fiancée Amika James – Beau, three, and Nash, two – as well as an adult daughter Taylor from a previous relationship. 

Now the clan have adopted a four-legged feline that has stolen the hearts of the entire family. 

Iskra, or Issy as the TV personality lovingly dubs her, is Jamie’s new pet cat, which he adopted as part of Whiskaz’s new Cat Conversion System.

The program is aimed at giving self-described ‘cat haters’ a chance to see what they’ve been missing in the hopes of boosting cat adoption across Australia.  

‘I must admit, I was a bit of a cat sceptic to begin with,’ he told Daily Mail Australia, before revealing that his whole family – including Rocky the dachshund – had ‘fallen in love’ with the cat. 

Jamie Durie has welcomed a new member to his family –  a kitten called Iskra

Jamie has fallen in love with his new pet cat, which he adopted as part of Whiskaz’s new Cat Conversion System

With 39,000 cats currently up for adoption, Jamie has encouraged fans to foster responsibly as a solution.

‘It’s already been an incredibly rewarding experience for me and my family, especially for my daughter,’ he said.

As for expanding his own brood, Jamie is reluctant.

‘I don’t know about that. I think we have enough on our plate at the moment,’ he said. 

The horticulturalist and and his family recently moved into their six-storey mega-mansion in Avalon Beach. 

The home took three years to build, which is chronicled on Jamie’s new show Growing Home.

The documentary-style program shows all the little details that went into bringing Jamie’s sustainable dream to life, creating a home that ‘maximised everything we wanted out of a house without compromise’ all while treading lightly on the planet.  

‘I’ve always wanted to make a show that focuses on sustainable building, not just in the home but in gardens,’ he told Daily Mail Australia. 

The horticulturalist and and his family recently moved into their six-storey mega-mansion in Avalon Beach 

The home took three years to build, which is chronicled on Jamie’s new show Growing Home 

The documentary-style program shows all the little details that went into bringing Jamie’s sustainable dream to life, creating a home that ‘maximised everything we wanted out of a house without compromise’ all while treading lightly on the planet 

‘For me, if we were going to make a show about sustainable building, then we should practise what we preach and show our house first.

‘So that’s what we did.’

But the build, which he dubs the ‘Trojan horse of sustainability’, has not been without a few hiccups for Jamie along the way. 

The landscaping guru was granted approval in April 2022 by the Northern Beaches Council over his development application (DA) for the waterfront property, despite receiving more than 50 objections from angry locals.

His plans to knock down a 1960s cottage and replace it with a sprawling six-storey mansion for his family was first met with opposition from neighbours who objected to the removal of 17 native trees.

Jamie previously clarified 1518 native and endemic species will be planted on and around the property.

‘We’ve rectified the issue and I have sent a letter to all the neighbours and the council explaining what’s happening and so hopefully they will see with our new plans,’ he said on Today Extra in 2021.

Neighbours then had an issue with whether the home’s construction would impact the ecosystem of a local microbat colony.

Jamie admitted to Woman’s Day that he was ‘sorry’ for the stress the gargantuan build had put on Ameka and their children.

‘It’s been the toughest project I have ever taken on in my whole life,’ Durie said, adding: ‘I’m sorry for the stress this has put on our family.’      

As for other home projects the star has worked on, Jamie has collaborated with many big-named celebrities to bring their landscape dreams to life, including Oprah Winfrey, Chelsea Handler and Charlize Theron, who Jamie called ‘one of my best clients.’ 

Jamie also built Charlize Theron’s garden in Los Angeles and calls the actress ‘one of my best clients’

‘I did design a lovely garden for Charlize,’ he said, referring to the Mad Max actress’ Hollywood Hills property. 

‘I built her a garden that was out of this world.’

The garden boast a number of native South African plants, including a ‘beautiful aloe dichotoma’ as a tribute to her South African heritage. 

After two years, not only had Jamie brought the garden of Charlize’s wildest dreams to life, but he had forged a sweet friendship with the star. 

‘Charlize and I became great mates,’ he revealed.

‘She’s beautiful, absolutely stunning.’