I was delighted when I opened the envelope containing a review copy of Peony. Out came a lovely hardback with a peony in full bloom on the cover. It’s precisely this voluptuousness that attracts so many. The author, Gail Harland, […]
Plant Collecting in Another Planet, E H Wilson in Australia 1920-21 by Margaret J Grose, UWA Publishing 2025 Ernest Wilson is best known for his plant collecting expeditions in China and the Far East between 1899 and 1910. He shipped […]
The latest issue of the International Review of Environmental History takes readers from the settler landscapes of nineteenth-century Aotearoa New Zealand to the post-1945 rise of herbicides in Northern Europe. Lingering in Aotearoa, readers will be immersed in geological debates about […]
If you were born in Britain, I expect privet hedges were very much part of your childhood. The garden design shown on p. 284 of Behind the Privet Hedge (Reaktion Books, Ltd, London, 2024) by Michael Gilson could be my father’s, […]
Nature’s Greatest Success – how plants evolved to exploit humanity by Robert N Spengler III, University of California Press, 2025 All gardeners and most garden historians spend quite a bit of time pondering which new varieties to plant and occasionally […]
Heroines of Horticulture by Stephan White, Schiffer, 2024 Books that celebrate women in gardening and horticulture are redressing the imbalance that exists between male and female practitioners in these fields. Stephan White’s book featuring women of the United States of […]
David J. Mabberley. Memoirs of The Peter Crossing Collection No. 1. 2024. 86 pages hardback without dust jacket. Black-and-white reproductions, some colour photographs. Price AUD 55. Available by request to peter@crossings.com.au This is a beautiful book, essential for anyone with […]
Andrew Darby’s new book, The Ancients: Discovering the world’s oldest surviving trees in wild Tasmania (Allen and Unwin, 2025), is a deep dive into the wilds of Tasmania. Seven chapters cover eight awe-inspiring trees, with chapter titles that hint at […]
Matthew Collins with Thomas Rutter, The Tree Atlas: the world’s most amazing trees and where to find them (Lonely Planet, 2024) The head gardener at the Garden Museum in London, Mathhew Collins, has collaborated with Thomas Rutter, horticulturist and garden writer, […]
This review was first published on the Landscape Australia website in March 2025. One of the main material considerations of landscape architecture is vegetation and plants: planting design, plant types, plant performance and plant control as examples. As a discipline […]
When I was asked to review Unforgettable Gardens, 500 Years of Historic Gardens and Landscapes, edited by Susannah Charlton (Batsford, 2024), my immediate thought was that I would be going on a journey down memory lane to the various gardens […]
This post alerts readers to Cold words (CSIRO, 2025) by Bernadette Hince, a former editor of Australian Garden History and also dictionary-maker and natural historian with a passionate interest in language and the world’s cold places. This ‘ice-breaking’ book collects the English […]
I marvel at the way some women of the Victorian Age donned their button-up boots, picked up their long skirts and petticoats to step onto a gang plank, ready to roam the world. While many of these intrepid travellers were […]
Funga Obscura (NewSouth, 2025) by Alison Pouliot is an extraordinary exploration of the hidden kingdom of fungi, presented through a unique combination of evocative writing and stunning photography. Pouliot takes us on a journey not just across the world but […]
Review of Enid Mayfield, Illustrated garden glossary, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, March 2025 The author of this beautifully produced book is a botanical illustrator. Her glossary features at least one, and often several, of her own colour illustrations on every A4-sized […]
Here I reflect on writing Thrushwood Garden Evolution and Thrushwood Garden and Collections, both published in 2024. The Southern Highlands in NSW is well known for its beautiful gardens. Thrushwood (a 2,782m² property) is one of the most diverse and […]
Review of Weeds of the South-East, An Identification Guide for Australia, by F J Richardson, R G Richardson, R C H Shepherd, fourth edition, CSIRO Publishing, March 2025 The identification of plants and the recognition of weeds are at the […]
In Tasmanian Gardens (Thames & Hudson Australia, 2024) author Meg Bignell and photographer Alice Bennett have produced an enlightening and generously illustrated coffee table book to take you on a journey through a wide-ranging selection of twenty Tasmanian gardens. Within […]
That is the question at the core of The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad: A True Story of Science and Sacrifice in a City under Siege by Simon Parkin (Hachette, 2024). The story of the siege of Leningrad for more than […]
The Secrets of Great Botanists and what they teach us about gardening, Matthew Biggs, Exisle Publishing, 2024 Rush out and buy your favourite gardener a copy of this terrific little book, even if too late for a ‘stocking filler’! This […]
A book is a gift you can open again and again. So said Garrison Keillor, that wry, wise American author, singer and humorist, whose Prairie Home Companion radio show offered so much insight into the human condition. And he’s right, […]
Most Australians have heard of mainland Australia’s highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko, but few know the name of its near neighbour, Mt Townsend, which is only 11 metres lower in height. Many years ago, AGHS Victoria branch did the walk from […]
OUT NOW AND AVAILABLE AT THE AGHS ONLINE SHOP $65 (includes postage within Australia) Alfred Buxton was the father of landscape design in New Zealand. Working in the early twentieth century, he was one of the first in the country […]
Michaela Hill reviews A Short History of Flowers, The stories that make our gardens by Advolly Richmond, illustrations by Sarah Jane Humphrey (Frances Lincoln 2024). This book may just be the perfect last-minute Christmas shop. It will appeal to gardeners, plant […]
Roger Cross has brought into the limelight yet another wonderful Australian lady plant collector: Anne (Annie) Richard. Here fellow Burra resident, Francis Walling, reviews his book, Everlastings, Becoming Me: Annie Richards the flower hunter, Green Hill Publishing, 2024, 279 pp., Amazon […]
Max Bourke, AM reviews Experts in the World Heritage Regime – Between Protection and Prestige by Luke James, Palgrave Macmillan, 2024. With conservation at the heart of the Australian Garden History Society philosophy, World Heritage places (including 20 in Australia […]
A special edition of Historical Records of Australian Science, edited by Andrew Geering (University of Queensland) reveals how the profession has flourished and, despite being isolated from the scientific community in the northern hemisphere, was able to make world-first discoveries. The issue […]
The Time Traveller’s Guide to Hamilton Gardens by Peter Sergel, photographs by Grant Sheehan Phantom House Books, 2024 I always enjoy visiting the Hamilton Gardens but have often thought they are a bit like a horticultural Disneyland, with gardens from […]
Members of the Bloomsbury Group during a stay at Garsington Manor. From left to right: Ottoline Morrell, Maria Huxley, Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell (1915) This 2024 summer in London, the Garden Museum is presenting an exhibition […]
The Medicinal Garden, Treat, feed and soothe straight from your garden by Caroline Parker, illustrations by Lucy Mora, Thames & Hudson 2024 This beautifully presented book is aimed at the younger gardener who is interested in organic gardening, herbalism and experimentation. The […]