Garden History Now

Christmas gift ideas

A book is a gift you can open again and again. So said Garrison Keillor, that wry, wise American...

Townsend of the Ranges

Most Australians have heard of mainland Australia’s highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko, but few know...
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The Fairer Side of Buxton by Clare Gleeson

OUT NOW AND AVAILABLE AT THE AGHS ONLINE SHOP $65 (includes postage within Australia) Alfred Buxton...

Ross gardens in spring

One of the benefits of membership of Australian Garden History Society (AGHS) is the opportunity to...

A Short History of Flowers

Michaela Hill reviews A Short History of Flowers, The stories that make our gardens by Advolly...

AGHS Annual Report 2023-2024

The Australian Garden History Society is pleased to provide you with the AGHS Annual Report 2023-24...

Another lady plant collector: Annie Richards of South Australia

Roger Cross has brought into the limelight yet another wonderful Australian lady plant collector:...

October 2024 issue of Australian Garden History

The October 2024 issue of Australian Garden History is now available. Details of the articles...

Boulevard of broken dreams

Max Bourke, AM reviews Experts in the World Heritage Regime – Between Protection and Prestige by...

Winner of the QUT essay prize

The Australian Garden History Society is delighted to announce the winner of the essay competition...
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Vale John Dargavel

The Australian forest and environmental history communities have lost one of their pioneering...

The colorful history of plant pathology in Australia

A special edition of Historical Records of Australian Science, edited by Andrew Geering (University...

A botanical wonderland in Hamilton, New Zealand

The Time Traveller’s Guide to Hamilton Gardens by Peter Sergel, photographs by Grant Sheehan Phantom...

Gardening bohemia – revisiting the Bloomsbury group

Members of the Bloomsbury Group during a stay at Garsington Manor. From left to right: Ottoline...

How to grow and process your own herbs

The Medicinal Garden, Treat, feed and soothe straight from your garden by Caroline Parker...

Walking in Burnley Gardens

John Dwyer reviews Burnley Gardens: Their Design and the People who loved them, by Michele Adler...

Tales of arboreal obsession

Amy Stewart, The Tree Collectors, Tales of Arboreal Obsession, Text Publishing, Melbourne...

Bob Crowder: a New Zealand organics pioneer

Stuart Read reviews Bob Crowder: a New Zealand organics pioneer, by Matt Morris, Otago University...
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FUTURE DIRECTIONS DISCUSSION PAPER

This brief paper has been prepared at the request of the NMC at its meeting on 4 December 2023...

Read this book: it may just change your life as a gardener!

There is a lot of fascinating information contained in this book. Did you know that morning glory...
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2024 Annual National Conference

44th AGHS Conference Hesperia: Looking West Bunbury, Western Australia Friday 18th, Saturday 19th...

Historic Gardens of Perth: a handsome first

John Viska & Lisa Williams (eds), Historic Gardens of Perth: European settlement to Modernism...

Food and travel

This week’s review comes to you from Dr Jacqueline Newling, an historian, gastronomer and...

Brave the Wild River

Rosemary Purdie reviews Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of...

Ancient Australian Wollemi pine growing in Ukraine

Australian Ambassador to Ukraine, HE Bruce Edwards (second from right), inspecting the Wollemi pine...

Napoleon’s Garden Island  

Book review by Tim Gatehouse In Napoleon’s Garden Island – lost and old gardens of St Helena, South...
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AGHS Annual Conference – Hobart and Ipswich session recordings

The AGHS Annual Conference is a highly anticipated event. While we wait for the 2024 National...

Eden unearthed: well worth a visit

Stuart Read reviews the Eden Unearthed: sculpture exhibition, Eden Gardens & Garden Centre, 307...

The World of Mab Grimwade

Sandra Pullman reviews Mab, The World of Mab Grimwade by Thea Gardiner (The Miegunyah Press, Imprint...

Fevered Planet – how disease emerges when we harm nature

Dr Kim Loo, general practitioner, and member of Doctors for the Environment Australia responds to...

Dr John Gray OAM – a remarkable ‘man of the trees’

Magna Carta Place, Canberra Parliamentary Triangle, one of John Gray’s landscape design...

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria scientist names new rhododendron species

A botanist at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Dr Alastair Robinson, has described a beautiful new...

Future directions of the Victorian Heritage Register – Invitation to have your say!

Since 1974, the Victorian Heritage Register has protected the heritage places and objects that are...

The crucial role of seeds in natural and human history

Fiona McMillan-Webster, The Age of Seeds, Thames and Hudson, 2022 Reviewed by Francesca Beddie...

Visions of Nature by Jarrod Hore

Reviewed by John Dwyer, QC, PhD This book is disappointing in a number of ways. Its intent was ‘to...

UPDATED! Call for proposals: National ‘Landscapes At Risk: Watch & Action’ List

‘Landscapes At Risk: Watch & Action’ List At National Management Committee meeting in June...

Historic Gardens of Perth

The West Australian Branch is pleased to announce that Historic Gardens of Perth: European...

Succulentomania

Caroline Ball, A Splendour of Succulents & Cacti: Illustrations from an Eighteenth-Century...

Baron Ferdinand von Mueller’s letters available online

Letters of love and love lost, and of exciting expeditions are among the letters that Baron...

Becoming a botanist – reflections by Carrick Chambers

Stuart Read reviews Becoming a botanist, by Carrick Chambers, with Claudia Chambers, hardback...

Personal stories of plants

Poppy Fitzpatrick reviews The Plant Thieves: Secrets of the Herbarium (NewSouth, 2023) by Prudence...

The history of early vineyards and viticulture in the Sydney basin

Vineyard, Parramatta, 1840 painting by Conrad Martens, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South...
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University of Canberra Culture and Creativity Seminar – Routledge Handbook of Cultural Landscape Practice: What’s in it (for me)?

Cultural landscapes, which in the field of heritage studies and practice relates to caring for and...
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Replacement of Lombardy Poplars at the National Library of Australia forecourt

Considering community feedback, associated with the heritage values of the Lombardy Poplars in the...

A win for TROVE

The Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, has announced that the Government will provide the National...
Adelaide parklands

AGHS statement opposing further encroachment on the Adelaide Parklands

We, the Australian Garden History Society, believe the South Australian  Government’s intention to...

Catching the light

Trevor Nottle reviews John Glover, Patterdale Farm and the Revelation of the Australia Landscape by...
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Keep a diary, dear horticulturists

  Karen Pyke reviews The Hidden Horticulturists: The untold story of the men who shaped...

Backyard Mangoes

In something a little different for the book blog, below is an article on mangoes, reproduced with...

A mid-century garden on the Nepean River

‘Colour, light, space and texture were essential to Margo Lewers’ art and design philosophy’. Tempe...

Fifty years of the UK’s Garden History free online

The UK Garden Trust’s journal Garden History was first published by the Garden History Society in...
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Helping Ukrainian scientists

For the last nine months, AGHS member, Dr Greg Johnson, has been liaising with plant pathologist...
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Kew’s gardener on HMS Investigator

  Peter Good was one of a remarkable team assembled by Joseph Banks for the voyage of the HMS...
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A Faustian bargain

Max Bourke, AM reviews The Sacrificial Valley – Coal’s Legacy to the Hunter, by John Drinan, Bad...

Memoir, plant compendium, poetry collection and more: the ramblings of a generous plant hunter

RAMBLINGS OF A RARE PLANT HUNTER by Marcus Harvey Reviewed by Trevor Pitkin I often wonder when I...

Rosemary’s Gardening Life

Rosemary Simpson, a member of AGHS since the beginning, has written the story of her gardening life...
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AGHS launches its first climate change position statement

“It’s time those of us who care for gardens take a stand against climate change,” said AGHS’s...
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New Zealand’s botanical heroes revealed in a history of Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush

Clare Gleeson reviews AGHS member, Bee Dawson’s beautiful history, Ōtari Two hundred years of...
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Mothering in Crisis: Family, Disaster and Climate Change: FREE EVENT

“Mothering in Crisis” is a Melbourne Climate Futures CRX Project headed by Dr Carla Pascoe Leahy and...

UPDATED: Avenues of Honour and other significant plantings – Australia-wide list

  Honour & Memorial Avenues / Roadside Plantings; Lone Pines / Arbor Day Plantings –...
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The real Miss Willmott

Miss Willmott’s Ghosts by Sandra Lawrence, Blink Publishing, 2022 Reviewed by Clare Gleeson Who...
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Goronga, a hill station garden

Goronga is a farming property in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, 55 kilometres from Melbourne...
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Across Bass Strait. Inter-Colonial Trade in Meat and Livestock by Jane Lennon, Anchor Books Australia, 2022

Review by Rosie Mackinnon, co-chair, Tasmanian branch of AGHS This is an historical account of how...
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The Mick Jagger of the plant world

Tim Entwisle, Evergreen. The Botanical Life of a Plant Punk, Thames and Hudson, 2022, review by Max...
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Is the pen mightier than the trowel?

No! Neither the pen nor the trowel is mightier; instead, both are needed for understanding gardening...
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Scientific gentlemen of the Baudin expedition

Eds Jean Fornasiero, John West-Sooby, ‘Roaming Freely Throughout the Universe’, Nicolas...
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Winter webinar: Is the pen mightier than the trowel in garden history?

Have you booked yet for the winter webinar? Go to Is The Pen Mightier Than The Trowel In Garden...
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Exploring the tree continent

Book review by Max Bourke AM I seem to be making a habit of this. Last year I got very excited about...
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100 years of Australian native plants: the Maranoa Botanic Gardens Florilegium by Margaret Castle

The Maranoa Botanic Garden is a hidden gem in Balwyn not far from Melbourne’s city centre. Recently...
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Harry Turbott: New Zealand’s First Landscape Architect

Garth Falconer, Harry Turbott: New Zealand’s First Landscape Architect, Blue Acres Publishing, 2020...
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Summer reading

Here in Bundanoon, summer has been elusive. The sun has had to compete with mist and rain; the weeds...
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Common Ground – Garden Histories of Aoteoroa

Common Ground – Garden Histories of Aoteoroa by Matt Morris, Otago University Press, 2020, 276 pages...
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Wonder: 175 Years of Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (Hardie Grant Books Richmond, Melbourne, 2021)

As a Melbournian, it was a pleasure to review this amazing book, Wonder 175 Years of Royal Botanic...
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Eden Unearthed: Art in the Gardens

Stuart Read reviews a sculpture exhibition at Eden Gardens & Garden Centre, 307 Lane Cove Road...
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Plants of the Simpson Desert

As a supplement to her article ‘Major plant collectors in the Simpson Desert, 1879–1979’, in...
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Saffron

SAFFRON: A Global History by Ramin Ganeshram (Reaktion Books, distributed by NewSouth) was reviewed...
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Hawthorn

Further to the article Putting hawthorn hedges to work: introducing a modern hedgelayer  in the July...
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Book review: a history of food

As editor of both Australian Garden History and the Professional Historians Association’s...
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New book: Illustrated Plant Glossary

The Illustrated Plant Glossary (CSIRO Publishing, 2021, $69.99) by Enid Mayfield is a comprehensive...
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Illustrations from an 18th-century botanical treasury

Do you want to know what a florilegium is, or a herbal, and would you like to acquire a piece of an...
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Goronga plant list

In the October 2021 issue of Australian Garden History, Tim Gatehouse writes about the history of...
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Remarkable Gardens updated: Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden

The latest addition to the Remarkable Gardens list is Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden, featured...
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Plant hunting in the Pacific

Alistair Watt’s article,  Charles Moore. Plant Hunting in the South Pacific. 1850. is...
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Silent Space Movement

This article by Liz Ware, garden writer and historian, member of the Garden Media Guild and a former...
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AGHS Advocacy

  From its inception, the Australian Garden History Society set out to be a conservationist...
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Finding the Mother Tree: book review

Simard, Suzanne, Finding the Mother Tree – Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the...
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Spirit of the Garden: book review

Trisha Dixon has written an extraordinary book straight from her heart. Her beautiful descriptions...
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Wandella Woods Arboretum: a year after the fires

In the early hours of New Year’s Eve 2019 a massive bushfire ravaged the town of Cobargo in...

Picconia excelsa in Australia and New Zealand

Palo blanco or Canary Island olive trees (Picconia excelsa) in Australia and New Zealand: to date 38...
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Remarkable Gardens UPDATED April 2021

The AGHS is keen to find out from you which ten gardens in your region, state or territory – public...
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National E-News

Latest issue July 2020 Previous issues April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December...
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Dig In! with TROVE

Gardeners have long built and re-built communities. Great swathes of land and some important...

Flowers. Passion. Pain. Nation.

With a title such as that, surely an exhibition for our times. The April issue of Australian Garden...
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Upgrade to Station Street, Bowral

The Southern Highlands Branch of AGHS has not gone into hibernation because of coronavirus. A...
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More Oral Histories Now Online

See the latest additions to the AGHS National Oral History Collection! This is a very special...

Amazing trees on National Trust of Australia (Victoria) register

Jessica Hood was interviewed ABC’s 7.30 on 1 April 2019 talking about this and other amazing...
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Council supports Australian Garden History Society

Armidale Regional Council has approved funding of $43,656 to the Australian Garden History Society...

ACT Branch: Planting Memories for the Centenary of ANZAC

The ACT Riverina Monaro Branch received an ANZAC Centenary Local Grant to honour all the men from...

Garden Restoration Project in the News

Montague Island Kitchen Garden Restoration was a recipient of the Society’s Garden Restoration...
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CAL Payments

Many AGHS members have written articles for the Society’s Journal and other publications over...
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Kindred Spirits Fund

On her death Lady Law-Smith bequeathed to the Australian Garden History Society the publication...

Heritage Gardens Queensland Survey

In Queensland an opportunity arose to carry out a state wide survey of historic gardens and assess...
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ACT Branch:  The ‘English Garden’ and Yarralumla Nursery

The ‘English Garden’ and Yarralumla Nursery The English Garden and Yarralumla Nursery are two of...

A National Review of Inventories of Historic Gardens, Trees, and Landscapes

In 2011/12 the Society commissioned heritage architect and planner Dr Timothy Hubbard and...

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