Author(s): Richard Aitken

Gardening Landscape Plants

"Gardenesque" is a wonderful ramble through more than 200 years of Australian gardening and garden making. Richard Aitken takes the reader on a visual tour of stunning images from the State Library of Victoria's extensive collections and Anne Latreille, Paul Fox and Michael Leunig offer their personal perspectives of gardening. The diversity of Australia's gardening heritage is revealed in selections from a wide range of books, pamphlets, plans, paintings and prints. "Gardenesque" showcases magnificent illustrations from nineteenth-century botanical books; uncovers the symbolism of Wattle Day; follows the Gardening Year with Mr Bear; introduces the Queen of the 1953 Ballarat Begonia Festival; displays Yates' seed books from various decades; explores counter-culture manifestos from the 1970s; and features Howard Arkley's suburban surrealism. Throughout, the chronological journey reflects changing fashions for plants and shifting environmental concerns.