James Young (1862-1934) was Curator of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens from 1908-1933, having trained in England and worked in Victoria, Australia. As an expert on roses—the Christchurch Botanic Gardens rosery was probably the largest in…
After Murphy's death, David Tannock, the Superintendent of Gardens and Reserves, Dunedin, took over his role. His first book, Manual of Gardening in New Zealand appeared in 1916. Appointed Curator at the Dunedin Botanic Gardens in 1903 following…
ohn Rea (d. 1681) was a professional nurseryman and garden designer who wrote just one gardening book: Flora Ceres & Pomona (1665). His audience were ‘florists', the term then used for flower fanciers and collectors. Having found Parkinson's 1628…
The Rev. John Laurence (1668-1732), was the first of sixteen clergymen to write important gardening books in the 18th century. His first work The Clergy-Man's Recreation (1714) aimed to preserve the health of clergy by encouraging them…
The de Beer collection contains three editions of John Evelyn's (1620-1705) Silva (or Sylva), the first publication officially sponsored by the Royal Society. This book promoted the planting of trees to avert the timber crisis facing the British…
For some decades after colonization began, the settlers continued to use the English gardening manuals they had brought with them. These were still good sources on techniques, but poor guides to seasonal operations. George Chapman's Hand Book to the…
The Rev. Dr Henry Burgess was a Victorian curate who followed John Laurence's advice to obtain exercise cultivating his garden. When not editing The Journal of Sacred Literature, he was penning practical advice for the Gardener's Chronicle (1846-9).…
As well as writing his own books on gardening and arboriculture, the English virtuoso John Evelyn translated several influential French manuals. The first (1658) was Nicolas de Bonnefons's Le Jardinier François, a handbook on the cultivation of…