Whether it be in a private garden, a corporate planting, or an eco-restoration area, there is something about planting with New Zealand natives that evokes beauty, tranquillity, and the satisfaction of restoring our environment to the way it used to be.
This collection of 44 personal narratives is sumptuously illustrated with photographs by John Maillard, who travelled from Invercargill to Auckland to bring to life the contributors’ garden stories.
Contributors include Peri Drysdale, Jeanette Fitzsimons, Bob Harvey, Diana, Lady Isaac, Tim Shadbolt, Steven Tindall, Mathew Sinclair, Hugh Wilson, and a host of conservationists and gardeners esteemed in their locales.
The informative and often moving stories are as individual as their authors. Each records a gardener’s successes (and failures) and offers sound advice based on experience.
Ian Spellerberg is Professor of Nature Conservation and Director of the Isaac Centre for Nature Conservation at Lincoln University. He is president of the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network, and is passionate about raising the profile of New Zealand’s natural heritage.
Michele Frey is an Environmental and Recreation Planning Consultant in Napier. She is involved in a number of reserve restoration projects, and does parks and reserves planning for a range of public and private organisation.
John Maillard is Programme Leader of Photography and Multimedia at CPIT Christchurch. He has been a photographer in Africa, the US, New Zealand and Britain for over two decades. His specialisation in documenting landscapes and people has taken him on assignments around the world.