Famous Women Gardeners

Lesson 3: Gardens of the New Worlds, America and Australia

THE FUTURE

This was certainly a very stimulating and wonderful period, but, all these thrilling plants were to take a toll on the land of our countries. Daily watering and frequent spraying was needed to keep the exotics healthy. In Australia, in prehistoric times a huge tropical forest, it is only the coastal and highlands that are arable. The centre of Australia is classified as desert, and only a few scrappy shrubs grow naturally, except after heavy rains when it comes alive with annual flowers for a few brief weeks. The consequence is that the coastal areas have become over-farmed and over-gardened and the water table is now dangerously full of salt. The greenhouse effect and the hole in the ozone are adding to the disaster about to happen. Our rivers have been dammed to water farm lands and they are drying up, the weather has become unpredictable with too much rain in some areas and far too little in other states. Tornadoes, earthquakes, wind storms and floods are becoming a daily occurrence all over the world.

The wonderful world of the Internet has allowed gardeners from the four corners of the world, to share experiences, knowledge and help in all our garden concerns. We can buy seeds and plants, we can see the gardens we read about, we can visit the International garden shows and observe the latest trends and we are able to speak our concerns on environmental matters. Let us hope that this marvelous device will remain open to us and that we use it wisely.

Is it time for gardeners and professional garden advisors to create another landscaping revolution? Are we already seeing the change? Looking at the photographs from the last years taken at the Chelsea flower show, we can see a definite trend towards the so called "architectural gardens". Hard surfaces are taking the place of lawns, and garden furnishings take the place of garden beds and flowers. Women are now working full time away from the house and garden and have less time to "putter" in their own back yards. Maybe this style will be less work in the gardens. It is certainly more expensive.

What do you think? Please join in the discussions and share your thoughts.

You may like to see an article of mine written with tongue-in-cheek but also with some thoughts on where garden landscaping is heading to.

This is the cover of a seed catalogue I own. It is an old Tasmanian firm and was printed in 1925.

The front page says:

We are pleased to have you receive this copy of Creswell's Seed Catalogue; we are sure you will like it and believe you will find many interesting things in it.

We feel sure that we can satisfactorily fill your requirements for Seeds, and we trust that you will give us the opportunity of serving you. Our service is safe and quick, our stocks are thoroughly tested, and we send out only those of proved merit. We guarantee the safe arrival of seeds, and guarantee their quality to the full amount of the purchase price.

Supplies for 1925 are exceptionally good, and with such good stocks we are in the position to give complete satisfaction in Price, Quality, and Service.

We thank old Customers for the many courtesies of the past, and assure them of fidelity in the future, trusting we merit the same spirit of confidence that we have previously enjoyed.

Price of seed packet six pence, postage free

Photos scanned by me out of my book "The English Garden Abroad" by Charles Quest Ritson

A few links you may like to explore:

Joseph Banks, explorer naturalist who took back to England a few plants from Australia and America

Read about the Australian arid lands Botanic Gardens

The famous Butchart Gardens nearly one hundred years old.