Adelaide Hills Gardens

(Hardback)

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Description

The Adelaide Hills charts the evolution of gardening in Australia. And though anchored deeply in history, many of its gardens have their sights set firmly on the future.

Old oak, elm and ash trees, planted long ago after memories of English gardens, live alongside stringybark eucalypts and native bush gullies, fruit-bearing orchards and wineries. All have thrived on the region's good rainfall, cool climate and natural springs.

Over time, the Hills has weathered storms, droughts and fires. In response to these changing conditions, gardens, too, have changed. Heavily forested slopes have, in many cases, given way to veggie patches, free-ranging chickens and sheep, while Victorian rose and rhododendron hordes have made room for climate-compatible native flora.

Encompassing twenty gardens, taking in grand Victorian estates and repurposed municipal water tanks alike, with evocative stories by Christine McCabe and sublime photography by Simon Griffiths, this book is a testament to the power of gardens to adapt, delight and restore.

Reviews

... the gardens in different seasons and at different times of the day or evening are mesmerising.

... significantly broaden[s] the public discourse about the nature of gardens and garden making in twenty-first-century Australia.

A beautiful monument to the history and horticulture of the Adelaide Hills region.

Author Bio

Christine McCabe is a passionate gardener and highly regarded travel writer for The Australian. She lives in the Adelaide Hills with her husband and two sons.