essay
65 Results
Alive with Rock and Tree
Essays, GardensGeorgina Reid on gardening and love in the Anthropocene.
The Beauty and the Terror
EssaysWriting and gardening, seeing and being. An essay by Georgina Reid.
Dirt is Good: Notes on Gardening in Australia
Culture, GardensAuthor Belinda Probert on growing a connection to her adopted country via gardening.
Beauty and Courage: Thoughts on Life, Gardens and the Human Spirit
Culture, GardensThere is a garden near artist Katherine Throne's home that borders on bedlam...
Awakening the Activist: Right Here, Right Now
CultureWriter Freya Latona on what it means to be an environmental activist, right here, right now.
On Politics, Love and Climate Change
CultureAn essay on finding common ground.
From Control to Connection: A New Ethos of Care
CultureAn essay by Georgina Reid exploring an alternate way to care.
On Being a Settler Gardener
CultureAn honest and personal interrogation of what it means to be a settler gardener in Australia by Annie Farrell.
River Garden Diaries: Austerity, Abundance and an Empty Idea
GardensOn uncovering the heart of a garden.
Gumnut, Baby
CultureAn ode to the great Australian gumnut.
The Way of the Gardener
CultureWe're killing our world. This is why love, and gardening, matters.
A Love Letter to My Neighbour’s Ugly Garden
GardensFreya Latona's neighbour has a beautifully ugly garden.
The World’s Ugliest Plants
Botanica, CultureIs a gerbera uglier than a penis shaped plant that stinks of rotting meat?
Falling into the Future: Nostalgia, Grief and Granny’s Begonia
GardensAn exploration of grief and nostalgia, framed by the story of a pot plant.
The Lore of the Land: Weather Forecasting with Nature
CultureExploring the ancient craft of predicting weather events by reading the landscape and the skies.
My Family Tree Grows Through the Roof of Nana’s Garage
CultureA tale of family, nostalgia and Nana Eileen's huge old oak tree.
River Garden Diaries: Composting jellyfish and other meanderings
GardensGrowing vegetables, composting, the garden as temple. Another rambling essay by Georgina Reid.
My Dad Bill, the Tree Planting Obsessive
CultureA story of a man, his spirit level and a tree museum.
Plant Obsessives Unite!
BotanicaObsessive about plants? Join a plant society. There's one for every genus!
Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbour’s Garden
GardensA tale of street-side garden envy!
A Home Among the Gum Trees: the Pull of the Treechange
CultureFreya Latona muses on our innate desire to find home amongst nature.
River Garden Diaries: Neighbourly Relations
GardensA story about romance, pragmatism and wildlife in Georgina Reid's river garden.
Animals, Anxiety and the Garden: A Heartfelt Tale
PeopleA personal story by artist and gardener Clare James about the role animals have played in helping manage her anxiety.
Redefining our Animal Nature
CultureFreya Latona suggests it's time to redefine our animal nature as a means of re-connecting with the natural world.
The Human Animal and the Garden. Why?
CultureWhat drives us to create gardens?
Forgotten Garden Corners
BotanicaA tale of mysterious and forgotten spaces in suburban gardens!
Musing on Nature’s Mysteries as a Pathway to Mindfulness
CultureA celebration of the relationship between mysterious nature and the cultivation of the human spirit.
On Identity and Gardening
CultureNatasha Grogan found her true identity in the garden.
River Garden Diaries: Tree Songs and a Sense of Place
GardensRebirth on the river...
In Linnaeus’ Garden: What We are Made of Will Make Something Else
Art & Design, CultureArtist Penelope Aitken went to Sweden to imbibe Carl Linnaeus.
Nature as Metaphor
CultureAn exploration of nature's gentle spiritual teachings on the human capacity for renewal by Freya Latona.
Clare James is the Thriftiest Gardener
GardensYou can't always buy what you want, according to Clare.
Thrift is my Middle Name
CultureGeorgina Reid's life of thrift.
The Nature of Revolution
CultureClimate change, humans and a big fat green revolution. It's time.
Fear, Hope and Ending Ecocide
CultureAn international law of ecocide has the power to change the world.
Gardening. It Can Change the World
GardensCultivating perspective, connection and hope in the garden.
Water: Liquid Gold
CultureWho cares about fancy cars, diamonds or big houses if there's no water?
My (Plant)Father
PeopleCleo Braithwaite writes of knowledge learnt from her biologist dad.
Life With Plants: Patrick Honan
PeoplePatrick Honan from St Kilda Indigenous Nursery Co-op is our Reader Profile for the Man issue.
Life With Plants: Hannah Cooper
PeopleHannah Cooper from The Tree Diaries is our Reader Profile for this month!
The Garden: Art, Dalliance, or Both?
Art & Design, GardensAn exploration of the idea of gardens as art, and the implications of the title.
On Seeing (Or Why The Planthunter Exists)
CultureNature. It's simple and complex and fragile. And it's why The Planthunter exists.
Natural Remedies & the Girl Who Said Yes
PeopleLisa Marie Corso shares her approach to natural health care. A very entertaining read. As usual.
The Cool Conundrum
Art & DesignGarden designer Michael McCoy ponders the perils of designing a garden for himself.
Design is not the Answer
Art & DesignA musing on the limited (but important) role of design in the creation of a garden.
Nonna Corso’s Garden
GardensConcetta Corso, aka Nonna Corso, is a 76-year-old avid gardener, knitter and daytime television watcher. She moonlit for over a decade as a professional babysitter.
Marigolds & the Mexican Day of the Dead
Botanica, CultureA beautiful story by Sally Wilson about memory, marigolds, and the Mexican Day of the Dead.
Love Letters to the Eucalypt
CultureAn essay on the Eucalyptus tree as a symbol of Australian nationalistic passion. A great story by Lucy Kaldor.
Art, Death & Secret Gardens
Art & Design, CultureA wonderful story by Josephine Pennicott exploring the relationship between creativity, loss, and the act of gardening in the lives of two women - Contemporary muse/artist Wendy Whiteley and novelist Frances Hodgson Burnett. A really beautiful read!
The Mallows We Weave
BotanicaOccasionally I get so obsessed with a family of plants that I stalk each member thoroughly, to…
Orchidelirium: The Sexual Prowess of Orchids
Botanica, Culture‘Orchid Sexual Deceit Provokes Ejaculation’, reads one headline as I dive headlong into the surprisingly well documented sex…
The Poetry of Plant Life
CultureFrom Epicurus’ garden school, to the grandeur of Versailles, to the crop of community gardens popping up…
Power to the Flower
CultureIf flowers symbolise love, what does it mean to poke a carnation down the loaded barrel of a soldier’s gun?
Conversations With Plants
PeopleWhen I was about seven years old my best friend and I did an experiment where we…
The Battle for Supremacy: Plants vs. People
CultureA brilliant essay by artist and thinker Karina Jean Sharpe on the power struggle between people and plants.
To Not Forget
Botanica, CultureA funny, sad, and beautiful story by Lucy Kaldor involving her mothers funeral, Eucalyptus macrocarpa, and artist Laura Jones.
The Nature of Scent
CultureMost of us have experienced that spine-tingling moment when, triggered by a passing scent carried on the…
Etched: Tattoos & Memory
CultureAs a child, I spent many hours watching the arms of my grandfather, studying the faded tattoos…
Seeds, Life & Weeds
CultureEarly last summer my cousin, while roaming the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, discovered a magnificent dandelion.
Memory & Place: A Path To Belonging
CultureMemory is a curious thing. An experience, a scent, a longing, a lament — it’s jasmine in…
A Beautiful, Purposeful Anarchy
GardensA gorgeous and heartfelt story by artist Genevieve Carrol about her wild garden in Hill End and the shelter it has provided her.
The Handover
GardensLong before Playstations and Gameboys, far away from the school grounds where my friends were trading cards…
Garden Design, Topiary & Dead Dogs
GardensGardens exist at the intersection between humans and the natural world. We create them for many reasons.
Celebrating The Suburbs
CultureI was a child born in the lush, green garden belt of Sydney. It was an idyllic…
36 Edward Street
Culture, GardensA personal story of loss, grief and growth in the garden.