73. PATTERN MAKING
We are patterns. We exist within them, we make them, we break them. As old patterns disintegrate, new ones grow. And right now, amid grand disorder and change, we have an opportunity to dream and create new patterns of being. Patterns that might help shape our future as a species. Where do such things grow, you ask? From the earth, of course.
Issue 73.
PATTERN MAKING
Grasping at Order: In the Garden, in the Mind
GardensA musing on the complexity of gardening in a pandemic.
A collection of Odes: To Dirty Hands, Chairs and Un-Cool Plants
CultureGorgeous garden odes from the Planthunter Ode Project
Are you looking for plants, pots, flowers, fabric, tools and talented people?
Look no further! The Planthunter Directory is your in-the-know best friend.
Highlights
Seven Billion Burnt Trees
BotanicaA conversation about plants and bushfire with Brett Summerell, Chief Botanist at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.
Breathing Fire
CultureAn essay by Georgina Reid exploring questions of relationship and imagination in the wake of the Australian bushfires.
Designing Abundance with Claudia West
Art & Design, PeopleA conversation with trailblazing landscape architect and ecological design advocate, Claudia West
Once Upon a Tree War
CultureBede Brennon dives into a complex and venomous debate over weeds and street trees in a quiet country town.
The Man Who Writes Lists: A Fire Story
CultureBird watcher and botanist Max James's property 'vaporised' in the 2020 Australian bushfires. This is Max's story, told by his daughter Clare.
Bonsai and the Cult of Cute
Botanica, CultureAn exploration of our obsession with the tiny world of bonsai!
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Gardens
Musk Cottage: Rick Eckersley’s Rogue Garden
GardensAcclaimed Australian garden designer Rick Eckersley is a rogue. So is his garden. So is his upcoming book.
Jac Semmler’s Mad Perennial Garden
GardensJac Semmler has created a perennial wonderland in suburban Melbourne. A bit of whimsy, a bunch of madness and a lot of fun!
Plant / Life: Jo Ferguson
Gardens, PeopleA visit to a soulful coastal garden on the Mornington Peninsula.
Fiona Brockhoff’s Sublime Garden Wonderland
Art & Design, GardensKarkalla is one of the great private gardens of Australia.
Ghostly Gardens and Earthly Memories
GardensA tale of ghost gardens and stories from the soil.
Life is Complicated and Mysterious and Dogmatism is Boring
GardensOn making unconstrained, ecologically rich, meaningful and beautiful gardens
Super Bloom: New Floral Frontiers in Public Planting Design
GardensWhat does it take to make engaging, dynamic and loved public spaces?
Essays
Audacious Gardening: On Daring to Care
I’m rarely the recipient of negativity, of course. Everyone smiles when I mention I write about gardens, that I am a gardener. “How lovely,” they say, seeing me as a simple and wholesome woman, secateurs fused to my right hand and fingernails permanently encrusted with soil. “Salt of the earth!” they suggest enthusiastically. I smile outwardly, and inwardly too, telling myself they have no idea just how gritty this woman really is.Wild: the Healing Relationship Between Nature and Grief
Wild nature, in contrast to the urban landscape, is a place that invites the grieving to grieve. It does not seek to silence a damaged, confused heart or distract it with noise and activityThe Way of the Gardener
I am committed to tending to this world as a gardener. I am committed to cultivating new shoots, new stories, new hopes, new futures. I do this work with dirt under my nails, with curiosity, reverence and respect. And I wonder, is there any better way to be in the world right now than the way of the gardener – aware, engaged and in love?Support The Planthunter
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ARCHIVE
Untethered
CultureA note from The Planthunter editor Georgina Reid.
Victor Steffensen’s Fire Country
CultureIndigenous Fire Practitioner Victor Steffensen explains how Indigenous fire management could help save Australia
Introducing the Planthunter Ode Project
CultureImagine an untamed and entangled garden of words that whisper, shout, murmur and yell of the beauty and importance and value of the natural world! Ode with us.
Saving Seeds With Jac Semmler, Seed Queen
Botanica, How-ToSave those seeds! Jac Semmler will show you how.
The Earth is in Her Hands
CultureA conversation with the author of new book featuring 75 leading women of plants.
Jac Semmler’s Mad Perennial Garden
GardensJac Semmler has created a perennial wonderland in suburban Melbourne. A bit of whimsy, a bunch of madness and a lot of fun!
Interrogation and Regeneration with Artist Cara Johnson
Art & Design, PeopleArtist Cara Johnson's works interrogate ideas around land management practices and the human relationship with the natural world.
The Man Who Writes Lists: A Fire Story
CultureBird watcher and botanist Max James's property 'vaporised' in the 2020 Australian bushfires. This is Max's story, told by his daughter Clare.
Designing Abundance with Claudia West
Art & Design, PeopleA conversation with trailblazing landscape architect and ecological design advocate, Claudia West