The banksia is quintessentially Australian. Known and loved for its brush-like flowers and sweet honey nectar, the plant embodies both the beauty and harshness of the Australian landscape. Little Books of Banksias features poems and extracts by some of Australia¿s greatest poets, including Dorothy Hewett, Archie Weller and Douglas Stewart. The artists represented in the publication include Marian Ellis Rowan, Marrianne Collinson Campell, Adam Forster and Ebenezer Edward Gostelow.
A collection of around 2000 of the most informative and entertaining fact sheets from Burke's Backyard. This is an enormous compendium, blooming with ideas for outdoor areas large and small. Featuring detailed projects and information such as gardening, landscaping, pet road tests and care, native flowers and fauna, international trends and astounding facts, this is a book that will appeal to both the novice and experienced gardener alike. This is an all encompassing, practical gardening and lifestyle book written for Australian conditions by an Australian outdoor guru.
With their bold flowering and fruiting spikes, banksias remain a favourite among artists and gardeners alike. A Banksia Album features over 90 stunning full-colour reproductions of watercolours, pencil and sepia-wash drawings, colour prints and early hand-coloured engravings and lithographs of banksias from the National Library of Australias collections. A Banksia Album covers over two centuries of botanical illustration, from 1770 when the Endeavours artist, Sydney Parkinson, was the first European to make drawings of banksias at Botany Bay, to 2007 with two prints of Banksia rosserae by Celia Rosser.
Ever since Captain Cook came to Botany Bay over two hundred years ago, an old, wild, and hairy nut lady has refused to speak. As a frightened Sarah Banksia sits on a cobbie branch of a banksia tree that leans out dangerously over the sea, she recalls the moment when she first heard the voices of the terrible square peoplethe ones who changed her life forever. Meanwhile, a girl is visited by a large black crow who stands on her chest and tells her that she is a naughty and square girl. Moments later, little Margaret finds comfort with a kindly moth. But when the determined crow returns and proclaims she is a heartless piece of wood, Margaret worries what is to become of her. But what she does not know is that this is just the beginning of an unforgettable journey through a wonderful and magical world where the answers may just lie within Sarahs tree. In this delightful fairy tale adventure for children, a frightened old lady and a little girl are brought together in a magical world to find truth, happiness, and unconditional love. Sarah Banksia is the culmination of Jeans extraordinarily perceptive and inspirational writing and illustrations. Once again, she breaks new ground, introducing young readers to the evolution of lifein particular, the preciously unique plants and animals of Australia (Kathryn McConnochie). Edith Jean Walkers classic Australian fairy tale is about deep time. Like some intense storm or a sublime passage of light in landscape it shakes your foundation and shifts your perspective (Richard Leplastrier).
A vividly illustrated meeting with thirty plants and their inspiring namesakes Shakespeare famously asserted that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” and that’s as true for common garden roses as it is for the Megacorax, a genus of evening primroses. Though it may not sound like it, the Megacorax was actually christened in honor of famed American botanist Peter Raven, its name a play on the Latin words for “great raven.” In this lush and lively book, celebrated botanist Sandra Knapp explores the people whose names have been immortalized in plant genera, presenting little-known stories about both the featured plants and their eponyms alongside photographs and botanical drawings from the collections of London’s Natural History Museum. Readers will see familiar plants in a new light after learning the tales of heroism, inspiration, and notoriety that led to their naming. Take, for example, nineteenth-century American botanist Alice Eastwood, after whom the yellow aster—Eastwoodia elegans—is named. Eastwood was a pioneering plant collector who also singlehandedly saved irreplaceable specimens from the California Academy of Sciences during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Or more recently, the fern genus Gaga, named for the pop star and actress Lady Gaga, whose verdant heart-shaped ensemble at the 2010 Grammy Awards bore a striking resemblance to a giant fern gametophyte. Knapp’s subjects range from Charles Darwin’s grandfather, Erasmus Darwin (Darwinia), and legendary French botanist Pierre Magnol—who lends his name to the magnolia tree—to US founding figures like George Washington (Washingtonia) and Benjamin Franklin (Franklinia). Including granular details on the taxonomy and habitats for thirty plants alongside its vibrant illustrations, this book is sure to entertain and enlighten any plant fan.
In his new collection of essays Subhash Jaireth traverses the globe in an exploration of the personal and collective memory held within natural and built landscapes. His roving curiosity takes us from his early life in Delhi to his years as a student in Soviet-era Moscow. We travel to Burma with George Orwell and battle windmills in Spain with Don Quixote. Jaireth walks us through the landscapes around Uluru, Canberra and Sydney with the sharp gaze of a geologist and the imagination of a poet. We follow the roots of an old banksia tree in his garden, the traces left by ancient rivers and seas, and stories passed down from time immemorial. In George Orwell’s Elephant & Other Essays, Jaireth draws his life’s emotional map right on the soil under his feet, and in the process unearths narratives, characters and places that leave us aware of the layers of memory and meaning that shimmer all around us.
Australian flowers are truly unique. Banksias and flannel flowers, wattle and waratahs all offer their own magic of colour, shape and texture. All across this country there is botanical beauty right in front of us. Native flora and foliage offer a beautiful alternative in the sustainability-challenged cut-flower industry. Our diverse landscape and climate produce incredible flowers that inspire our gardens and fuel our creativity. Here are over 50 plant profiles with notes on growing, cutting, conditioning, arranging and drying, with florists' insights on what makes them so special. Bush Flowers will give you everything you need to bring Australian native plants into your home, and to see the bush around you in all its beauty.
