performed with design integrity – this rarely happens
in Australia. Artists can get to the essence of some-
thing, perhaps influencing, stimulating or positively
affecting others consciously or indirectly. American
artist and landscape architect Isabelle Greene, who is
primarily an artist, designs great plantings and great
gardens, as was the case with Burle Marx. Work like
theirs that interprets the natural world around them
inspires others to support progressive thinking and
action for natural diversity.
How did you develop your own knowledge, as an
autodidact?
When travelling around I want to know what plants I
am looking at, how old they are and the condition
they are growing in. I have always asked these ques-
tions. The great Marion Blackwell does this still, filling
notebooks always an extension of her arm. In this way
you develop your visual memory and enhance the
range of species you can imagine for your design.
When you have a strong planting palette in your head
all you need is a space to test it out on.
Within your seminal book Australian Planting
Design you provide an extensive list of further
reading. Could you recommend a few key
resources for those who are seeking to expand
their knowledge of Australian plants?
Of course Elliot and Jones’s Encylopaedia of
Australian Plants is the most authoritative and useful.
The books by John W. Wrigley and Murray Fagg are
also useful. If you are using local flora there are often
specialist books for your region. Flora of Melbourne by
Marilyn Bull (2014) is one, and Native Plants of the
Sydney District by Alan Fairley and Philip Moore
(2010) is another. For eucalypts, anything by Dean
Nicolle is invaluable.
Google searches can be helpful but may also be
misleading, as can the many popular books on the
subject of plants and landscape. Make sure the infor-
mation you’re using is as current as it can be by
referring to the latest edition of the publication.INTERVIEW
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LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AUSTRALIA MAY 2017 71