During the 1950s and 1960s Muriel and Bill Fisher established a fine collection of over 700 native plants in their garden on the North Shore of Auckland Harbour. Concerned for the future of some rare plants, Muriel Fisher wrote Gardening with New Zealand plants, shrubs and trees to encourage New Zealanders to grow native plants in their gardens. Her book marked a turning point in New Zealanders’ attitudes to using natives.
Listen to Muriel Fisher talk about how she came to write this influential book. She refers to Norman Potts, who grew a number of uncommon native plants in the Hukutaia Domain, Ōpōtiki.
Transcript
I felt that there was a need for a book to be written by an amateur to encourage the gardening public to grow some of our lesser known New Zealand plants and thus save them from extinction. But I wondered whether Norman Potts with all his knowledge and his background, how he felt about it. Oh, he thought it was an excellent idea, to get on with it, he didn't want to do it. He would be only too happy to check the manuscript. And that was how the original gardening book was started. Never dreaming that it would go like it did [muffled].
When was it published?
The first one came out in 1970 and then there were two enlarged editions and seven reprints.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Reference: 22 May 1990, section 2, p. 3
by Ross White
Sound file from Auckland Libraries
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