No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Tropical Gardens: The Myth and the Reality
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2016
Extract
The myth of the ‘tropical garden’ probably originated with historical accounts of tropical rainforest. Charles Darwin, in 1822, described his first encounter with tropical rainforest thus: ‘Delight … is a weak term to express the feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has wandered by himself in a Brazilian forest … the beauty of the flowers, the glossy green of the foliage, but above all the general luxuriance of the vegetation, filled me with admiration …’. About fifty years later, Isabella Bird wrote to her sister of her first impressions of Honolulu: ‘And beyond the reef and beyond the blue, nestling among cocoanut trees and bananas, umbrella trees and breadfruits, oranges, mangoes, hibiscus, algarroba [carob (Ceratonia siliqua)] and passion-flowers, almost hidden in the deep, dense greenery, was Honolulu’. These images of lushness, luxuriance, colour, warmth and the exotic carry on into the popular modern perception of the ‘tropical garden’.
- Type
- Special Issue: TROPICAL PLEASURES: A Focus on Queensland Gardens. Papers of the 24th National Australian Garden History Society, Brisbane 11–13 July 2003.
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press
References
Notes
1 Whitmore, T. C., An Introduction to Tropical Rainforests, (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1990), p. 15.Google Scholar
2 Bird, I., Six Months in Hawaii, (1875 republished published KPI, London, 1986) pp. 19–20.Google Scholar
3 Sim, Jeannie, ‘Tropical Gardens’. in Aitken, R.. and Looker, M., The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens, (South Melbourne: OUP 2002) pp. 604–5.Google Scholar
4 Hackett, B., Planting Design, (London: E. and F.N. Spon, London, 1979) pp. 46–48.Google Scholar
5 Sim, op. cit. supports this, stating that ‘Tropical Gardens occur in … subtropical areas…’.Google Scholar
6 Delbridge, A. et al. , The Macquarie Dictionary. 2nd ed., (Macquarie Library Pty Ltd, Macquarie University, Sydney, 1991).Google Scholar
7 Urquhart, P., The New Native Garden: Designing with Australian Plants, (Sydney: Lansdowne Press, Sydney, 1999) p. 57.Google Scholar
8 Wijaya, M., Tropical Garden Design, (London: Thames & Hudson 1999) p. 47–51.Google Scholar
9 Epiphytic plants such as orchids that can be easily transported and suited to growing in pots in glasshouses were the exceptions.Google Scholar
10 Nicholson, N. and H., Australian Rainforest Plants: In the Forest & in the Garden, 3rd ed., (The Channon, NSW: the authors, 1990).Google Scholar
11 Townsend, K. (ed.), Across the Top: Gardening with Australian Plants in the Tropics, (Townsville: Society for Growing Australian Plants 1994).Google Scholar
12 Groves, R. H., ‘Present Vegetation Types’ in Flora of Australia. Volume 1. Introduction, eds A.E. Orchard & H.S. , 2nd ed., (Australia:ABRS/CSIRO 1999).Google Scholar
13 Bureau of Meteorology, Climatic Averages Australia, (Australia: AGPS, 1975).Google Scholar