Planting Dreams – a celebration of Australian gardens

Spanning five centuries and presented by the State Library of NSW, upcoming exhibition, Planting Dreams: Shaping Australian Gardens, will explore the ideas, influences and inspirations that have shaped our gardening culture — bringing together highlights from the State Library’s collection.

Curator and garden historian, Richard Aitken, has trawled through the State Library’s extensive collections and has selected 150 rare, beautiful and quirky objects, spanning five centuries, to illustrate the rich story of garden-making in Australia.

‘Gardening is a passion for many Australians. It gives pleasure, sustenance and dignity to our daily lives. It cuts across cultural, social and national boundaries like few other activities,’ says Aitken.

A companion exhibition, Planting Dreams: Grand Garden Designs will showcase the best of contemporary NSW gardens through the Library-commissioned images of leading Australian garden photographers, who have captured 70 extraordinary, innovative private gardens and public landscapes, created since the 1980s.

According to guest curator Howard Tanner: ‘The exhibition highlights recent trends, including the beautiful use of meadow planting, the Japanese art of cloud pruning, innovative use of sculpture, mass planting of Australian natives, and the concept of borrowed landscapes.

The Library will launch these two major exhibitions in early spring on Saturday September 3, 2016 to mark the 200th anniversary of Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden, celebrating Australian gardens and garden-making in all their richness and diversity.

sl.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/planting-dreams-shaping-australian-gardens