Episode Details
Back to EpisodesRodger Elliot on cultivating Australian native plants, growing passionate plant people and the interconnectedness of everything
Description
Horticulturist, author, and advocate for Australian native plants, Roger Elliot AM joins Cass Dowding on The Sentimental Gardener to explore how a lifetime of noticing — from childhood bushland to decades of fieldwork — can shape the way we understand the natural world.
From early days learning under mentors like Edna Walling, Jack McLeod, and Glen Wilson, to co-authoring alongside David Jones the landmark Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation, Roger has spent more than sixty years asking: How do plants, people, and place shape one another? And what grows when we care with curiosity?
In this episode, they talk about:
- the "web of life" Roger saw long before ecology had a name
- the quiet, essential partnership of Roger and Gwen
- how nurseries, fieldwork, and mentoring shaped generations of plant lovers
- and why caring for plants is inseparable from caring for people
A gentle, generous conversation about legacy, relationship, and the slow work of cultivating a life with meaning.
— SHOW NOTES:
See extensive show notes over at The Sentimental Gardner - Rodger Elliot
Visit the Australian Garden at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria Cranbourne to see one of the landscapes Roger helped shape.
Music by Hayden Schueler @vereyagardening
Audio Engineering: Tom Dowding
Production and Editing: Cass Dowding