THE ARTFUL GARDENER
Rose Thodey & Gil Hanly
Godwit - $59.99

Around 100 people gathered in Rose Thodey’s elegant Freemans Bay garden this past Saturday afternoon, for the launch of The Artful Gardener , the book Rose co-authored with legendary photographer, Gil Hanly. (Pic lower left shows authors at the launch).
It was the perfect setting for a book that celebrates garden design and artistry both in New Zealand’s urban, seaside and rural spaces and in splendid gardens overseas. As if on cue, the sun shone warmly as guests whiled away the afternoon, sipping sparkling wine and sampling some of the season’s first strawberries.
Nicola Legat, Random House Publishing Director, paid tribute to iconic gardening duo Rose and Gil, and made mention of the fact that Rose’s house and garden were located in a neighbourhood that’s home to a huge number of authors who have published books this year: Jenny Carlyon and Diana Morrow (Urban Village: A History of Ponsonby, Freeman’s bay and St Marys Bay), Hamish Keith (Native Wit), Pip Cheshire and Patrick Reynolds (Architecture Uncooked), Christopher Johnstone ( The Painted Garden in New Zealand Art), Richard Wolfe (New Zealand Portraits), John Reynolds ( Certain Words Drawn) Linda Olsson (Sonata for Miriam), Stephanie Johnson (Swimmers' Rope) and Emily Perkins (Novel About My Wife).
They all live within a tui’s flight of the inner city’s equivalent of the sound of the Bow bells, the chimes of the Three Lamps Post Office clock.
Random House are develpoing a reputation for book launches with a difference, this one was a very special event, appropriate for this very special book.