Author: Elise Buitendag

The writing of this extraordinary book started off “because Elise was anxious to have some of her artworks recorded in print, since she has no photographic record of most of her paintings.

She started the process by adding interesting bits of information and descriptions for each artwork.

But the book was to take a different course.” (As per Interview by Zoë C Poulsen).

The book developed into a beautifully written and illustrated publication that captures the long-forgotten hardships, experiences and challenges that the staff had to endure while establishing the ‘wild child’ which was to become one of SANBI’s most beautiful national botanical gardens.

The Lowveld Garden became, as the author describes, a ‘child of two worlds – a garden that revealed traits of both the conventional, designed garden, and the mysterious tangled African bush.

These were days long before smart phones, computers, digital cameras and modern garden-based equipment.
The pace of life was slower, and all developments and communication took longer than they do today.

The book was edited by well-known artist and linguist Wendy Sippel.