Common Ground

Shortlisted for the NZSA Heritage Literary Awards 2021

Common Ground: Garden histories of Aotearoa takes a loving look at gardens and garden practices in Aotearoa New Zealand over time.

While a lot of gardening books focus on the grand plantings of wealthy citizens, Matt Morris explores the historical processes behind ‘humble gardens’ – those created and maintained by ordinary people.

From the arrival of the earliest Polynesian settlers carrying precious seeds and cuttings, through early settler gardens to ‘Dig for Victory’ efforts, he traces the collapse and renewal of home gardening culture, through the emergence of community initiatives to the recent concept of food sovereignty.

Compost, Māori gardens, the suburban vege patch, the rise of soil toxin levels, the role of native plants and City Beautiful movements … Morris looks at the ways in which cultural meanings have been inscribed in the land through our gardening practices over time. What do our gardens say about us, and where we have been?

Matt Morris digs deep in Common Ground.