Book review

Evergreen: The Botanical Life of a Plant Punk

by Tim Entwisle

Reviewed by Virginia McNally, Arborist/System Garden Curator, The University of Melbourne

Evergreen is a memoir that clearly demonstrates that Tim Entwisle is an influencer and an agent of change. Having top positions at some of the world’s major botanic institutions, he has been able to shape the discourse around some of the burning issues of our time, climate change and plant conservation, all while wrangling teams of top plant scientists, horticulturalists, educators, arborists and plumbers to create and manage picturesque landscapes, botanical collections and plant institutions.

To get to the point where he is clearly at the top of the tree, he takes us through his early life and his break into the botanic garden world via a summer holiday position where he attached plant specimens to paper. He then had a multitude of positions before finally becoming the head honcho.

From Tim’s Twitter feed (@TimEntwisle) with the caption, ‘Inside and outside The Bookshop at Queenscliff ‘Tim Entwisle and Proclamation’ (as you’ll discover in the book)’.

Finding and naming algae became a big part of Tim’s life story. Acknowledgment of his status as a world expert in freshwater algae came when a red alga was named after him, Entwisleia bella.

Finding and naming algae became a big part of Tim’s life story.

While he didn’t give up his day job, he has had many and varied positions in the media, starting in community radio, with music and science shows and writing articles for newspapers, through to local and national broadcasts. This apprenticeship in media, along with his background in pure science, and a genial personality, has led him to become one of Australia’s most compelling science communicators.

He ponders the role of a botanic garden in modern day culture. A botanic garden is a much-loved and respected cultural institution that must be more than a selection of old trees with Latin names attached, and cannot rely on its longevity for credibility.

He gives a masterclass in how to deal with the competing interests of conducting groundbreaking plant science research, conservation, seed collecting, education, finding alternative income streams, staging crowd-pleasing cultural events and including contemporary landscape design, all within a nationally listed heritage garden while dealing with budget cuts. It takes an ambitious person with a grand vision. Tim is both, in spades.

Botanic gardens play a big role in inspiring the public to appreciate the vital contribution of plants to life on earth. He says this can be done through innovative educational programs and by encouraging the public to come to the garden. One of the standout ways of getting people through the front gate is staging blockbuster events such as the hugely popular Fire Gardens and Lightscape that lit up Melbourne in winter, at night – a difficult time slot.

This book is also part travelogue, where trips start off with a visit to the local botanic garden. He has been to over 100 botanic gardens around the world, looking for plants that attract visitors and interpretation that catches the attention.

This book is also part travelogue, where trips start off with a visit to the local botanic garden.

The soundtrack (see note 3 below) to this book begins with 80s indie/punk, with some major fanboying of Nick Cave. He invited Nick to plant a tree in the gardens because he wanted to be more adventurous with commemorative tree planting recipients, moving away from conventional royalty to rock royalty.

Tim is no stranger to controversy and in some instances has courted it to push public discourse out of its comfort zone. He has weathered storms such as the ‘Moreton Bay massacre’ in 2004, amidst calls for his sacking by the Lord Mayor of Sydney.

He ends by imploring botanic gardens to step up and save plants, and our planet, from arguably our biggest threat – climate change. He delights in the exponential growth of the Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Gardens where botanic gardens around the world are researching, planning and planting plants that can adapt to the increased temperatures and decreased rainfall of the future.

Evergreen: the Botanical Life of a Plant Punk is an enjoyable, easy read because it is well written, not because it is superficial. It is liberally sprinkled with pearls of wisdom for those who work in and enjoy botanic gardens.

Evergreen: the Botanical Life of a Plant Punk is published by Thames & Hudson Australia.

3. To listen to Tim’s soundtrack to reading Evergreen: the Botanical Life of a Plant Punk, visit https://t.co/Mi6Bb5CIwy.