Skyscrapers seen beyond plants in a Hong Kong rooftop garden. The city’s gardening manuals reveal a lot about the time they were produced, as well as what to plant where. Photo: AFP
Skyscrapers seen beyond plants in a Hong Kong rooftop garden. The city’s gardening manuals reveal a lot about the time they were produced, as well as what to plant where. Photo: AFP
Jason Wordie
Opinion

Opinion

Then & Now by Jason Wordie

Hong Kong gardening manuals are time capsules that chart the city’s changes through the decades

  • Early gardening books distilled horticultural expertise to reveal the city’s peculiarities, such as how Kowloon was better for growing than Hong Kong Island
  • Today they serve as history books, with their lists of obsolete fertilisers and advice for post-war urban gardeners as Hong Kong’s population grew

Jason Wordie
Jason Wordie

Updated: 8:46am, 20 Nov, 2022

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Skyscrapers seen beyond plants in a Hong Kong rooftop garden. The city’s gardening manuals reveal a lot about the time they were produced, as well as what to plant where. Photo: AFP
Skyscrapers seen beyond plants in a Hong Kong rooftop garden. The city’s gardening manuals reveal a lot about the time they were produced, as well as what to plant where. Photo: AFP
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