New perspectives on methodology in garden history: Approaches towards writing about imported medicinal plants in colonial New Zealand

Abstract

This paper demonstrates how combining methodological approaches from garden history and medical history can present new perspectives on the history of gardens and health in colonial New Zealand, and recover the prominent associations between health and the environment in settler society within the context of modern historical research. It appeals to researchers to 'cast their net wide' when searching for source material, an approach that situates the study of medicinal plants within a wider, interdisciplinary historiographical framework.