Passionate plantsman
One of the most respected figures in New Zealand horticulture, Russell Fransham, has died.
The Northland plantsman and owner of Russell Fransham Subtropicals was well-known for his love of horticulture, landscaping and plants.
He was an authority on adapting unusual and subtropical plants to
New Zealand conditions, writing regularly for NZ Gardener magazine.
‘‘His column was always a joy to read due to his infectious passion for the plants he wrote about,’’ says the magazine’s editor, Jo McCarroll. ‘‘He combined the authority of an expert with the enthusiasm of someone discovering a plant for the first time.’’
Fransham’s deep and abiding love for horticulture started early. ‘‘Growing plants has been a passion all my life, a legacy of growing up on the family farm in Waikato,’’ he wrote last year in NZ Gardener.
‘‘My grandparents and parents were all passionate gardeners who never stopped being excited about the beauty of trees and gardens.’’
Fransham taught high school biology after obtaining a degree in zoology from Auckland University.
His own garden in Matapouri Bay was much admired for its ‘‘magical’’ quality. Fransham wrote movingly about creating the garden that he had dreamed of as a child and living ‘‘in a house on wharf piles at the edge of a small lake, surrounded by trees and nesting herons, pa¯ teke, kingfishers, shags, tu¯ ı¯ and kereru¯ ’’.
NZ House & Garden associate editor Rosemary Barraclough says: ‘‘Russell had a great eye for garden design and was such a humble and generous person.
‘‘He’d always take the time to chat about what he’d planted and was so knowledgeable about plants that grow well in the north.’’