A love of plants seems to run in the blood of author/photographer Stirling Macoboy. He is often called Bill after his grandfather Will Stirling, an irrigation engineer who was also an enthusiastic amateur gardener. A great-great-grandfather of the same name immigrated to Australia from Scotland in the 1840s as a professional nurseryman. On Bill's father's side of the family, yet another William was William Mason, the poet, clergyman and author of the garden blockbuster of 1783, The English Garden, recently reprinted.

Whether or not you believe that green thumbs can be inherited, Bill has become an international best-selling author of garden books, including What Flower is That? which has sold over three-quarters of a million copies, What Tree is That?, What Indoor Plant is That?, The Joy of Flowers and the magnificent Colour Dictionary of Camellias, hailed world-wide as the ultimate book on that subject, and translated into several languages. Between books, Bill travels widely to photograph his favourite subjects, runs a picture library, and is garden consultant for the popular Better Homes and Gardens magazine in Australia.