Richard Aitken is a Melbourne-based architect, historian, and curator. He has been in private practice since 1978 and has prepared conservation plans for many of Australia's most historic gardens, including the botanic gardens of Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney, and government houses in Melbourne, Hobart, and Sydney. In 2006 Richard was awarded honorary membership of the National Trust of Australia for his advocacy role in the identification and conservation of significant gardens and designed landscapes. Richard's books include The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens (2002), Gardenesque (2004), Botanical Riches (2006), Seeds of Change (2006), and The Garden of Ideas (2010). He has also contributed chapters to The Art of the Collection (2007), Reframing Darwin: evolution and art in Australia (2009), and Capturing Flora: 300 years of Australian botanical art (2012). He is currently co-editor of Australian Garden History, quarterly journal of the Australian Garden History Society.