James William Matthews (26 September 1895 – 26 March 1982), was a New Zealand newspaper editor, gardening writer, and horticulturist.
[1] After World War I, Matthews joined Wellington's daily newspaper, The Dominion, as a junior reporter.
[1] He also lectured on horticulture at Victoria University College, was a founding member of the Wellington Beautifying Society (which planted trees around the city), and gave frequent talks on gardening.
[1] That same year, Barbara Winifred Silver joined the paper as a cadet reporter; they married in 1938 and had two sons, Lewis and Julian, who both also became horticulturalists and writers.
[3] In the 1950s, Matthews and his family lived in Waikanae on a property where the garden had been designed by the landscape architect Alfred William Buxton.