Though an able man Stevenson was not fortunate as an editor, but he did useful work in horticulture, often lecturing on the subject. His house at North Adelaide stood in about of land and he planted there every obtainable variety of fruit-tree and vine. When settlers complained about the hardness of the soil, Stevenson demonstrated its suitability for fruit and vegetable growing; confidently prophesying that over time South Australia would boast "orange groves as luxuriant and productive as those of Spain or Italy". With his gardener, George McEwin (1815 – 1885), Stevenson supplied most of the colony with vine cuttings, and set up a nursery for fruit trees.