Almost a century has passed since the serendipitous discovery of gibberellin (GA) by plant pathologists investigating the effects of Gibberella fujikuroi fungal pathogen attack on rice. GA has since been shown to affect many pivotal processes related to plant growth and development, notably leading to the ‘green revolution’ of the 1950s and ’60s and the subsequent increased production of vital field crops. This phytohormone continues to attract the attention of plant scientists to this day and in this month’s special issue, organized by Makoto Matsuoka and Masatoshi Nakajima (see pp. 1861–1868), we present two original research papers and eight review articles that demonstrate the recent progress achieved in understanding GA evolution and metabolism, the mechanisms regulating GA transport and signaling, and how this knowledge can be collectively applied to further improve the agronomic performance of post-green revolution crops.