Naturalistic planting offers a revolutionary new approach to garden making. Rich in plants, sustainable and eco-friendly, the best naturalistic gardens are also beautiful, uplifting places that stop us in our tracks. Nigel Dunnett is a leading exponent and this is the essential go-to guide for anyone wishing to plant the naturalistic way.

Nigel Dunnett's gardens and landscapes have lifted the spirits of city dwellers for decades. They are beautiful, uplifting places that resonate with the energy of the natural world and stop us in our tracks. But how does he achieve these plantings with their successional waves of colorful perennials, elegant grasses, and pollinators at work with so few demands on irrigation and other natural resources? In this book he shares his inspiration, philosophy and working methods. He puts his own particular style of naturalistic planting in historical context, teaches us how to read wild plant communities and understand how they behave in garden situations. Finally he shares his plant selection, which includes trees and shrubs as well as perennial and annual meadow plants, and implementation techniques in a neat planting design toolkit.