Australian Planting Design

Australian Planting Design identifies and explores all aspects of developing better planting designs on any scale, raising awareness of the essential elements and encouraging readers to look with fresh eyes, to create anew. This new edition guides the reader through all the stages of designing a new garden and helps to visualise the garden through an understanding of space, light, earth form, structures and vegetation. It discusses the choosing of plants, their form and shape, balancing plant types, fire and vegetation, design and form. The final section of the book looks at the dynamic garden and the importance of designing for change. Australian Planting Design focuses on how Australian plants may be used in gardens, whatever their size, function or site. It shows the way to use our plants to form a variety of satisfying, interesting and purposeful areas for both people and nature. As the availability of a much wider range of Australian plants grows, so too does our understanding of their qualities and habits. Our changing ecological attitudes and broader understanding of local habitats have brought the Australian landscape into sharper focus and we have gained a new appreciation of its value for design expression. We are beginning to develop an urban landscape that belongs to the land, and garden designs that are more suitable to the environment of tomorrow. At last we have Australian plants for Australian places.

This new edition guides the reader through all the stages of designing a new garden and helps to visualise the garden through an understanding of space, light, earth form, structures and vegetation. It discusses the choosing of plants, their form and shape, balancing plant types, fire and vegetation, design and form.

In Australian Dreamscapes, Claire Takacs showcases the varied gardens found in the Australian landscape, from lush green oases to semi-arid settings. Claire profiles Australian gardens, gardeners and garden designers who are drawing on the international movement towards a more naturalistic approach to planting design. Similar to the New Perennial movement and Prairie-style, these gardens take into consideration how plants grow in the wild and have created highly textural, visually pleasing gardens that appeal not only to our love of beauty, but that sit gently in their surrounding landscapes, giving a strong sense of place. Across 15 chapters and 22 gardens, Claire's stunning photography is accompanied by essays written by the garden owners or designers. The chapters detail the journey to establishing the gardens, their motivation, and the struggles and rewards the gardens bring day in, day out. Beautifully presented, Australian Dreamscapes is a stunning journey through the diversity of gardens in Australia.

The New Australian Garden is an insider's account of the journey to design, construct and plant 18 landmark gardens that represent a new movement in Australian landscape design - one where the relationship between architecture and garden is paramount. Landscaper Michael Bates, working alone and in collaboration with some of the greatest design talents in the field, creates spaces that connect indoor to outdoor through masterful use of levels, innovative materials and experimental planting. Traditional lawns are reimagined as contoured sculptural forms, and water and fire pits inject life and energy into open spaces. The resulting gardens are destination spaces, sanctuaries and breathtaking backdrops for everyday life.

Landscape Design with Plants, Second Edition focuses on landscape architecture. The book first discusses trees in the countryside. Adaptation to locality, self-town vegetation, designs for both short-term and long-term effect, ecological planting, and plant associations are described. The text looks at planting for forestry. The need for afforestation; forest habitat; scale of the forest mosaic; and woodlands as visual elements in the landscape are considered. The book puts emphasis on trees in urban areas, shrubs and groundcover, and herbaceous plants and bulbs. The text also focuses on water plants. The use of water plants in garden design, aquatic communities, and historical background are discussed. The book underscores the use and management of plant species native to Britain in landscaping; urban landscape and roof gardens; and how to transplant semi-mature trees. The text also describes reclamation and planting of industrial and urban wastelands; landscaping of reservoir margins; and the relationship of plants and air pollution. The book also puts emphasis on the use of vegetation in slope stabilization; planting in tropical lowland areas; planting in hot, arid climates; and the functional use of Australian plants. The selection is a must for readers interested in landscaping.

An exciting and refreshing call to arms, The Planthunter is a new generation of gardening book for a new generation of gardener that encourages readers to fall in love with the natural world by falling in love with plants.