Naturalistic planting design

Beautiful and great for wildlife, a naturalistic planting design can look wonderful year round and suits many styles and sizes of backyard

It’s about setting aside our desire for control to instead work in partnership with nature. This is essentially the guiding principle behind the naturalistic garden, a plant-driven approach to landscape design that has been around in one form or another since Englishman William Robinson first published his first edition of The Wild Garden in 1870.

This structured design approach helps hasten the journey from newly planted to lush and abundant. Learn how to design a fast-filling garden.

WE GARDENERS want to do the right things: to attract pollinators, for instance, or grow more natives, and be environmentally conscious. We also want to..

My design is very simple. I like to repeat some flowers in the border, but I also like to use a random planting scheme that gives a naturalistic face for it. I like very much to use annuals, biennials, and tender perennials with the perennials and self-seeding plants.

When planting a naturalistic garden, is having more plants always better? "New Naturalism" author Kelly Norris says “yes.”

Many positive things can be said for planting a meadow garden, but meadows aren't one size fits all. Learn elements of different meadow garden designs.

She won Olympic acclaim, and gold at Chelsea, with her naturalistic planting. Now Sarah Price explains how to achieve the effect at home.

Renowned garden designer Piet Oudolf has spent a lifetime honing his craft. Now he's letting us in on the secret

Want to know the biggest mistake I see homeowners make when they are designing their gardens? It’s this – they always start with the plants. I get it – the plants are fun and the garden center is pretty and wow – it is so nice to imagine how these green leafy things will transform your drab yard into that gorgeous future landscape oasis you might imagine.