Evoking natural plant communities

At heart, naturalistic planting aims to create plant combinations that evoke plant communities found in nature - like those shown here. By borrowing elements from a natural environment - a looseness and wildness, a rhythm of plant repetition, a coherent tapestry of forms - naturalistic planting can give a sense of immersion in something greater than ourselves.

Robust plants that are suited to their location and form a ground-covering community require little intervention - weeding, watering, fertilising, pest control. At the same time they create many niches for wildlife.

I have studied naturalistic planting under two of its leading exponents - Nigel Dunnett and Noel Kingsbury. I see it as the future for how we approach plants in our gardens, because it connects with the environmental challenges facing us - it supports biodiversity, is not resource-intensive, and is resilient to changing climate conditions. And it's beautiful.