Planting - by Piet Oudolf & Noel Kingsbury (Hardcover)

About the Book

Planting: A New Perspective, by famed landscape architects Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury, characterizes a groundbreaking moment in modern horticulture; the first book to share Oudolf's original planting plans and the only book to explicitly guide gardeners through how Oudolf's iconic landscapes are made.

Book Synopsis

"Indispensable." --The New York Times Book Review

Piet Oudolf's gardens--unique combinations of long-lived perennials and woody plants that are rich in texture and sophisticated in color--are breathtaking and have deep emotional resonance. With Planting, designers and home gardeners can recreate these plant-rich, beautiful gardens that support biodiversity and nourish the human spirit.
An intimate knowledge of plants is essential to the success of modern landscape design, and Planting shares Oudolf's considerable understanding of plant ecology, explaining how plants behave in different situations, what goes on underground, and which species make good neighbors. Extensive plant charts and planting plans will help you choose plants for their structure, color, and texture. A detailed directory shares details like each plant's life expectancy, the persistence of its seedheads, and its propensity to self-seed.

From the Back Cover

Piet Oudolf's gardens are breathtaking to observe and hard to define. They are calm yet full of surprises, apparently effortless but complex to achieve, and intimate while reaching out to the wider natural world. His unique combinations of long-lived perennials and woody plants are rich in texture, sophisticated in colour, and have an emotional resonance that humans find compelling.

Oudolf's skill in combining plants is legendary and in his recent work he takes it to a new level, favouring highly integrated schemes in which plants intermingle and blend without overcrowding one another. An intimate knowledge of plants is essential to the success of this approach and here, Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury share their considerable understanding of plant ecology and performance - how plants behave in different situations, what goes on underground, which species make good neighbours. From them we learn how to select the right plants, how to group them, and how to combine them with other elements to make beautiful gardens that require minimal use of resources.

With the help of Oudolf's original planting plans, this book is the first to show gardeners and professionals explicitly how his gardens and landscapes are made. A detailed directory that records vital information about each plant such as its life expectancy, the persistence of its seedheads, its tendency to spread, and propensity to self seed will prove an invaluable resource.

A Piet Oudolf garden feels right on many different levels ­­and is so much more than the sum of its parts. This book will be essential reading for all who are interested in making plant-rich gardens that are in tune with their surroundings, support biodiversity, and nourish the human spirit.

Review Quotes

"Indispensable. . . . an impassioned plea for packing beds tightly, interlacing species lightly, choosing plants that survive multiple stresses, [and] letting seed heads stand through winter." --The New York Times Book Review

"Luscious photographs and meticulous explanations of techniques and methods make this an essential reference guide and constant source of inspiration." --Booklist

"In Planting: A New Perspective (Timber Press), written with fellow landscape architect Noel Kingsbury, Piet Oudolf details for the first time the specific ingredients that go into his horticultural alchemy, and even includes original plans and plant charts." --Elle Décor

"This is a thoughtful, insightful guide that deserves serious consideration." --Library Journal

"It treads a well-pitched line in providing gritty information to the professional and the amateur alike... It is fascinating to see this pinnacle of public naturalistic planting explained and contextualized." --The Guardian

"No one does ecology-based plant harmonies better than these two, and it's just so sweepingly, stunningly beautiful...A fascinating and technical exposition of how Piet has changed the way plants are used." --The Telegraph

"In Planting: A New Perspective, Oudolf and Kingsbury detail what it takes to design, plant, and maintain the new nature-like landscapes. This is a how-to book that will leave you with the information, courage, and enthusiasm to approach your own landscape in a new way...The authors leave no doubt about the importance of natural beauty to human life, and they show how to reproduce aspects of it successfully." --Landscape Architecture Magazine

"A fascinating insight into Piet Oudolf's approach to design." --Gardens Illustrated

"Features groundbreaking design principles that can be applied to the home garden." --Garden Design

"For anyone who wants to emulate and understand what is happening in [the High Line's] naturalistic designs." --Highlands Current

"The book includes an extensive plant directory, which covers detailed information about each plant mentioned in the book; from the plant measurements, flowering season and spreading ability to the foliage architecture (plus lots more). It is a great guide for anyone wishing to try out the style Piet Oudolf uses in his magnificent gardens." --The English Garden

"A wonderful primer for the home garden." --Chicago Tribune

"No one does ecology-based plant harmonies better than these two, and it's just so sweepingly, stunningly beautiful." --Pacific Northwest Magazine

About the Author

Piet Oudolf is among the world's most innovative garden designers and a leading exponent of naturalistic planting, a style that takes inspiration from nature but employs artistic skill in creating planting schemes. Oudolf's extensive work over 30 years of practice includes public and private gardens all over the world. He is best known for his work on the High Line and Battery Park in New York, the Lurie Garden in Chicago's Millennium Park, and Potters Fields in London.

Noel Kingsbury is a researcher, writer, and teacher. A gardener since childhood, he has run a nursery, designed gardens and public spaces, and done doctoral research at the University of Sheffield's Department of Landscape on the ecology of ornamental perennials. He lives and gardens in the Welsh Borders near Hay-on-Wye.