From the earliest crop plantings to the most elaborate formal gardens, humans have cultivated gardens for millennia. Recently there has been a shift away from clean lines and perfectly trimmed hedges to more naturalistic plantings: the new natural garden is considered and curated, taking its cues from the surrounding landscape. Plants are laid out asymmetrically, but still are balanced, random in appearance, as though seeds have blown in and germinated where they fell.

Garden designer Richard Unsworth offers advice on how to select landscape materials that sit effortlessly in the landscape, planting combinations that thrive in different settings, and discusses principles of bush regeneration and restoration. Whether large or small, urban or rural, every garden and every gardener can benefit from wildening their surroundings to reconnect with nature.

About the Author

Richard Unsworth is a garden designer, writer and the owner of outdoor design store Garden Life based in Sydney. He has contributed to the garden pages of both Belle and Good Weekend magazines. Passionate about the natural environment, he spends his free time restoring the garden at his heritage home in Pittwater, and helping people better connect with nature and with each other through a series of bushwalks to raise money for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. His previous book include Garden Life (2014) and The City Gardener, which published in 2021.