Synopses & Reviews
This groundbreaking guide presents a powerful alternative to traditional horticulture—designed plantings that function like naturally occurring plant communities. Thomas Rainer and Claudia West, two leading voices in ecological landscape design, reveal how plants fit together in nature and how to use this knowledge to create landscapes that are resilient, beautiful, and diverse. As practical as it is inspiring, Planting in a Post-Wild World is an optimistic manifesto pointing the way to the future of planting design.
Review
Arlington, Viriginia (Rainer); White Hall, Maryland (West)"In Planting in a Post-Wild World, Rainer and West describe how to translate natural plant relationships and ecological patterns into aesthetically pleasing yet functional landscapes. With their advice we can change gardening from an adversarial relationship with nature to a collaborative one. Expertly researched, and rife with witty advice, this is the universal how-to guide to sustainable landscaping we have all been waiting for. A masterful accomplishment!” Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home and The Living Landscape
Review
“A real-world guide for creating beautiful, ecologically connected landscapes. There is not a designer or property owner that would not benefit from their approach.”
Larry Weaner, APLD, founder of New Directions in the American Landscape
Synopsis
"As practical as it is poetic. . . . an optimistic call to action." --Chicago Tribune
Over time, with industrialization and urban sprawl, we have driven nature out of our neighborhoods and cities. But we can invite it back by designing landscapes that look and function more like they do in the wild: robust, diverse, and visually harmonious. Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is an inspiring call to action dedicated to the idea of a new nature--a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated--that can flourish in our cities and suburbs. This is both a post-wild manifesto and practical guide that describes how to incorporate and layer plants into plant communities to create an environment that is reflective of natural systems and thrives within our built world.
About the Author
Thomas Rainer is a registered landscape architect, teacher, and writer. He has designed landscapes for the U.S. Capitol grounds, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and The New York Botanical Garden. His work has been featured in the the New York Times, Landscape Architecture Magazine, and Home + Design. Thomas teaches planting design for the George Washington University Landscape Design program and speaks regularly on sustainable planting design. He blogs at the award-winning site Grounded Design.
Claudia West grew up in a family-owned landscape nursery in Germany that specializes in garden design and perennial, woody, and cut flower production. She served as a design consultant for Wolfgang Oehme/Carol Oppenheimer: Landscape Architecture. Claudia has an extensive background in horticulture, ecology, and environmental restoration and is a sought-after speaker on topics such as the application of color theories to native planting design.