Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes by Thomas Rainer

This post-wild landscape guide is an "optimistic call to action" to help gardeners create a harmonious environment by incoporating plant communities (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. Featuring gorgeous photography and advice for landscapers, Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can nourish in our cities and suburbs.

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From the Publisher Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes As practical as it is inspiring, Planting in a Post-Wild World is an optimistic manifesto for the post-wild world of planting design. Nature as It Was, Nature as It Could Be Imagine for a moment what it must have been like for the first European colonists arriving on the shores of America. By all accounts, the landscape they encountered was a place teeming with diversity, a place so resplendent and abundant with life that even our most cherished national parks pale in comparison. Botanical records and early diaries give us mere glimpses of the richness that once was. Just beyond the coastal plain, chestnut trees—some nine stories tall—accounted for fully half of the canopy. These giants showered the ground with their mast, sustaining black bears, deer, turkey, and other creatures. Underneath the chestnuts, rivers of ferns, pools of ladies’ slippers and orchids, and sparkling stands of trout lily and false rue anemone— now rare collector’s specimens—covered the forest floor. It was a paradise of native species. But to the early colonists, it was a moral and physical wilderness which required great ingenuity and perseverance to tame. A New Optimism: The Future of Planting Design So what exactly is the planting of the future? Look no farther than just outside your front door. Go find a patch of weeds in your neighborhood. Notice the variety of species and how they interweave to form a dense carpet. Or better yet, take a hike in a nearby natural area. Look closely at how plants grow in a meadow or a forest’s edge. Observe the lack of bare soil and the variety of ways plants adapt to their site. Then when you get back to your neighborhood, compare those wild communities to the plantings in landscape or garden beds. There is a difference between the way plants grow in the wild and the way they grow in our gardens. Understanding this difference is the key to transforming your planting. Bridging the Gap between Nature and Our Gardens For too long, planting design has treated plants as individual objects placed in the garden for decoration. Unrelated plants are arranged in ways that are intended to appear coherent and beautiful. To assist designers and gardeners with this difficult task, there are endless books on plant combinations, perennial borders, and color harmonies. The heaving bookshelf of garden books leaves us with endless tips and information, but very little real understanding of the dynamic way plants grow together. The Inspiration of Naturally Occurring Plant Communities Wild communities differ from our gardens. They are better adapted to their sites, more richly layered, and have a strong sense of harmony and place. For designers, these qualities are highly desirable. But to achieve them, we must arrange plants to interact with other plants and the site, understanding the wide variety of roles plants play in a community. Some cover the ground in large colonies; others exist as solitary specimens. Some take up excess nutrients; others add nitrogen to the soil. Through years of competition and natural selection, plants segregate themselves into these different roles to make the best of limited sun, water, and nutrients. These communities are functional workhorses, performing valuable ecological services that far surpass conventional plantings. The end result is a rich mosaic of species, exquisitely tuned to a particular site. Connecting with Our Memory of Nature We propose a method for creating designed plant communities that work in both urban and suburban sites. The first chapter explains the idea of designed plant communities. The second chapter looks at the inspiration of nature and the dynamics of plant communities in the wild. In the third chapter, we describe the design process: how to understand your site, develop a palette of plants, and arrange and layer plants. Finally, the fourth chapter examines the unique installation and management requirements of designed plant communities. Our goal with this method is not merely to create more functional plantings, but to make people see again, to make them remember. We arrange plants in ways that will conjure experiences of the ephemeral. It is not the plants themselves that have power; it is their patterns, textures, and colors—particularly those that suggest wildness—that become animated as light and life pass through them. Authors THOMAS RAINER is a landscape architect, teacher, and writer. He has designed landscapes for the United States Capitol grounds, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and the New York Botanical Garden. He has been featured in the New York Times and Landscape Architecture Magazine, and speaks nationally on landscape architecture and planting design. CLAUDIA WEST is a landscape designer with an extensive background in horticulture, ecology, and environmental restauration. She is a sought-after speaker on topics such as plant community-based design and natural color theory. Planting Sowing Beauty Grasses for Gardens and Landscapes The Complete Book of Groundcovers Add to Cart Buying Options Add to Cart Add to Cart Customer Reviews 600 114 25 57 Price $18 32 — no data $24 97 $17 53 The first to show gardeners and professionals how Piet Oudolf’s gardens and landscapes are made. Learn how to recreate James Hitchmough’s masterful, romantic style. This design-forward guide profiles the best ornamental grasses for use in landscapes and gardens—along with advice for successful cultivation. No matter what kinds of conditions you’re facing—shade, dry soil, heavy clay, excess moisture—there’s a ground cover that will thrive and beautify your garden.