The big picture

With the winds of change blowing through planting design, a creative brainstorm is brewing, writes

Planting design is in the middle of a tectonic shift. It has happened before, of course. There was that moment, a few hundred years back, when huge formal vistas of baroque box parterre were swept away and replaced by rolling hills dotted with simple clumps of trees, in whose shade sheep picturesquely grazed. There was another moment, when plant hunters scoured the globe and gardens became rich men’s collections of rare plants. And then, more recently, there was the moment in the late 19th century when gardener William Robinson publicly sneered at the falsity of Victorian bedding and romanticised the concept of wildness, in tune with the emergent Arts and Crafts movement.

The current volcanic explosion is heading in several directions, but at its epicentre is a renewed celebration of nature. Where gardens once sought to dominate nature, the new thinking is to create spaces in which nature can once again dominate.

The creative eruption is happening now, but there have been rumblings for many years. Back between the wars, German universities were exploring ways to replicate natural plant systems to minimise maintenance and resource inputs. This thinking then popped up in the ecologically driven gardens of

Beth Chatto in the UK, the prairie-inspired work of James van Sweden and Wolfgang Oehme in the US, and the groundbreaking naturalistic perennial plantings by Piet Oudolf (who gardens in the Netherlands, but whose design work reached the peak of its popularity in the UK and the US).

We’re feeling the tremors here in Australia. New forms of planting are emerging across the country, driven by a strongly nature-inspired aesthetic, and guided by increasing ecological responsibility. There’s an eye on biodiversity, too, but it’s not the tail that wags the dog. If these gardens aren’t heart-stoppingly beautiful, it’s a fail, however many other boxes are ticked.

But it’s only a start. There are whole new challenges before us with climate change and population growth. We all know we can’t use water as we once did, but we also need to explore other ways of minimising our impact on the planet, all the while recognising our increasing need for the escape and refuge that gardens can provide, and the contact with nature and her slow-shifting seasons that is so stabilising in a rapidly changing world.

The creative responses are endless, and there’s never been a more exciting time to be an engaged, experimental gardener. Michael blogs at thegardenist.com.au