Explains the elements that can give a small garden a formal tone

This inspiring book of widely differing garden styles reveals the immense scope for creating your ideal garden even in a small plot. The author considers vital garden structures such as boundaries and contains as well as how to use colour and form.

In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.

"One of Australia's foremost landscape designers shares his wealth of knowledge on all things practical to do with garden design and construction. It covers everything from drawing a garden plan to building a retaining wall, and from fitting in a swimming pool to finding a lawn substitute and choosing drought-tolerant plants. This book is empowering: it gives readers an understanding of the first principles of good design, how to analyse a site and its needs, how to use space and visualise a garden, how to decide on and build the hard and soft landscaping suited to a particular garden style, and what jobs can be done by the home handyperson as well as what needs to be left to a professional. Above all it shows readers that it's possible to garden successfully and responsibly in the water-challenged environments we live with now."--Provided by publisher.

Today's "formal garden" features an exciting combination of elegant and romantic elements. These 12 richly illustrated arrangements, created by a leading designer, feature "imaginative symmetry"--the free planting of plants within a symmetrical framework. The result: a dynamic blend of rustic and urban, open and hidden styles. Adapt the author's plans and planting schemes, choosing from many styles of hedges, herbaceous borders, terraces, water features, kitchen gardens, pergolas, to create a classic garden all your own.