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Results for Practices + Methods

Natural High

It’s early June in Southern Ontario and the flat strip of roof right outside my picture window has already launched into th­e first stage of a five-part micro-superbloom. The hyperreal colour palette of the multispecies sedum matrix shifts through the spectrum from an orange glimmer, acid yellow, shocking pink, silver-blue and garnet, and sometimes I think may be visible from space. And that’s just the opening act.

The next round of interlaced mosaic plantings are preparing for lift-off in a series of five tapered mounds that extend around the corners of the rectangular roof. Starting in midsummer, each mosaic opens like a chrysalis to form constellations of grasses, subshrubs, and perennials. It’s always a surprise to realize this is happening in only 10-15cm (4-6″) of recycled brick substrate and on top of a 200-year-old log cabin.

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Nigel Dunnett on Future Nature: Reconnecting Plants and People

Like many in the international horticulture and ecology community, I am not only sad but heartbroken by the recent passing of Dr. Nigel Dunnett. He was a genuine eco-visionary and exemplar who in collaboration with colleagues like Professor James Hitchmough at the University of Sheffield and Dr. Nöel Kingsbury, staked out new frontiers of possibility in our field with projects that took ecological planting to a higher plane of  creative expression.

This post is my homage to a humble genius gone far too soon, and an introduction to the man and his work with links to his essential writings and books.

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Tea spiller thriller: James Hitchmough on Native & Non-Native in garden ecology

Here’s a touchy topic guaranteed to spark debate in garden chats on both sides of the Atlantic.

Often with polarized positions taken by one side or another with zero room for compromise.

Or maybe, just maybe, there’s the beginning of a hairline crack, a fissure in the wall.

As recent guest on US podcast Growing Greener, Professor James Hitchmough ever so politely weighs in on the ecological benefits of using both native and non-native plants in urban environs.

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Future forward: Planting seeds of thought in public space

This is a conversation about what could be.

A conversation between two generations of exceptional Dutch landscape designers imagining what might happen next in the dynamic field of planting design. What lessons we can take from a multilayered private garden like Hummelo to bring to the public space and back again?

It’s well worth a listen. And a cinematic treat to watch.

Especially when one side of the conversation is the iconic maestro Piet Oudolf and the other side is Arjan Boekel, planting designer/LA on the rise. Here we follow them out for a morning walk and talk in the mist at Hummelo followed by a visit to Superbloei, a new urban collab project with Arjan of De Bloeimeesters and LOLA landscape architects in the nearby town of Arnhem.

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Designing with Randomness: A Masterclass in Planting Design with James Hitchmough

It’s a wrap.

You can now catch our most popular and highly requested talk of 2024 on Vimeo.

This is a high-level introduction to the leading-edge of planting design with James Hitchmough, Professor Emeritus of University of Sheffield, a genius innovator and iconoclast in horticultural ecology.

This 90-minute plus session on Designing with Randomness more than lives up to the masterclass title.  A gifted communicator, James rolls out a crystal clear framework for how to plan, create and manage spectacular nature-like plantings for optimal wow factor and ecological value.

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