Designing with Plants
Thinking in Systems
The PolyFlora Studio Compendium
Built on real-world experience, this is a practical field guide to help you design, grow, and care for resilient, naturalistic plantings.
Whether you’re planning a meadow-style garden or caring for a newly installed planting, the PolyFlora Studio Compendium is here to guide you. This is not a casual blog. It is a curated system of evergreen articles designed to help you make, manage, and understand naturalistic plantings.
Each entry is organized by the four phases of our process: Design, Procurement, Planting, and Stewardship. Together these categories form a complete framework — one that reflects how gardens actually succeed over time. Insights are grounded in science, ecology, and production horticulture, and draw from field-tested experience, including ongoing work at the Hannemann Garden.
This is the resource we think everyone should have.
The Compendium launched in June 2025. New articles will be added regularly.
The Roots of Naturalistic Planting Design
Most people know natural beauty when they see it.
They seek it in alpine meadows, fly across continents to walk beneath trembling aspens, and share quiet awe at the wild abundance of mountain parks. But when it comes to our own homes, neighbourhoods, and cities, that same love of nature is different. Instead we see extensive monocultures of lawn, clipped hedges, and flowerbeds shaped by control, not curiosity.
Need Expert Support?
The Compendium offers guidance — but every garden benefits from advice tailored to your site and goals. Let’s discuss how we can bring your ideas to life.
Subscribe to Field Notes
Access Rooted in Design, our monthly reflections on planting and garden design.
When you sign up, you’ll also receive Designing for Depth — a 26-page guide to thinking, feeling, and planning like a planting designer, so you can create gardens that are resilient, layered, and alive.