Contrast of a natural landscape and lawn-focused yard showing suppression of natural vegetation in conventional design — Contrast between a natural landscape and a lawn-dominated suburban yard, highlighting the suppression of natural vegetation in conventionally designed landscapes.¹

Introduction

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.

This didn’t happen by accident. Our built landscapes reflect centuries of inherited design norms rooted in wealth, order, and power. What we now call “gardens” are often just decorative backdrops — sterile, fragmented, and easy to maintain, but shallow in meaning and purpose. Yet across the past century and a half, a different current has been gathering strength. A lineage of planting designers, horticulturalists, artists, and visionaries have resisted this hierarchical human centric paradigm. They have cultivated a more generous perspective that understands designed vegetation to be art, ecology, and culture.

This article introduces some of those people. It traces the evolution of naturalistic planting design — not as a style, but as a philosophy and a movement. From Victorian garden rebels to modern ecological thinkers, these designers saw planting as a way to reclaim land from excessive control, to model a better relationship with the more-than-human world, and to bring people back into emotional, sensory, and ethical contact with nature.

The courageous work of these designers laid the foundation for a new kind of garden-making. Today, as we face ecological collapse, social disconnection, and an unknown climate, their ideas and values are not just relevant, they’re essential. This article is part of PolyFlora Studio’s ethos to carry that work forward — to bring it to life in Alberta, in our gardens, and in the culture around us.

Naturalistic planting is not about imitating wilderness. It’s about integrating with nature’s logic to create deeply beautiful, emotionally resonant, and ecologically vital places. It’s about moving from decoration to participation, and from participation to thoughtful action. It’s about remembering that our gardens are not ornaments — they are living systems that speak to who we are, who we want to be, and what our world can become.

A Brief History of Cultural Garden Forms

European formal parterre garden with clipped hedges, topiary, and flower beds showing control over nature — Le Château, Villandry, France. This formal parterre garden with a rigid orthogonal layout containing clipped geometric hedges, elaborate topiary, and mono-cultured flower beds exemplifies gardens as control over nature.²

To understand the revolution in planting design that unfolded over the past 150 years, we must first look at what it replaced.

For centuries, gardens in the Western world were expressions of control. From the geometric symmetry of Renaissance parterres to the high-maintenance displays of the Victorian era, planting was used to demonstrate hierarchical power over land and nature. These gardens were manicured to perfection and filled with formal lawns, elaborate carpet bedding, and fetishized exotic specimens displayed as expensive status symbols. Designed to impress and often highly visible from a distance, they were onerous to maintain.

From this context, the lawn emerged. Although often overlooked, the British invention of the lawn — a manually clipped, open expanse of turf requiring significant inputs — became the dominant landscape model exported across Europe and their colonies. Lawns offered a symbol of affluence and a sense of order, but at a cost: ecological sterility, water waste, chemical reliance, repetitive high maintenance, and the erasure of regional identity and site expression.

This era of design was not just about aesthetics. It reflected and reinforced a worldview where the natural world was to be subdued, simplified, and placed in service to human needs. Nature was threatening. Spontaneity was undesirable. Ecological complexity wasn’t valued.

This is the cultural soil from which the naturalistic planting movement emerged. The designers profiled in this article did not begin their work in a vacuum. They were responding — sometimes gently, sometimes radically — to dominant ideas. Each in their own way rejected sterile control in favour of dynamic systems, seasonal change, and planting as a living, evolving collaboration.

They weren’t just making gardens. They were challenging cultural paradigms.

From Decoration to Ecology: A New Ethos Takes Root

Alberta wildflower meadow with diverse native species, a natural plant community that inspires naturalistic planting design — Natural plant communities such as this one in Alberta have and continue to be a source of inspiration for garden makers.³

By the early 20th century, the embrace of natural systems began to spread — slowly at first, then gaining momentum as environmental awareness grew. New generations of designers in Europe and North America began experimenting with wildness, structure, and the idea that gardens could behave like ecosystems.

The central shift was this: planting design was no longer just about arranging colour and shape. It became a way of interacting with life itself — of creating resilient, responsive communities of plants that evolve over time and support other species.

This change in thinking laid the groundwork for what we now call naturalistic planting design. And while the term is contemporary, the movement itself has deep, intergenerational roots — a lineage of thinkers, gardeners, and designers all asking the same question:

What if gardens could be more than decoration? What if they could be meaningful contributions to life?

A Living Lineage: Key Designers Who Shaped the Movement

The naturalistic planting movement did not emerge fully formed. It was built incrementally — one border, one book, one garden at a time — by skilled people who questioned what plantings could mean. These designers span generations and continents, but they share a throughline: each rejected decorative formalism in favour of something deeper, wilder, and more alive. Together, they form a lineage and their work has shaped what planting design is today and where it is going.

(1) The Foundations of Naturalism (Late 19th – Early 20th Century)

These early figures broke from the rigid formality of their time. Long before ecology was a scientific discipline, they took inspiration from natural patterns, and proposed gardens as places of emotion, ecological structure, and seasonal dynamism.

William Robinson (1838-1935) was perhaps the first to mount a serious critique of Victorian excess in gardens. He viewed the formal geometries and flower bed displays of the time as unnatural and wasteful. At Gravetye Manor, his home in West Sussex, England, he pioneered looser plant compositions inspired by natural meadows and woodlands, integrating hardy herbaceous plants including groundcovers and self-sowing plants. His concept of the “wild garden” remains a foundational idea today: plantings should be guided, not forced.

William Robinson's Gravetye Manor garden with diverse plants and informal naturalistic planting style — William Robinson’s garden at Gravetye Manor, West Sussex, England, shows a diverse range of plants mixed together in an informal atmosphere.⁴

Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) brought an artist’s sensibility to her gardens. Deeply influenced by Impressionist painting and the Arts and Crafts movement, she designed gardens that paired formal structure with painterly plantings. Her emphasis on colour harmony, seasonal sequencing, and the “right plant, right place” guideline, introduced a compositional intelligence still echoed in today’s most sophisticated plantings.

Gertrude Jekyll's Hestercombe garden with structured layout and plants of natural form — Gertrude Jekyll’s garden at Hestercombe in Somerset, England, shows a highly structured layout containing plants of natural form.⁵

Beatrix Farrand (1872-1959), America’s first female landscape architect, integrated her predecessor's ideas with an emerging cultural understanding of ecology. She fused formal structure with loose perennial plantings, advocated for native species, and became a leading voice for adapting design to suit place — even when cultural norms discouraged women from public design work.

Beatrix Farrand's Dumbarton Oaks herbaceous borders inspired by Gertrude Jekyll's painterly style — Beatrix Farrand’s herbaceous borders at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., was inspired by Gertrude Jekyll’s painterly style.⁶

(2) The Modern Experimenters (Mid 20th Century)

This generation of designers, many working from their own homes or nurseries, further blurred the line between horticulture and art. They pushed boundaries with plant combinations, seasonal drama, and a practical understanding of how plants behave over time.

Mien Ruys (1904-1999) experimented relentlessly with the interplay between geometric structure and soft, perennial plantings. Often called the “mother of the new perennial movement,” her experimental gardens in the Netherlands explored modernist layouts, materials, and long-term plant performance. She elevated experimentation as a design ethic and articulated this to clients.

One of Mien Ruys' experimental garden rooms at Tuinen Mien Ruys with modern structure and planting — One of Mien Ruys’ experimental garden rooms at Tuinen Mien Ruys in Dedemsvaart, Overijssel, the Netherlands.⁷

Christopher Lloyd (1921-2006) brought flamboyance and irreverence to the new planting movement. At Great Dixter, his home and garden in East Sussex, England, he tore up rules of “good taste”, layering annuals, exotics, and traditional perennials in bold, theatrical combinations. He emphasized succession and experimentation with plantings that were constantly in flux, challenging both visual conventions and horticultural orthodoxy.

Christopher Lloyd's Great Dixter herbaceous border with native orchid meadow showing bold planting contrasts — Christopher Lloyd’s iconic herbaceous border and juxtaposing native orchid meadow at Great Dixter in Northiam, East Sussex, England.⁸

Beth Chatto (1923-2018) gave the planting movement its ecological backbone. For Chatto, Getrude Jekyll’s guideline, “the right plant for the right place”, became a philosophy. Chatto’s gravel garden in Essex, England, which was built on nutrient poor soil without irrigation, became internationally famous for its quiet, layered beauty and environmental integrity. Her work proved that ecological constraints could drive aesthetic depth.

Beth Chatto's renowned un-irrigated gravel garden with drought-tolerant planting design — Beth Chatto’s renowned un-irrigated gravel garden at the Beth Chatto Gardens near Colchester in Essex, England.⁹

(3) The Public Visionaries (Late 20th – Early 21st Century)

These designers helped bring naturalistic planting into the public imagination. Their large-scale, urban work introduced new audiences to the power of natural texture, movement, seasonality, and the possibility of gardens as shared cultural experiences.

Wolfgang Oehme (1930-2011) and James van Sweden (1935-2013) developed what became known as the “New American Garden”. Their use of bold, sweeping masses of ornamental grasses and flowering perennials was revolutionary in the United States, especially when set against the backdrop of formal lawns and shrubbery. Inspired by Colour Field painting, their plantings were immersive and full of seasonal change, with horticulture and architecture held in equal regard.

Oehme and van Sweden's colourfield planting at Chicago Botanic Garden with bold drifts of perennials — Wolfgang Oehme and James van Sweden’s Colour Field inspired planting at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois.¹⁰

Piet Oudolf (1944- ) built further on naturalistic planting ideas and made them global. His matrix planting model is defined by a stage of visually quiet species with visually louder species emerging throughout. This model has become the gold standard for resilient, layered, and emotionally powerful public gardens. From his former home garden of Humelo in the Netherlands, to the High Line in New York City, Oudolf has worked on dozens of international projects. His plantings embrace the beauty of dead plants by showcasing decay, aging stems, old seedheads, and arrays of browns and beiges. His work has shifted emphasis from considering what looks good in a particular season, to what feels alive and performs across time.

Piet Oudolf's Lurie Garden planting design in Chicago featuring a sweeping salvia river — Piet Oudolf’s planting design at the Lurie Garden in Chicago, Illinois, features a river of Salvia.¹¹

(4) The Systems Thinkers (Present Day)

In the 21st century, a new cohort of designers and thinkers are approaching planting design not only as a visual art, but as a living system. In their minds, these systems must perform ecologically, endure change, and support life beyond human aesthetic preferences.

Noel Kingsbury (1957- ) has brought scientific rigour to the field of naturalistic planting design. His work focuses on how perennial plants live, compete, regenerate, and persist in the long term. This knowledge contributes a critical lens for designers seeking durability and low-maintenance strategies in their plantings. Kingsbury encourages us to understand plants by their behaviour and evolutionary adaptations, not just their beauty. He challenges the horticulture and design industries to build resilient plant communities, over fragile assortments of pretty plants.

Noel Kingsbury's diverse floriferous mixed planting at Monte Pelier Cottage with layered perennials — One of Noel Kingsbury's diverse, floriferous mixed plantings at Montpelier Cottage, Herefordshire, England.¹²

Thomas Rainer reframes gardens for the Anthropocene. He argues that due to the decline of wild nature in most parts of the world, designed landscapes must step in to fill ecological and emotional voids. His model of designed plant communities is multi-layered and deeply functional. Rainer is reshaping how we think about garden structure, social legibility of plants, and ecological fit, offering a post-wild vision that balances beauty with responsibility.

Thomas Rainer's expansive pollinator and bird garden planting design at Penn State University — Thomas Rainer’s expansive pollinator and bird garden at Penn State University, Centre County, Pennsylvania.¹³

Applying Naturalistic Planting Design Locally

Front Meadow at the Hannemann Garden with layered naturalistic planting and spring bloom under flowering tree — Front Meadow at the Hannemann Garden in Edmonton, Alberta.¹⁴

Every movement needs translation. Ideas don't just live in books or pictures. They come to life when we put them to work, embody them, and share the results with others in real time.

This is what we’re doing at PolyFlora Studio — bringing naturalistic planting design into conversation and practice with the specific cultural, ecological, and emotional realities of Alberta.

We are not just imitating nature, but working with it. Our designs are grounded in deep horticultural knowledge and practical systems that make rich, layered, plant-driven landscapes achievable, resilient and desirable.

We don’t simply copy styles from elsewhere. We adapt, experiment, and build upon what has come before, aligning beauty with ecological function and cultural relevance.

While many landscape designs treat plants as objects, prioritizing control, minimalism, or generic curb appeal, our work asserts something different. Gardens can be places of depth, aesthetic and ecological abundance, emotional resonance. Naturalistic planting design is not just an aesthetic decision, it’s an innovative cultural response.

In a region where planting design is often limited by convention, front-loaded budgets, or a lack of ecological consideration, we aim to show what’s possible when plants are treated not as decoration, but as living collaborators.

Our Studio builds on the insights of Robinson, Jekyll, Ruys, Oudolf, Rainer, and others, but also responds to the unique conditions of Alberta’s climates, cultures, and communities. We believe that even in a place not traditionally known for its gardens, planting can become a form of public and private enrichment. It can model an ethic of care. It can provide habitat for the more-than-human and at scale, create a rich ecological fabric beyond our own gardens. Naturalistic plantings provide sensory abundance and hope in a time of breakdown, upheaval and an unknown future.

We are here to make that possible.

Beyond Pretty: Ethics, Rights, and the Future of Gardens

Seating area in the Hannemann Garden with bird water feature, reclaimed paving, and drought-tolerant succulents

The future of planting design will not be defined by aesthetics alone. As ecological and cultural crises deepen, the role of gardens is beginning to shift from personal expression or environmental enhancement, to something more radical: a site of ethical practice.

Writer and designer Darryl Moore, in his book Gardening in a Changing World: Plants, People and the Climate Crisis, proposes that gardens can be one of the most vital cultural works of our time. In a world shaped by extraction, collapse, and disconnection, he suggests that gardens offer a counter-model. They are places where we care for other species, create multi-species systems, and practice co-existence on an intimate scale.

Moore argues that the naturalistic movement is not just an aesthetic turn. It is a philosophical one rooted in the belief that plants, animals, and the land itself have intrinsic value. In this view, gardens become more than designed spaces. They become moral terrains, where we learn to observe, collaborate, and relinquish control. He writes of a future where ‘nature’ is no longer just a passive setting, but an active participant where designed landscapes affirm the rights of nature, not just the preferences of people.

This is a profound reframing that speaks directly to the kind of work we aim to do at PolyFlora Studio.

Naturalistic planting is not a trend. It’s a response to a world in need of substantial repair. It offers a way to model new forms of relationship — between humans and the more-than-human world, between culture and ecology, between beauty and ethics.

In this context, gardening becomes an act of care and resistance against degradation, sterility, and cultural shallowness. It is an act of hope, a gesture toward a world where gardens are not tamed fragments, but healthy flourishing systems, making the land we live on more beautiful, more generous, and more alive — not despite us, but because of our care.

Further Exploration

Naturalistic planting design is not a new, random trend — but for many, it still feels unfamiliar. That’s because it asks something deeper than most landscapes do. It asks us to rethink pretty, redefine control, and reorient our relationships with nature and ourselves.

The designers profiled in this article weren’t just making gardens. They were reimagining how we live with plants, and by extension, how we live with each other and the more-than-human world. Their work spans generations and geographies, but the core idea remains: plantings should be vital, intelligent, ethical, responsive, and alive.

At PolyFlora Studio, we are building on the insights of previous designers by carrying naturalistic planting design forward in a way that fits the context of Alberta and the needs of this moment. We believe that gardens can be more than lovely retreats. They can be cultural statements, ecological systems, and sacred acts of care.

If this way of thinking resonates with you, we invite you to explore further: