Emphasizing the role of vegetation layers and designed plant communities in complex and diverse plant assemblages for all kinds of sites and uses, this book provides a complete examination of principles and practice of design for public, institutional and private landscapes.

Introduction, Part I: Principles, 1. Why Design? 2. Plants as a Medium for Design, 3. Spatial Characteristics of Plants, 4. Creating Spaces with Plants, 5. Composite Landscape, 6. Visual Properties of Plants, 7. Visual Composition, 8. Plant Assemblages, 9. Ecological and Horticultural Factors, Part II: Process, 10. Design Methodology, Part III: Practice, 11. Large-scale Planting, 12. Small-scale Planting, Conclusion

’As a lecturer in planting design I find Nick’s book provides a valuable academic approach to the principles of visual, ecological and spatial design with plants for a wide variety of design parameters and landscape conditions. The 3rd edition’s coverage of wild flower meadows and naturalistic perennial make useful additions to this scope.’ Penny Cliffin, Unitec Institute of Technology, New Zealand ’Ever since its first edition, I have regarded The Planting Design Handbook as the standard work on the method and process of planting design. But it is far more than that and stands as an excellent and clear introduction to the principles of spatial design in its own right. As a long-standing text, the book stands outside of the vagaries of any prevailing fashion or trend. While holding on to its key strengths, this latest edition has been thoroughly overhauled and updated to include current ecological and environmental approaches to designing with plants that pervade the whole book, and it is illustrated throughout with classic and contemporary examples. This book is an essential requirement for practitioners and students of landscape architecture and garden design: a highly intelligent, rigorous and practical guide to the art, science and ethics of planting design.’ Nigel Dunnett, University of Sheffield, UK ’It has always been difficult to find academic texts on planting which do more than explore the horticultural qualities, or just identify the aesthetic qualities of plants; this book does that, looking beyond the aesthetics of planting as a medium. The first two editions introduced the now well established section on Design Methodology, ensuring planting design is rightly part of the wider spatial design process. With the addition of new sections on herbaceous, wildflower and naturalistic perennial planting, this third edition of Nick Robinson’s Planting Design Handbook is now the most comprehensive and engaging volume on the use of planting as a