Exciting new book promotes designed plant communities

Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes by Thomas Rainer & Claudia West, landscape architects

Landscape architects Thomas Rainer and Claudia West have produced a beautiful new book promoting “designed” plant communities inspired by nature but which do not aspire to directly imitate native plant communities. In fact, their “plant communities” don’t really appear to be what we native plant people think of as plant communities. More form, less function. Ideas presented promote a practical combination of aesthetics and perhaps some ecological function and promote sustainability in the urban/suburban setting. The book aims at a global audience and generalizes the concept of plant community (e.g., grasslands, forests).

The book does not have the “localization” that native plant enthusiasts love but the authors state that they are proponents of native plants and do not welcome invasive plants. They allow for the use of non-native, non-invasive plants for both aesthetic and practical reasons (availability!) in landscaping. They make it clear that their concepts are applicable to “landscaping” and not restoration of natural areas, so native plant devotees probably need not be too alarmed by the “post wild” and “novel ecosystem” language.

The authors and their book are getting quite a bit of attention from the design community, so members serving that community should also pay attention. FANN has asked some of our founding members, such as Mike Jameson of Native Green Cay and Nancy Bissett of The Natives, to take a look at this book and give us their ever-wise feedback. We’re interested in hearing from any of our Florida native plant lovers about this book. It’s hard to argue with the persuasiveness of the imagery.

Read an interview with one of the authors here.

Claudia West, co-author, is also ecological sales manager at North Creek Nurseries, whose president Steve Castorani, is co-founder of the American Beauties Native Plants branding program and visited with FANN members at the Native Plant Show a couple years back.

Order the book on sale here from Timber Press, who has the most gorgeous garden and landscape books…

Coverage in the Chicago Tribune, which does a good job with reporting on ecologically informed landscaping.

FANN is a pioneer in promoting the use of native plant communities as models for sustainable landscape design. In 1991, we published our Guide for Xeric Landscaping which is back in print and regularly used by landscape architects and designers. It desperately needs to be updated to reflect the full palette of native plants now available AND to present inspirational imagery as does Rainer and West’s Post Wild book. If you’re interested in being part of that effort, contact FANN.