Over her thirty-year career, celebrated designer Jo Thompson has become recognised for her timeless planting, well-proportioned, English-style gardens rendered modern by a staunch commitment to biodiversity--to the eye this translates as a looser formality than English gardens of the past, though every bit as romantic.

Thompson reminds us that we are never, in complete charge of how our gardens grow; other forces are always at work, as they should be when we allow sustainable practices to help us guide rather than try to dominate nature's own efforts. Hundreds of beautiful colour photos and chapter-by-chapter case studies of individual gardens designed around various themes provide inspiration for all gardeners who want their gardens to feel not merely well planted, but truly alive and atmospheric.