ON THE WILD SIDE: Experiments in the New Naturalism

"Natural" gardens are nothing new; the English landscape style has emulated scenes from nature since the early 1700s. Wiley's "new naturalism" takes the concept further, seeking "to capture only the spirit of wild plantings and never attempt to replicate exactly any landscape or combination of plants." Gardeners can achieve effects with form, color and placement by closely observing scenes as disparate as South African savannas, the Colorado Rockies, Swiss alpine meadows and New England roadsides. Wiley eschews overly intensive soil management in favor of "working with what you have got" to produce not a prize specimen but "a community of plants forming a harmonious picture." He encourages self-seeding and delights in serendipitous, if temporary, successes. Wiley chooses plants for their power to evoke the spirit of a natural scene, and he devotes the majority of the book to plants and plant associations grouped accordingly. (Most American readers will have to substitute hardier plants for many of those Wiley suggests; USDA hardiness zones are conspicuously absent.) As head gardener at The Garden House in Devon, England, Wiley practiced "Wild West, seat-of-your-pants, pioneering gardening" for 25 years, creating one of England's most distinctive gardens. His experience is reflected in ample practical advice, but he is not confined by it; he also offers many imaginative ideas for gardens he has yet to create. Over 200 color photographs provide additional inspiration. Wiley's aim is "freeing your own creative inner spirit from the straitjacket of horticultural tradition," and in that, he succeeds brilliantly. (Apr.)