The Modern Professional Planting Designer

Landscape designer Andrew Fisher Tomlin’s The Modern Professional Planting Designer is a practical manifesto for creating beautiful, resilient gardens in a changing climate. Structured around key principles—site analysis, plant communities, succession, and management—the book teaches how to build planting schemes that look good on day one and improve over time. Case studies from contemporary masters unpack matrix planting, dynamic meadows, and multi-layer compositions that support biodiversity while reducing inputs. Accessible diagrams and schedules show how to translate concept into plant lists and maintenance plans sections on soil care, water-wise strategies, and right plant–right place anchor design in ecology. Photography balances drama with detail, explaining why texture, form, and phenology matter as much as color. For professionals and ambitious amateurs, Tomlin offers tools to communicate with clients, collaborate with contractors, and steward landscapes beyond installation. The result is both inspiration and workbook—a guide to planting that is creative, evidence-based, and fit for the twenty-first century.