Habitat Creation in Garden Design

Catherine Heatherington Alex Johnson
There is a growing interest in creating gardens for wildlife, but this is often accompanied by a tendency to equate naturalness with messiness. The idea that wildlife gardens need to be untidy and unkempt persists. Understanding the needs of plants and how they interact establishes some parameters for design, stimulates ideas and reminds us of appropriate association of plants and materials. Far from limiting creativity, it reinforces a sense of place. Written by two experienced garden designers, this book uses the language of design to frame garden habitats, uniting design principles with an ecological perspective to create beautiful wildlife havens.
Habitat Creation in Garden Design by Catherine Heatherington Alex Johnson

About the author

Catherine Heatherington is a garden designer and consultant with a PhD from the University of Sheffield. She is the author of several books about landscape. Along with Alex Johnson, Catherine is a co-founder of DesignWild Associates, a design practice that integrates design with ecology to create exciting gardens that encourage wildlife into even the smallest of urban spaces.



Following a degree in Botany and Ecology, Alex Johnson turned to horticulture and landscape design and has created gardens for public and private clients during a forty year career. Along with Catherine Heatherington, Alex is a co-founder of DesignWild Associates, a design practice that integrates design with ecology to create exciting gardens that encourage wildlife into even the smallest of urban spaces.



Press Reviews

Essential reading for every aspiring garden designer

- Ken Thompson, Professional Gardeners' Guild

Habitat Creation bridges an important gap between the scholarly ecology and the home gardener, and its focus on feeding and retaining invertebrates is a refreshing change of pace. Whereas every major gardening manual hones in on nectar, berry, and seed-feeding for birds and butterflies, Habitat Creation in Garden Design details planting and management techniques to foster vibrant communities of soil microorganisms, invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals to accommodate fully functional biodiversity.’

- Jennifer Priester, Northwest Perennial Alliance Magazine (USA)

‘I have sat on SGD committees with both Catherine Heatherington FSGD (retried) and Alex Johnson MSGD (retired), and it is pleasing to see that the qualities they brought to meetings – rigour, quality and clarity of thought, and a liveliness – shine through the ideas and information they present in their book…everything – or nearly everything – you may need to know is here’.

- Annabel Downs, Garden Design Journal

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