Crafts and Hobbies · Hardback

Wild Garden Joy

Norwegian title: Vill hageglede

Mariann Gundersen

In Wild Garden Joy you can draw inspiration from Norway’s most beautiful naturalistic garden and find tips for creating an outdoor space with a relaxed, lush, natural feel.

How wonderful would it be to step barefoot into a garden paradise inspired by nature—and feel yourself relax as you gaze at the wildflowers and swaying ornamental grasses around you?

The book introduces you to the naturalistic style of gardening and all its possibilities. You’ll learn how to choose and combine plants to create a lively look that suits its surroundings, using plants that thrive where you live. Whether you’re starting a garden from scratch or want to add a few elements to an established one, you’ll find useful advice along the way. By taking inspiration from the way plants grow in nature, you can create an outdoor space with a character all its own.

Naturalistic planting requires less maintenance than traditional ornamental flowerbeds. It uses wild and cultivated plants suited to local conditions. These gardens are designed to last, developing and changing over time. You can bring together a diversity of plants with different heights, colours, shapes and textures. In turn, the plants will attract bees and other beneficial insects, birds and small animals.

Author and garden designer Mariann Gundersen shares her experience and knowledge so that you, too, can create a garden like this, wherever you live in the country and however much space you have. She runs a business of the same name, Vill hageglede, offering naturalistic planting design to private and commercial clients. She is among those with the most experience in naturalistic gardens, a growing trend in garden design.

This garden won Gundersen the 2023 Scandinavian Design Awards prize for Best Garden Design of the Year. In the jury’s words:

“Mariann Gundersen’s interpretation of garden-design legend Piet Oudolf’s approach, and her adaptation of his style to Nordic conditions, has attracted attention both in Norway and internationally. This is a garden that speaks to the senses, with a natural appearance and aesthetic that continually change through the seasons. It is a sustainable form of garden design that benefits pollinators, wildlife—and people.”