How to Design a Garden: Create and Maintain Your Dream Garden

by Pollyanna Wilkinson

Design the garden of your dreams with the expertise of award-winning garden designer Pollyanna Wilkinson.

How to Design A Garden shows you how to untap your garden’s potential and customize the design to suit you and your whether that be an extension of your living space for parties and al fresco dining or a calming oasis to relax in.

Equipped with all you need to know about light, focal points, hardscaping, and planting, you’ll have the skills to create a mood board, design layout, choose paving, furniture, and plant combinations. Polly expertly guides you to understand how the elements in your garden will work together as one – and she is not shy to share her opinions on certain design dos and don'ts!

Once you’ve designed your garden, month-by-month growing guides help you to nurture it, so you can enjoy your dream space for years to come.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

340 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 4, 2025

Reviews

[Frederike · Rating 3 out of 5]

How to Design a Garden does set you thinking, but the book could have done with a greater variety in pictures accompanying the text which was a lot of common sense penned down

[Kaddis87 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great at getting you thinking about the whole process of garden design. There's a clear process to follow and some good ideas and tips to consider. However, I was disappointed by the images and examples provided in the book. All the images seem to be taken from a very small selection of gardens with a very similar aesthetic and all with a decent amount of space. It would've been helpful to see examples of smaller spaces and different planting colour schemes (it's all one palette!). I'm not really sure who the target audience is for this as I was left feeling that a lot of this was just unattainable for me due to the cost implications. The suppliers listed look great but most of them are completely out of my budget. I felt like this book was more for a middle/upper class set who have an abundance of space and money which begs the question, if you are in that position surely you're not going to DIY it? You'd just pay someone to do this for you?

Overall, there were some good tips and ideas that I will definitely consider but I think it would have been enhanced greatly by demonstrating examples from smaller, urban gardens that the vast majority of us are having to work with.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This landscape and gardening architect book is a real find for both beginner and seasoned gardeners. It's packed with practical tips that are super easy to follow. The author really nailed it by breaking down complicated ideas into simple, actionable advice.
One of the best things about this book is how approachable it is. The writing is clear and to the point, making it a pleasure to read. Even if you already know a bit about gardening, you'll love how the book organizes everything in a way that's easy to understand. Some of the stuff I kind of knew before, but seeing it all laid out neatly was a game-changer.
I've always struggled with figuring out the right balance of greenery and hard surfaces in my garden. This book gave me a number of practical ideas that made a big difference. The explanations and tips were exactly what I needed to move forward with confidence.
Overall, reading this book was an absolute joy. Whether you want to create a peaceful garden retreat or just add some green to your space, this book is a must-have. It sparks creativity and gives you the tools to make your garden dreams come true. Highly recommended for anyone who loves landscape and gardening.

[Crista Lash · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was simply not be for me, and I found the tone of it surprisingly condescending and full of little smartaxx remarks.

To appreciate this book, you should be wealthy. If I had the budget this book seems written for, I’d probably hire a landscape designer instead of DIY’ing with the instruction from this book.

I have to mention: another reviewer pointed out that nearly every photo of flowers in this book is purple, and once I noticed it, I couldn’t stop noticing. The color palette felt strangely one-note, lack of diversity in photo examples.

I could not recommend this book because I can’t really grasp who the target audience even is….

[Philippa Hutchings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked up skills on designing and planting a garden from this lady… if you follow her on Instagram, you get more information on jewellery and clothing. If you listen to her podcast, then you’ll end up with house design tips as well.

I have never found a garden design book that creates a garden that is short and wide, it’s always long and thin. Same with this book.

It all got a bit too much for me…. Just a bunch of common sense good ideas on a paper in a book.

But I have enjoyed getting irritated by her online and used some of her plants tips so 5 stars!

[Jonathon Reeve · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book. As an experienced gardener it gave me new ideas for my garden that needs refreshing. It is also a very readable and easy to follow guide for anyone starting out on their gardening journey. Something to refer to again whenever you are thinking of changing, starting or just maintaining your garden. The section on “what is your garden for?” Is particularly helpful as it reminds you that a garden will probably need to change with time.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice book to flip through, though much of the back of the book (suggestions and “recipes” for plantings, monthly gardening tasks) is too specific to one region to be useful to a wide audience. Also wish there were a greater diversity of gardens showcased; seemed like all of the photos were different angles of the same three gardens from her portfolio, all of which featured purple flowers (boy, does Wilkinson like purple flowers).

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This looked like a good book but I can't imagine why I picked it up now. My headspace is doing back to school, not gardening. I got about halfway through and will pick it up again when I am ready to think about gardening.

[R.C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeously presented, accessibly (and humorously) written, and dead useful. This was a library borrow for me and I can’t wait to buy a copy for myself!

[growingwithbeccalynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great design read!

I bought this on kindle first but immediately got a hard copy to make notes in it. Pollyanna truly simplified designing for me!

[AF122 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the style. Great tips to organize the start and even improve what you have. Simple. Concise.

[Teresa Cairns · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Pollyanna's ideas and advice. I also follow her on Insta. This is a very clear guide to beginning a garden totally from scratch, but also has great info on plant choices with a seasonal guide.

[Tam G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked some of the step by step ways to organize your thoughts about a gardening project and how to use line and form in the design.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this book was okay. I didn't particularly enjoy the stress on certain design elements; they seemed to be portrayed as rules as opposed to personal preferences. I also think that this book would have benefitted from more garden styles being shown. However, I think that if you're right about to start gardening, this would be a really helpful resource. It just wasn't for me.