Sowing Beauty Designing Flowering Meadows from Seed

“A hopeful and expansive book for the gardener who sees a field as a canvas.” —Publishers Weekly 

James Hitchmough is well-regarded in the design world for his exuberant, colorful, and flower-filled meadows. His signature style can be seen in prominent places like London’s Olympic Park and the Botanic Garden at the University of Oxford. Using a distinct technique of sowing meadows from seed, he creates plant communities that mimic the dramatic beauty of natural meadows and offer a succession of blooms over many months—a technique that can be adapted to work in both large-scale public gardens and smaller residential gardens. Sowing Beauty shows you how to recreate Hitchmough’s masterful, romantic style. You'll will learn how to design and sow seed mixes that include a range of plants, both native and exotic, and how to maintain the sown spaces over time. Color photographs show not only the gorgeous finished gardens, but also all the steps along the way. 

James Hitchmough is an expert in the design, ecology, and management of herbaceous vegetation. His techniques have been used to make meadows and meadow-like communities at prestigious sites worldwide. Hitchmough is head of the Department of Landscape Architecture at Sheffield University in the UK.