Wild by Design: Naturalistic Gardening for Modern Australian Landscapes by Tim Pilgrim

Wild by Design is Tim Pilgrim's guide to naturalistic gardening for Australian conditions. Pilgrim is a garden designer based on Dja Dja Wurrung Country in central Victoria, and he has worked in some of the country's best-known gardens, including Paul Bangay's Stonefields.

Naturalistic gardening takes its cue from the way plants actually grow in the wild: looser, layered, changing with the seasons, and friendlier to wildlife. The book works through soil, materials, composition, propagation and maintenance, and includes a pictorial guide to the 100 plants Pilgrim trusts most for this kind of garden.

It is written for Australian gardens and the Australian climate, which is what sets it apart from most naturalistic-planting books. A hardback of 320 pages, photographed throughout by Martina Gemmola, and winner of the 2026 Indie Book Award for illustrated non-fiction.

For home gardeners and designers alike.

'An essential book for anyone exploring the wilder side of gardening.' Paul Bangay