The Gardenist helps build satisfying outdoor spaces

Michael McCoy is The Gardenist: garden designer, author, broadcaster, speaker and obsessive home gardener.

McCoy started his writing career as gardening correspondent for the Age, and now has a coffee table book in which he looks at both the design and the “plantmanship” of gardens. He has a holistic approach: he believes to build a wonderful garden you need to understand the role each plant type plays, how to use them in your design to their best advantage, and how to care for and maintain them.

The Gardenist (Macmillan) teases out the anatomy of gardens to discover how these plant types can first define appealing spaces, and then decorate those spaces. McCoy shows how to harness the structural power of trees and shrubs to deliberately shape a deeply satisfying outdoor space – defining the boundaries of your garden, dividing the space within those boundaries, or even suggesting a skyline or roofline.

Practical and easy to navigate, but also beautifully designed and photographed, The Gardenist features inspiring images of gardens from both Australia and overseas.

The giveaway copy was won by Stuart Clowes of Victoria.