Garden Revolution:
How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change

Winner of the 2017 American Horticultural Society Book Award

Read Garden Revolution's review in The New York Times

Timber Press 2016

Liberate your landscape!

Traditional gardening practices are time-consuming and labor-intensive, and result in landscapes that require constant upkeep. But there’s a better way: by following ecological principles, we can have landscapes that are alive with color, friendly to local wildlife, and evolve over time—with much less work and effort. Larry Weaner and Thomas Christopher show you exactly how to create these exciting, stimulating landscapes.

Meet the Authors

  • Larry Weaner, FAPLD, founded Larry Weaner Landscape Associates in 1982 and established NDAL in 1990. He is nationally recognized for combining expertise in horticulture, landscape design, and ecological restoration. His work has been profiled in national publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Garden Design, American Gardener, Wildflower Magazine, North American Native Plant Society’s The Blazing Star, and ASLA’s “The Dirt” blog. In 2021 he received the AHS Landscape Design Award and the APLD Award of Distinction.

    Photo by Kim Sokoloff

  • Thomas Christopher, a graduate of the New York Botanical Garden School of Professional Horticulture, has created gardens for clients for forty-five years. He is the author of many books, including Essential Perennials: The Complete Reference to 2700 Perennials for the Home Garden (Timber Press 2015). In his podcast, Growing Greener, Thomas interviews gardening experts who are also leaders in working and living in harmony with nature.  

“This beautiful book shows us that guiding natural processes rather than fighting them is the key to creating healthier landscapes and happier gardeners. An essential addition to our knowledge of sustainable landscapes”

—Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home and The Living Landscape

Garden Revolution gives land managers the toolkit to work with land on large and small scales in order to create ecologically sensitive landscapes. For anyone who is a steward of land or interested in the topic, this is a book to find and read sooner rather than later.”

—NYBG’s Plant Talk

“This book shows how [Larry Weaner] evaluates the natural habitat, chooses plants, and watches them grow and reseed, then edits if necessary. . . . This is a book that will guide a designer through a planning process, including a demonstration of the use of themed maps to show microclimates and other features of a site.”

—San Francisco Chronicle

“An essential reference for conservation-minded home gardeners and stewards of larger landscapes.”

—Rick Darke, author of The Living Landscape and The American Woodland Garden