The New Perennialist Talks
Welcome to my video archive with stellar presentations by some of the leading lights in naturalistic planting design.
The Talks Archive
This is our garden home to stream all our Talks and video on Vimeo. Like all the best things in life, some Talks are free – while others are Pay-Per-View (72-hour access on Vimeo with secure electronic payment via PayPal). Either way, it's well worth your while. All Talks hosted by Tony Spencer aka The New Perennialist.
Designing with Randomness: A Masterclass in Planting Design
Professor James Hitchmough
Nov. 21, 2024
Hop on the leading-edge with James Hitchmough, Professor Emeritus of University of Sheffield, a genius innovator and iconoclast in modern planting design. James shares his key principles for success, in terms of the ecological as well as aesthetic rules that drive his design process while sharing real-world case studies to show how to put these methods into practice.
Understanding Tree Selection in the 21st Century
Henrik Sjöman & Arit Anderson
March 24, 2024
Catch up on the latest thinking in tree selection for climate resilience, carbon storage, boosting biodiversity, and other essential ecosystem benefits. Not to mention the life-giving beauty, scale and character that trees can bring to our gardens and landscapes – but only if we plant the right tree in the right place.
Learning from Brownfield
John Little
Where others see trash in an industrial wasteland, John Little sees the raw materials to create startlingly effective ecological habitat. Come along for a wildly inspiring two-hour joyride where we all learn how to break some rules.
Gardening in a Changing World: Plants, People and the Climate Crisis
Darryl Moore
February 6, 2023
This challenging and important new talk by UK writer and landscape designer is an essential listen for anyone interested in making plants and gardens part of the solution to the problems facing the future of life as we know it on Earth.
Wild about the Future
Noel Kingsbury
Here we explore the possible futures of naturalistic garden design with the brilliant Noel Kingsbury, the internationally known writer regarded as one of the prime architects of the ecological or naturalistic approach in modern planting design.
The View from Federal Twist
James Golden
May 26, 2022
Writer James Golden challenges us to reconsider our role as gardeners – at Federal Twist it’s not the gardener who is in charge but the place, its ecology and the driving force of nature.
High Diversity Plantings
Peter Korn
May 1, 2022
Take a trip to the beach with the near mythical Swedish plantsman and designer Peter Korn, who is is pioneering a new way of creating wildly inspired climate-tough gardens and he’s doing it all with sand.
The New Perennialist on Garden Masterclass
Tony Spencer
April 21, 2022
What an honour. Invited as the first-ever Canadian guest to appear on Garden Masterclass with hosts Nöel Kingsbury and Annie Guilfoyle. Here on their Thursday chat, I talk about my own roots in the story of meeting Nöel and Piet Oudolf and how these relationships changed my life and the way I think about gardens. Highly topical discussion after the presentation.
Wildscaping: Explorations in Naturalistic Planting Design
Special guest: Tony Spencer
April 2022
Wildscaping is about using plant-driven landscape design to create and sustain dynamic garden spaces, filled with beauty and wildlife, to rekindle our relationship to the natural world. Join host Tony Spencer for an encounter with some of the international designers, innovations, issues, and landscapes leading the way – along with a look at his own experimental design projects – to inspire garden-making with a sense of purpose on the wild side.
Future Nature + Superbloom
Nigel Dunnett
June 15, 2021
Professor Nigel Dunnett is one of the world’s leading voices in naturalistic planting design based at the Department of Landscape Architecture at University of Sheffield. Here Nigel discusses two concepts fundamental to how he captures and translates the drama, beauty and spontaneity of the wild into designed landscapes for the public urban space.
Tokachi Millennium Forest: Pioneering a new way of gardening with nature
Dan Pearson + Midori Shintani
May 12, 2021
Join legendary garden designer Dan Pearson and head gardener Midori Shintani for the inside story on the Tokachi Millennium Forest in Hokkaido, Japan. This visionary public park fuses east + west / wild + cultured to set a vibrant new path forward in contemporary landscape and ecological planting design.