MODERN-DAY gardeners want to work with Nature, not overpower it. Wildflower meadows, no-dig veg patches and borders crammed with winter seedheads are top of their wish lists. Although wild-style gardens (as opposed to simply wildly neglected ones) fit with ideas of ecological stewardship and a harmonious relationship with the earth, they can also be a tough trick to pull off. No one lusts after thickets of brambles, but too much fiddling about and the naturalness is quickly lost. Gardeners searching for that balance may find inspiration in a design idea that dominated English gardens about 300 years ago: the wilderness.
Wilderness is wildness artfully contained
Wilderness is a slippery word with many connotations, but, in garden history, it is emphatically not wild. It is wildness that
