Pre-eminent garden designer Paul Bangay reflects on his wide-roaming professional life and the aesthetic influences that have shaped him

Paul Bangay is Australia’s most sought-after garden designer, with close to forty years’ experience. Known for his mastery of scale, balance, form and colour, Paul draws on his lifelong study of the natural and classical worlds to create gardens around the globe.

This illustrated memoir explores the evolution of one of Australia’s finest design minds. A visual delight, it ranges from photos of childhood gardens and goats to hand-drawn plans for Paul’s earliest designs. Through never-before-seen materials, the story behind Paul’s vision is revealed – and we see the creative workings that come to fruition in meticulous and timeless gardens.

A Life in Garden Design is a book for anyone interested in gardens, design and the evolution of a creative life.

About the Author:

For over 30 years Paul Bangay has fulfilled his clients' aspirations for gardens that are expressive of the timeless elegance and classic simplicity for which he is internationally renowned. Paul is widely regarded as the foremost garden designer in Australia today, and his extensive list of projects span private and public commissions in Australia and New Zealand, as well as further afield in Europe, North America and the West Indies.

About the Author:

Paul Bangay OAM holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Horticulture) from The University of Melbourne. In 1994 he was granted a Victorian Arts Centre travelling scholarship to further his study of landscape design in Europe and the Americas. He won the Mobil Pegasus Award for the best contribution to the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts (1989). In 2001 Bangay was awarded the Centenary Medal for his contribution to public design projects and in 2018 he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to landscape architecture. Since 2020 he has served as a trustee for Cruden Farm, and since 2018 as an ambassador for Prince's Trust Australia. He is the author of eleven books on garden design.

A sumptuous collection of Paul Bangay’s contemporary yet timeless gardens.

Paul Bangay is a landscape designer who relishes the challenge of working at scale. He creates gardens that feel as though they’ve been there forever.

They emerge from the countryside, with borrowed landscapes and dramatic views as key elements. Within each design, Paul makes spaces that bring different experiences of the garden. Large sweeping lawns, magnificent soaring trees and numerous, deep garden beds. An allée of trees directs the eye to mountains in the distance. Outdoor dining areas offer intimate vantage points within the broader scale.

From grand gardens in France to a forest grown from seedlings, join Paul on this tour de force of projects complete with lakes, mountains and walled gardens. Paul shares the design process, as well as garden plans and extensive planting lists, while Simon Griffiths’ photography captures the sublime form and light of these generous landscapes.

Big Garden Design documents the principles of landscape design from the most precise detail to the grandest vista.

About the Author:

Paul Bangay OAM holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Horticulture) from The University of Melbourne. In 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for his contribution to public design projects and in 2018 he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to landscape architecture. He has been an ambassador for Prince’s Trust Australia since 2018, and is the author of twelve books on garden design. Simon Griffiths is a leading photographer of garden, food and travel whose work has appeared in Gourmet Traveller, House and Garden and Vogue Living.