The New Australian Garden is a survey in text and lavish photography of 18 gardens that represent a new movement in Australian landscape design. The relationship between architecture and garden is paramount, and in their work these new designers connect these elements by creating a seamless flow of levels and materials between indoor and outdoor. In place of the traditional rectangular lawn with perimeter beds, grassed areas are re-imagined as contoured sculptural forms. Plantings are experimental and non-traditional. Life is injected into these gardens with moving water, fire pits and wind sculpture, and by pets, friends and family life. Every exterior space is activated, and all elements work together to set the garden in motion. These are gardens as destination spaces, and Michael Bates gives an insider's account of the journey of their design, creation, construction and planting.