Creative projects rarely begin in the same place — sometimes it starts with a concept, other times with a collaboration. Natural Order — published by Formist Editions and documenting 20 residential Australian gardens by Sydney and Byron Bay-based landscape practice Dangar Barin Smith — is the latter: the result of a longstanding creative relationship between landscape creative William Dangar, writer Karen McCartney, designer and publisher Evi Oetomo, and photographer Prue Ruscoe.
A book we picked up for our shared perspective on nature and design — and quickly became one we couldn’t put down.
Over nearly two decades, the group has developed what Dangar describes as a rare continuity: a shared understanding of how ideas are communicated and evolve, and how creative work can be carried across mediums. As he explains, the benefit of working with the same collaborators over many years is that “there’s a trust there… you don’t need to be continually re-briefing people,” allowing each project to build naturally upon the last.
“We’ve got a really talented group of people… the sum of the parts is greater than the individual parts.”
Natural Order traces 20 “highly-considered” Australian residential gardens, each photographed at the point where planting has matured and architecture has settled into its surrounding environment. Accompanying each project is a hand-drawn planting plan by Grace Brunner and a conversation between McCartney (the publication’s editor) and a Dangar Barin Smith partner, capturing the visions, edits, context and constraints that shape each landscape.
This conversational structure was intentional. McCartney notes that presenting the projects as Q&A formats allows readers to “dip in and out” while still gaining insight into the thinking behind each decision — from horticultural choices to structural interventions — revealing the layered knowledge required to make landscapes feel intuitive.
“The gardens look like nature has just done their thing… Actually, it’s a result of a lot of clever decisions and interventions, but the end result feels very natural.”
At the core of the book is the idea that landscape architecture is inherently collaborative. Dangar Barin Smith’s projects often involve architects, interior designers, horticulturists and clients working together across extended timeframes. Increasingly, landscape architects are brought into projects earlier than ever before — sometimes even before an architect is appointed — reflecting a broader cultural shift toward understanding landscape as foundational rather than decorative.
“If you look at affluent landscape architecture from the early 90s, it was probably Annie Wilkes from Parterre Garden, Marcia Hosking, Gay Stanton, and Tony Ward,” explains Dangar. “It was just in the infancy stages of being in industry… Before that, landscaping was something you did yourself, or you got your gardener to do for you.”
Dangar observes that more clients now approach the practice asking for guidance on which architect might best suit their project, recognising that the landscape is not simply a finishing layer but a defining spatial element.
This evolution marks a significant change, and over the past three decades, the discipline has expanded to include ecological considerations, long-term maintenance thinking and a deeper engagement with Australian native plantings. As such, the practice’s work increasingly explores what Dangar describes as the “curated native garden,” balancing aesthetic composition with environmental suitability and longevity.
The book’s title, Natural Order, emerged partway through the process and became the conceptual anchor for the book. McCartney recalls the moment the phrase came to her while driving, recognising its ability to articulate the apparent effortlessness of Dangar Barin Smith’s gardens — environments that feel as though “nature has just done its thing,” despite being the result of careful orchestration and layered decision-making.
“What was unusual about this is that we knew we wanted to do a book, but until that title came about, things weren’t so cohesive for me visually,” recalls Oetomo. Once Natural Order was established, Oetomo notes that the visual language of the book began to fall into place, shaping typography, pacing and the inclusion of hand-drawn illustrations that reinforce the sense of considered naturalism running throughout the work.
MOLLYMOOK PROJECT | LANDSCAPE: DANGAR BARIN SMITH | ARCHITECT: MCK | PHOTOGRAPHY: PRUE RUSCOE
“You need to make a book, not a portfolio of projects that could be on your website. You know, it’s actually got to come together with an idea, with a central premise. And that premise then does have a flow on effect of informing everything, otherwise it's just a bunch of nice pictures put together.”
Publishing the book independently through Oetomo’s imprint Formist Editions allowed the team to focus on the book as an object. Dangar describes Natural Order as something undertaken not primarily as a revenue exercise, but as an opportunity to produce an object that people might want to live and spend time with — a book created with the intention that it could be collected and returned to over time.
Landscape architecture, like publishing, operates on an extended timeline. Gardens require patience; ideas mature gradually. Many of the projects included in Natural Order were selected because they demonstrate how landscapes evolve, with some projects over a decade old and others more recent, benefiting from Sydney’s temperate climate and the increasing availability of advanced horticultural techniques. Dangar describes landscape architecture as “a long game,” one that rewards sustained attention and iterative thinking.
The projects featured in the book reflect a broad range of spatial conditions — from dense urban rooftops integrated into complex architectural environments to expansive residential gardens that prioritise planting as spatial structure. McCartney notes that the selection intentionally explores different typologies and solutions, demonstrating how landscape architecture can operate across scales while maintaining conceptual coherence.
Integral to the work is an openness to adaptation. Unlike architecture, landscape design often continues to evolve once construction begins, with site conditions informing adjustments to planting placement, spatial composition and material relationships. Dangar describes the process as one that cannot always be fully resolved in drawings: “It’s really hard in plan to be able to fully realise a landscape plan and then go to site and say, here it is, just build it to plan… you are actually undermining the potential of the project,” he says.
Surry Hills Project | Landscape: Dangar Barin Smith | Architect: SJB | Photography: Prue Ruscoe
“You’re not going to necessarily know exactly what’s going to happen until the day it happens… that trust is so valuable for me as a creative.”
What began as a modest update to a previous volume ultimately became a fully realised new book, with further volumes already under consideration. The ongoing nature of the collaboration between Dangar, McCartney, Oetomo and Ruscoe allows each iteration to build on the last, reflecting both the maturity of the practice and the evolving cultural importance of landscape architecture within Australian design discourse.
The launch of Natural Order brought together many of the clients, architects, collaborators and practitioners involved in the projects, reinforcing the sense that the book represents not only a body of work but a community of practice. Dangar describes the event as a moment where the collective effort behind the projects became visible, emphasising that the book was created not solely as a professional document but as something shared among peers and collaborators.
In this way, Natural Order documents more than gardens. It captures an evolving understanding of how landscape shapes the way we live — and how collaborative thinking can produce environments that feel at once deliberate and effortless.
