“New Perennials: A Love Story” is a personal introduction to the design principles of the New Perennialists, who originated the hottest landscaping trend in the world today—naturalistic garden design. In the US, their influence can be seen in New York’s High Line, Chicago’s Lurie Garden, the Oudolf Meadow at Delaware Botanic Gardens, and Oudolf Garden Detroit. Deborah Chud’s  6 years of research on these gardens (and many others) led to her own, highly unusual New Perennial garden and the only known database of New Perennial plant combinations. Part 1 traces her discovery of their work, my research on their plant combinations, and my use of that research to create a garden in their style. Part 2 explores the historical context in which the New Perennial movement emerged. And Part 3 introduces the design principles of these revolutionaries—particularly a new concept of structure and a special balance between coherence and contrast that approximates nature’s own. At the end of the talk, Deborah offers practical “dos & don’ts” for solving the problem of excessive contrast.