Dream Plants for the Natural Garden - Hardcover

Oudolf, Piet; Gerritsen, Henk

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0711217378 ISBN 13: 9780711217379

Publisher: Frances Lincoln, 2000

Synopsis

In this book, pioneering garden designers Henk Gerritsen and Piet Oudolf describe their ideal perennials, bulbs, grasses, ferns and small shrubs. An ideal plant is one that is both beautiful and robust, performing reliably with very little input from the gardener.

Gerritsen and Oudolf have a genuinely innovative approach to gardening. Rather than striving for big, bold masses of colourful blooms that are vigorously pruned back as soon as they have finished flowering, the authors choose plants chiefly for their form - leaves, flower heads and stems included - which means they retain their natural beauty through all the seasons.

About this title

Review:

Gardeners are moving away from tidy borders and neat velvet lawns to more expressive areas of plants grown within a natural movement of design. Who better to explain how to do this than the Dutch international garden designers, Henk Gerritsen and Piet Oudolf. Dream Plants for the Natural Garden suggests 1,200 plant species which they consider practical for the average garden. Each is give its Latin and common name with a brief description and notes of favourable conditions and flowering period.

The book covers perennials, bulbs, grasses, ferns and small shrubs, all of which the authors believe will continue growing, flowering and seeding for many years There are three main sections covering tough (perennials, grasses, ferns, bulbs and shrubs), playful (self-seeding perennials, biennials and annuals) and troublesome plants (invasive, capricious and demanding), explaining how to deal with them. Piet Oudolf has nurseries near Arnheim where he is practised in choosing plants that are easy to maintain and mainly disease resistant. Both he and Henk Gerritsen took many of the photographs that illustrate the text.

Dream Plants for the Natural Garden is an ideal reference book. Use some of the ideas to enliven your own garden or create an imaginative new one. --Judy Wyles

Review:

• ‘A Bible for those interested in turning their garden into a naturalistic haven.’

• ‘A Bible for those interested in turning their garden into a naturalistic haven.’

About this edition

• Publisher: Frances Lincoln
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0711217378
• ISBN 13: 9780711217379
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144