Growing Bulbs in the Natural Garden: Innovative Techniques for Combining Bulbs and Perennials in Every Season by Jacqueline Van Der Kloet

"This gorgeous book expertly gives both experienced and novice gardeners the tools and inspiration they need to start or enhance their gardens." (Library Journal, starred review)
"I don't know anyone else with as much experience and knowledge when it comes to designing with bulbs." (Piet Oudolf)

Growing Bulbs in the Natural Garden is a four-season guide to combining bulbs with perennials and grasses in a loose, nonchalant style, from a leading figure in the New Perennial movement. From the earliest snowdrops to alpine violets, tulips, alliums, late autumn crocuses, and many more, bulbs add interest and color to the garden throughout the year. Renowned naturalistic garden designer, Jacqueline van der Kloet, has mastered a casual, magical technique where bulbs emerge playfully among other plants, as if dancing freely among the perennials and grasses. Both friendly and accessible, the book introduces bulbs as essential to any garden at any scale, inviting in pollinators, providing wonderful pops of color and personality, and extending a garden's bloom time in the shoulder seasons.

Readers will find information on:

• Bulbs basics for beginners, including easy varieties that anyone can grow well
• Color combinations that will transform the character of any garden
• How to plan, plant, and care for bulbs in every season, including handy tools to make work easier
• Tips on naturalizing bulbs so they come back on their own, year after year
• How planting bulbs directly into grass transforms a lawn (and invites the bees in early spring!)
• Techniques for layering bulbs in smaller spaces such as containers, balconies, green roofs, and wall-side borders
• Tips for growing bulbs on the larger scale
• Perennial partner plants for a standout, integrated garden in constant bloom

Also included are lists of Jacqueline van der Kloet's favorite spring, summer, autumn, and winter-flowering bulbs, and case studies of her naturalistic garden designs from around the world, including the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, the UK, and the Lurie Garden in the US, where she collaborated with leading plantsman, Piet Oudolf. Growing Bulbs in the Natural Garden provides unique inspiration and expert insight gained from van der Kloet's vast career, using nature as a model. Indeed, growing bulbs in van der Koet's style makes the garden appear as if nature had planted the bulbs herself. It's time to invite more magic into your garden!

Review Quotes:
"I don't know anyone else with as much experience and knowledge when it comes to designing with bulbs. There is no one to beat her."-- Piet Oudolf, author of Planting the Natural Garden

"Van der Kloet lends her expertise to gardeners everywhere...It's a bulb-packed book."-- Horticulture

"This beautiful new book teaches how to plant bulbs in your landscape alongside perennials and grasses in a naturalistic style. It's a must-have for any bulb gardener for planting tips, design idea, and learning about specialty bulbs."-- PureWow

"In her compact and beautifully illustrated book, van der Kloet passes on many good lessons."-- Financial Times

" Growing bulbs in the Natural Garden handily covers all the basics, conveyed in van der Kloet's authoritative yet conversational first-person voice."-- The American Gardener

"Packed with inspiration for the spring garden."-- Living, etc.

"Holland-based garden designer van der Kloet focuses on bulbs in this outstanding book...This gorgeous book expertly gives both experienced and novice gardeners the tools and inspiration they need to start or enhance their gardens."-- Library Journal

"The book is both beautiful and useful, offering advice for growing in containers, practical planting tips, suggested bulb-planting tools and even a list of bulbs that are pollinator favorites."-- The Seattle Times

"An honest perspective, emphasizing a more naturalistic approach and detailing the best choices and techniques."-- Gardens Illustrated

"Jacqueline van der Kloet's insights into designing with bulbs in unparalleled. In this, her first book to be widely published in English, she shares her innovative method for natural looking bulb displays."-- This England

"This gorgeous book shows readers how to add some oomph to their gardens in the form of colorful bulbs, which aren't a one-season option as many might think. Van der Kloet's striking garden designs, captured in more than 200 color photographs, will make readers ooh and ah over nearly every page."-- Library Journal, Best Life + Style of 2024

Jacqueline van der Kloet is an internationally acclaimed garden designer and one of Holland's best-known gardening authorities, whose advice is sought by designers and landscape architects around the world. Her designs are prized for their beauty, naturalized schemes, and bold uses of color. Van der Kloet's client list includes some of the most prestigious public gardens in the world, including Holland's famous Keukenhof, Clumber Park in the UK, Shinko Square in Japan, and in North America, she teamed with Piet Oudolf for innovative plantings at New York's Battery Park, New York Botanical Garden, and Chicago's Lurie Garden. Her work includes many private gardens as well, and she frequently contributes to international exhibitions.

Timber Press

Pub Date: February 06, 2024

0.64" H x 8.67" L x 6.96" W

240 pages

hardcover