Dream Plants for the Natural Garden

by Henk Gerritsen, Piet Oudolf

In this book, pioneering garden designers Henk Gerritsen and Piet Oudolf describe their special choice of ideal plants – 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. Complete growing information is provided for each plant along with advice on how to use it to best effect.
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.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Horticulture, Nature, Landscape Architecture

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely intended for someone with more gardening experience, a different type of space, and a vision of the end result already in place. I can't even say I really "read" all of it, as after the introductory section it is mostly long lists of different types of plants, organized thematically (self-seeding, grasses, etc). I was looking for something more like advice on how to plan the garden in the first place, and then how to know which plants would work together. This would be a good book for a gardener looking for new ideas about plant varieties. It has good suggestions along those lines, such as "X is lovely and requires little care, but it isn't sturdy so if you're planting a public area use Y or Z instead."

The photos were also disappointing. I'm not sure if this is because they were taken by the authors instead of a professional photographer or due to low print quality, or both, but they are not sharp enough and too tan in color. However, one can still see that the gardens are assembled in a pleasing way. I will try another book by this author, as well as others.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you want to treat the special gardener in your life to something special? If you're looking for a great gift book, this book would be absolutely perfect. This book is full of great information about all sorts of plants. There's information about various plants and ideas on how to mix the plants to create something really gorgeous.

This summer was the first summer that I could have a garden since I finally have space to go wild with plants! I had a lot of fun gardening this spring and summer but I was kind of doing things haphazardly (i.e. going to the garden center and just picking pretty things). I think this book is going to be an excellent resource for me in the future. This book took me a long time to get through as I was taking notes while I was reading about what I want to plant next year!

This would be a great resource for both beginner and experienced gardeners who are looking for a fantastic resource!

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The all-time best gardening book. This book was named correctly - you can dream for hours. The cover alone sells it. My copy is ragged, but every time I go to it, I get excited by plants. I took my well-read copy on a cross-country airplane trip and it lasted me the whole way. I love the way it is organized. Every gardener had fallen in love with a soap bubble plant at some time (lovely, impractical, short-lived). I have found the plant information to be very accurate. Can you tell? I love, love this book.

[Skyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and witty and features my favourite gardening style.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great reference book to have at your fingertips, a style of garden I yearn to emulate.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding resource of over 1200 plants. How to combine them, what terrain they need, and their sizes and colors. Extra material is how to extend the season, shrubs, perennials, bulbs and self seeding plants. I'm thinking I should have known about the " troublesome" plants I planted, goldenrod. But I enjoy the late blooming of goldenrod.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book arranged unconventionally with different species of the same genus in separate sections depending on how reliable they are. So, it's a little quirky. Make good use of the index and read all the insets to find its value.

[Anetq · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intro og især plantelister fra Piet Oudolfs planteunivers. Nyttige lister af ting der går sammen - hvad enten det skal være roligt, heftigt, sørgeligt eller bare vidunderligt. Der er MANGE lister at typer, lidt færre billeder, så det er en brugsbog, mere end en bladrebog.

[Denise Gualtiere · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of nice photos of plants. Not enough information about preferred growing conditions. Many of the plants listed are not readily available in the United States.

[Red · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me completely go into gardening. It was not after some years (today) that I saw one of his gardens. And I was not impressed. How can that be. But it doesn't matter. He inspired me with this book a lot.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous!

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plant Lust! Plain and simple.