So, a book out on contemporary Dutch gardens. The English edition came out late last year, and the Dutch edition was out first, in mid-summer. This was very much a joint production with photographer Maayke de Ridder, whose has a wealth of experience seeking out and recording the country's gardens. Amsterdam-based publisher Hélène Lesger, Maayke and myself had indeed all been thinking about something along these lines for some time, but when we first approached some British publishers (in 2014 I think), we were firmly told that English-speaking readers would not be interested. Roll on a few years and Anna Mumford of Filbert Press needed little persuading to pick up an idea from Hélène’s new publishing enterprise.
A garden by Carolien Barkman, who specialises in small gardens (this is Europe’s most crowded country) and has a great ability to work in surprises to whatever she creates. Maayke and I featured her work before in a book - New Small Garden. It was good to be able to visit more of her projects and appreciate how effectively she uses every bit of space.
The book feels like a timely outcome of many years visiting The Netherlands (or Holland as we usually call it, somewhat incorrectly, as 'Holland' is really only one province). A period of time, starting in 1994, which has seen enormous changes in Dutch garden culture. Back then, I may have been drawn by news of real innovation in planting: Piet Oudolf, the parks in Amstelveen, wild flower habitat creation etc., but most gardens were …. well... shall we say diplomatically, not very interesting... rather random placings of perennials, shrubs, conifers. Now, driving or walking around, and peering into people's front gardens, it is clear that there is a lot of thought going into what people do, with a huge variety covering every genre from historic to wild (but perhaps just a few too many Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’). This has been reflected in a constant flow of really good Dutch gardens appearing in the pages of Gardens Illustrated; from both owner-designed and designer gardens. It was this creative energy that Maayke and I were interested in tapping.
A city garden by Frank van der Linden, one of the real plantsmen whose work we featured. Compact sites lead many designers to adopt a ‘less is more’ approach. Frank is one who very definitely doesn’t but uses his knowledge of plant habitats to shoehorn in as much diversity as possible.
I have always been fascinated by the conjunction of the familiar and the unfamiliar. Which is what Dutch gardens present to a British visitor: all the elements we know and grow are there, but in just slightly different places. In fact, I would go so far as to say that drop me into a garden blindfolded and ask me where I was, I would nearly always know if I were in a Dutch garden. The differences are subtle, but I think they boil down to this – a definite aura of post-Bauhaus modernism, often something as small as a low hedge, in a place where no British gardener or designer would dream of putting one. Graphic elements that add architecture/framework/bones, contrasting with looser-grown perennials, but without falling into the trap of classical geometry that usually takes British designers over when they use straight lines. Although in fact there is plenty of classical formality too, which has been the traditional model.
One of the real privileges of researching this book was getting into gardens behind those amazing canal houses we all gawp at as tourists in Amsterdam - they’re often very secret places. This project, by Robert Broekema, cleverly integrates three narrow gardens belonging to different properties.
One name stood constantly in the background as I was writing this - Mien Ruys, who was a key figure in the development of modern Dutch landscape design. She dominated the profession for much of the 20th century, and inevitably we see her hand everywhere. Her approach combined the clarity of Modernism with the kind of liveability that is somehow at the heart of Dutch design generally (I mean everything, from office buildings to teacups).
Columnar hornbeams stand sentinel outside the home of Nico Kloppenborg, the designer in the book who most self-consciously follows the work of Mien Ruys. (Author picture)
Researching and writing this book involved talking to twelve designers, and looking at examples of their work. We chose them because they were all working in a way that could be loosely interpreted as contemporary, and yet chose to express this in very different ways – some through planting, others though re-interpreting historical design models. Crucially we were also interested in relating what they were doing to the Dutch landscape.
Another very plant-focussed designer who I felt a real affinity with was Arjan Boekel. This is a roof garden he has designed in Rotterdam.
Mention of which brings me on to an aspect of researching the book which I find fascinating about the country. All of us in western Europe live in landscapes that are multi-layered, the results of centuries of human occupation. The Dutch landscape however is the most dramatic palimpset, where rivers have moved, canals dug, old canals bypassed, dykes thrown up, overlain by new dykes, land drained, land drowned, land rescued. At first I found, like most visitors, the landscape monotonous (and pre-Satnav) terribly easy to get lost. Once you get your eye in however, it is endlessly fascinating, as you learn to pick out old dykes, abandoned waterways, every little hummock of ground telling a story of centuries of human endeavour making and remaking a landscape to survive in. I love looking at historic maps to see how the land has changed over time, and then trying to read the signs on the ground. Maayke for example has her houseboat on the Ringvaartdijk which borders the canal which was constructed around the Haarlemmemeer – a vast lake that until the late 19th century gobbled up land with every storm, threatening to join up with the Zuider Zee and hollow out the country. It is now the site of Schipol airport!
Luc Engelhard’s garden in an old polder landscape is an experimental space where he plays with structures and plantings before using them in clients’ gardens. I love its spare and enigmatic quality, and ability to play with forms in a very unpretentious and authentic way.
So, one theme we adopted in the book was to discuss our designers after looking at a particular aspect of the landscape: the sandy heathlands of Brabant, the industrial discipline of polder landscapes, the coast – dominated by a wall of protective sand dunes, and the mysterious 'waterline' – landscapes designed to be flooded in the event of invasion.
The twelve designers we chose to represent the best of contemporary design but offering very different responses to landscapes, from natural landscapes such as the coast to more strongly cultural ones, and finally, historic landscapes. Together they represent a huge spectrum of creativity, reflecting this country's vibrant and continually innovating garden design scene.
We couldn’t talk about Dutch gardens without mentioning tulips. Jacqueline van der Kloet’s own garden integrates bulbs with shrubs and perennials as a ‘tea garden’. Her work with bulbs for public and private design clients is very striking, as she continually invents new ways of distributing them through space.
And I couldn’t do a book on Dutch gardens without mentioning Piet Oudolf, could I? One of the designers we feature is Tom de Witte, who follows his work closely, and indeed works with Piet on many of his projects. His own design work is strong on structure and framing.
One of Machiel Vlieland’s coastal gardens, where appropriate plant selection is absolutely vital. Form and texture create interest where colours tend to be muted.
Margo van Beem and Emiel Versluis of Vis á Vis specialise in sustainability and have done so for longer than most of the practitioners in this area. This is a garden on the moat of one of the old fortresses of the defensive waterline.
A rather restrained corner in the garden of design duo Monique Donders and Pierre van der Heiden who are very prolific and very versatile in their design approaches - complex perennial plantings are also an important part of their work
All pictures Maayke de Ridder, unless indicated.
Further viewing.
Garden Masterclass offers the following videos by Maayke and some of these designers:
Maayke de Ridder - Use your smartphone like a pro.
Leo den Dulk - Mien Ruys: leading lady of Dutch landscape design
Tom de Witte - Structure in the perennial garden and The process behind a garden design project
Jacqueline van der Kloet - New Ways with Bulbs