Dutch Garden Tour: Year-Round Enchantment in an Artistic Garden
This gardener uses flowers like a painter uses colour. The wild beauty of his garden gets better with each season
The flat, rural landscape of Friesland in the north of Holland is still full of wilderness thanks to its small population. The country’s largest province, it has waterlogged land and a harsh climate, with a wind that blows directly from the North Sea. After its rough winters, summer feels like a miracle. The region’s famous dikes regulate water levels, especially in the polders, or artificial tracts of land that have been reclaimed from the sea.
Friesland has light, sandy soil like much of the Netherlands, and the area is coveted by gardeners like bed and breakfast owner, Jaap de Vries. After his retirement, de Vries decided to chase his dream and create his own garden in this fertile space. Completely self-taught, he took inspiration from Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf’s garden as well as the famous Le Jardin Plume near Rouen, France. “I fell in love with Le Jardin Plume and even bought the book,” de Vries says. “It’s a real source of inspiration for me.” He also sought advice from nursery owners on how to put plants together by their colour and texture.
His garden, named Jakobstuin, may as well have been painted, each flower a brushstroke. It changes with the seasons and offers delights throughout the year, not least of all in winter, when the faded greenery is blanketed in a delicate layer of frost.
Friesland has light, sandy soil like much of the Netherlands, and the area is coveted by gardeners like bed and breakfast owner, Jaap de Vries. After his retirement, de Vries decided to chase his dream and create his own garden in this fertile space. Completely self-taught, he took inspiration from Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf’s garden as well as the famous Le Jardin Plume near Rouen, France. “I fell in love with Le Jardin Plume and even bought the book,” de Vries says. “It’s a real source of inspiration for me.” He also sought advice from nursery owners on how to put plants together by their colour and texture.
His garden, named Jakobstuin, may as well have been painted, each flower a brushstroke. It changes with the seasons and offers delights throughout the year, not least of all in winter, when the faded greenery is blanketed in a delicate layer of frost.
De Vries, a master gardener who ‘paints’ with nature, has carefully thought through perspectives and sight lines on the plot, so that the panorama is perfect no matter where you are in the garden.
“I propagate, grow cuttings, divide and sow everything myself,” he says. “I develop the garden little by little. Everything grows year after year, up to the trees in the background. This is why it took some time to get this result.”
De Vries is meticulous, a perfectionist, and does not hesitate to shuffle plants or even entire thickets around to attain the desired effect.
“I propagate, grow cuttings, divide and sow everything myself,” he says. “I develop the garden little by little. Everything grows year after year, up to the trees in the background. This is why it took some time to get this result.”
De Vries is meticulous, a perfectionist, and does not hesitate to shuffle plants or even entire thickets around to attain the desired effect.
Winter
In the Dutch winter, light is pale, days are short, and mornings in the region are harsh and frosty.
Large trees surrounding the garden shelter it from the sometimes violent and freezing wind blowing in from the North Sea. Interspersed with the long stems of grass left over from autumn, they make for a very romantic atmosphere.
In the Dutch winter, light is pale, days are short, and mornings in the region are harsh and frosty.
Large trees surrounding the garden shelter it from the sometimes violent and freezing wind blowing in from the North Sea. Interspersed with the long stems of grass left over from autumn, they make for a very romantic atmosphere.
De Vries does not mow his grasses in autumn. This way, he can enjoy seeing them frosted over and casting their elegant silhouettes throughout winter. They serve as a reminder that spring will soon come back in force.
Cosy and warm at home, de Vries spends winters thinking about new garden compositions and where he can add more touches of colour or new textures.
Cosy and warm at home, de Vries spends winters thinking about new garden compositions and where he can add more touches of colour or new textures.
Light-dispersing, translucent hydrangea petals add a delicate texture, like crumpled paper.
When the wind blows, the grasses move together, animating the garden in vast golden waves.
The ‘painting’ this garden creates is ever-changing, depending on the season.
Spring
In very early spring, new greenery can first be spotted on the grassy path winding between the beds.
In very early spring, new greenery can first be spotted on the grassy path winding between the beds.
All the shades of green appear bit by bit, and the trees, flowers and meadow start to come alive.
“I select both classic and very rare plants,” de Vries says. “I spend a lot of time in specialised nurseries and I listen to these professionals’ advice. In the beginning, I started with classic plants I already knew about and I gradually refined my choices.”
“I select both classic and very rare plants,” de Vries says. “I spend a lot of time in specialised nurseries and I listen to these professionals’ advice. In the beginning, I started with classic plants I already knew about and I gradually refined my choices.”
The first flower to appear in the spring is tiny – it grows to only about 15 centimetres tall – an iris (‘Katharine Hodgkin’ reticulata). This flowers of this bulb are fragrant and have a very subtle colour. Their original habitat is in the Caucasus Mountains near Russia, where they can be found at an altitude of 1,000 to 2,000 metres. The flower goes dormant again over the summer.
This precious little iris is often accompanied by winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), which may resemble buttercups to the untrained eye.
Then come the common grape hyacinths (Muscari botryoides), small bulbs that grow in dense thickets.
Dog’s tooth violets (Erythronium ‘Pagoda’) stretch out their dainty corollas. These are tiny lilies that are right at home in this garden’s light soil.
Snake’s head fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris), grow in damp places, but they easily adapt to new soils and can cover large areas fairly quickly.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Holland without tulips. They can be found everywhere, and tulip season is the opening act to the cascade of flowers that continues into autumn.
Even in May, daytime temperatures can be cool in the far north. The garden sleeps, but with one eye open: deep down, the roots are still alive.
Summer
In summer the grassy path is soft underfoot, inviting guests to take a walk and enjoy the flowerbeds blooming as far as the eye can see. Tall orange sneezeweeds (Helenium spp.) dot the way.
In summer the grassy path is soft underfoot, inviting guests to take a walk and enjoy the flowerbeds blooming as far as the eye can see. Tall orange sneezeweeds (Helenium spp.) dot the way.
Benches scattered throughout the garden invite visitors to just stop a moment and listen, hidden by flowers or low shrubs.
The first thistles (Echinops sphaerocephalus) that appear are a metre tall, towering over the other flowers.
Ornamental onions (Allium aflatunense ‘Purple sensation’), like all plants of this genus, like light and well-drained soil, and spread naturally in sandy ground. Perched on their 70-centimetre stems, the softball-sized flowers play hide-and-seek with the sun. Like grasses, they bend and sway in the wind, adding movement to the meadow.
A few lupins spring up and add their dramatic energy.
Purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) grow everywhere in Holland. You can see them in nearly every garden.
Having a background of hardy plants and then playing around with annuals is a good way to vary the look of a garden from year to year, and to prevent the hardy species from completely taking over.
Tapering poplars are the only tall trees on the perimeter of the garden. Their height stands out, forming a tall green border around Jakobstuin.
Sneezeweeds (Helenium sp. and Monarda sp.) come together into vibrant swathes of colour.
Blazing stars (Liatris sp.) and spider flowers (Cleome sp.) extend the violet streak. The former are hardy perennials that return year after year, while cleomes are annuals.
Grasses capture light and diffuse it better than any other plant, which is perhaps why they are so beloved in northern countries and left unmowed in the winter.
Autumn
The grasses put on their show when summer comes to an end. In autumn, colours give way to textures.
The grasses put on their show when summer comes to an end. In autumn, colours give way to textures.
Mexican feathergrass (Nassella tenuissima) has a unique appearance that looks like swaying cotton. It is scattered throughout the garden.
Still, some colour that remains as the months become cooler, like in the gold of faded straw, which has a subtler beauty than a palette of flowers.
Grasses have to be carefully placed in a garden so they can become more than just tall blades and stalks. Here, de Vries’ verdant artwork comes together thanks to his trained eye and tireless work.
Tell us
What do you love about this garden? Tell us in the Comments, save the images for inspiration, share this story with fellow green thumbs and join the conversation.
More
Missed last week’s garden tour? Catch up here with this Danish Garden Tour: An Organic Home Garden Runs Riot
Tell us
What do you love about this garden? Tell us in the Comments, save the images for inspiration, share this story with fellow green thumbs and join the conversation.
More
Missed last week’s garden tour? Catch up here with this Danish Garden Tour: An Organic Home Garden Runs Riot
Who lives here: Maria and Jaap de Vries, owners of De Coulisse bed and breakfast
Location: Jistrum, Friesland, Netherlands
Size: 2.5 acres
Jakobstuin is an instantly enchanting garden. It is simultaneously a little classical, extremely romantic, a tad English, very Dutch and above all full of surprises. De Vries has created a garden unlike any other – it almost looks like it was painted by an artist who carefully selected his colours to bring out highlights and shadows, depending on the time of day.