Growing Bulbs in the Natural Garden

Growing Bulbs in the Natural Garden is a gardening theory and planning guide by Jacqueline van der Kloet. Due out 7th May 2024 from Hachette on their Timber Press imprint, it's 240 pages and will be available in hardcover format. Originally published in Dutch in 2022, this English language edition is updated and well translated and formatted.

The author is an experienced designer and well known gardening authority, and the book is full of dreamy pictures of flowering bulbs and perennials in gorgeous stately garden settings. All the (many!) photos are well labeled with species and varietal names; readers will want to keep a notebook at hand when leafing through the guide in order to jot down ideas, and they are legion. The information is well arranged, from the basics "what is a bulb, how to source and use them" through to very specific planning, design, and culture considerations. The author has also included a list of her favorite varieties to help inspire readers to adopt some of them in their own gardens.

Many of the designs will be outside of *most* private home gardeners, they're mostly pictures to inspire, rather than to copy/recreate. That being said, the author is very generous with information and often inspired in combining unusual colors and forms together.

The style throughout is conversational, she talks at length about her own gardening journey and the places she's designed and developed as well as her own gardens (extensively).

Four stars. This would be a good selection for public or school library, gardening groups, community gardens/allotments, and home use.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This lengthy book is packed with tons of information and beautiful pictures!
We just recently bought property and I am working on the landscape... this has been extremely informative with maps on where to plant and descriptions of all different types of bulbs. I love how she categorizes bulbs by color..

I even enjoyed the history on bulbs and the origin and belief on Lillies...

I mean what more could you be looking for in a book like this?!
Thank you Timber Press. & NetGalley for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

This is a great book for both eye candy and great information on caring and planting bulbs.. I love the ideas of the sweeps of color that mass planting can provide. Not just strips of color, seem in city council plantings, but a melting pot of designs. The author will show how to get the best results and how to work with color.
I love bulbs Early in my life,I was lucky enough to live in a very cold climate and bulbs where the first go to, after a bare and dull winter garden.Tulips, daffodils, Scilla and crocus grew beautifully. Now I live with hot,dry summer and cold dry winter sort of spot, where cacti thrive and as do some pretty hardy dahlias and Agapanthus. Thanks you NetGalley and the publishers for the DR

Written by an internationally known designer, this book gives all the basics for growing bulbs (and other associated storage forms such as corms, rhizomes and tubers). But, the unique feature of this book is the advice given for growing these flowers along with other plants, particularly perennials. I've grown bulbs for years, but was never really happy with just growing them in a group or a row. This book has lots of inspiring photos to show how to integrate them within other plantings.
The book is easy to read and has great advice for timing the planting and desirable combinations. There is a section that discusses the various colours and how to best combine them. Another section suggests the best bulbs for beginners as well as those for enthusiasts. And, there are sections for various other types of plantings (containers, balconies, green roofs). The last section has profiles of the author's favourite bulbs, divided by season.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who grows bulbs (or wants to). Gardeners of all levels of expertise would benefit from her experience and easy explanations. I am grateful to Timber Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to do an advance review of this book. Having done so, I hope to purchase a copy for myself!

If you are interested in bulbs and gardening, this is a great book that includes a ton of information and many beautiful pictures. There is a lot to learn from this book! The information is presented in logical chapters that help to easily find what you are looking for. This is a good book for beginners and advanced gardeners.

This book is a must for bulb growers. "Growing Bulbs in a Natural Garden" is a great aid for all gardeners growing blubs. From novice to expert this book covers bulbs from every angle. You get the history of bulbs, types of bulbs, bulbs by colors, growing conditions, growing locations, and even how to cut the flowers grown from bulbs.


The photos are beautiful and well labeled and the sections/layout of the book lend themselves to easy reference and focus depending on your needs. As an overall new gardener and a gardener who is looking for beautiful flowers throughout the year I appreciated the ideas of where and how to plant. I also appreciated the in-depth explanation of growing times, conditions, and special considerations on how, when, and where to plant. For the first time I see the possibilities of flowers not only growing in a standard flower garden of rows or clusters, I see how these flowers can grow freely in my grass, as wall borders and in containers.

Great introduction to bulbs! It is broken down by season and color which makes it easy to find what works for your garden. I enjoyed the parts of color combining and planting layout. It also includes “how to” care for a large variety.

I am a garden bulb lover. I plant for succession of blooms, but I haven't really thought about mixing bulbs with other types of flowers, or even about color palettes.

This book provides basics information for the beginner as well as fresh points of view for the bulb enthusiast. It also is a wonderful tool that aids a home gardener, or someone with a lot of garden space to plan, with ideas for mixing plants that will bloom at the same time, succession of plants, and planting guides.

I work with a small group of volunteers that is planning to plant many spring bulbs in a month and this book provided me great ideas. The photographs are stunning.

A surprising fact from the author is that few newly graduated landscape architects really know much about bulbs, when bulb flowers make such an incredible impact in home gardens. One thing you realize: bulb gardeners must be patient people, but their patience is rewarded spectacularly. The author, Jacqueline van Der Kloet, is internationally acclaimed (a Keukenhof landscape designer), and she lends her expertise to us mere home gardeners who hold her in esteem. We are lucky t have her 2022 book, Bollenwijzer, finally translated from Dutch.

This book is an absolute treasure. Most gardeners recognize that you just can’t have a bulb garden — you need a full landscape of other flowers to coordinate with bulbs as they appear, bloom, and die back. There are spectacular photos of bulbs that are integrated into perennial gardens (not just pictures of tulips or daffodils on their own), plans for color coordinated gardens, seasonal bulbs (it’s just not all about spring color), lists of unusual bulbs (even a rating system for beginners and more advanced bulb plantings), and innovative ideas for planting bulbs everywhere. There is so much more as well (including amazing places to visit).

Again, the photos are amazing and inspirational — this is a book worth buying in spring (after covering all the neighbors’s blooms and then planning for next year) or in autumn when it’s time to actually plant bulbs. It’ll be a great book to leave around for non-gardeners to read, but it has so much valuable reference material and planning schemes. 5 stars!

Thank you to Timber Press and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and author for the advanced reader's copy.

Beautiful photographs, instruction and easy to follow.
Highly recommend for a follow along and tabletop book.

Very informative! I learned so much about bulb planting, bulb spacing, and what types of bulbs to choose for my garden!

I found this book to be packed with information, but easy to read and understand. As a novice gardener, I would recommend it to anyone who is familiar with bulbs, or who wants to become familiar with bulbs.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)

Interesting read, covered a wide variety of different flowers and scenarios in which to grow them.

This book is beautifully written and photographed. The explanation and ideas of how to plant bulbs is great and easy to understand. I’ve gardened and planted bulbs for years but this gave me some insight into what bulbs like and fantastic ideas on how to layer bulbs for beautiful colors much longer not just in my gardens but also in my yard and planters. At the end of the book there are beautiful pictures of flowering bulbs and information about each.
I know once it warms up here in upstate NY, I’ll be pulling this book out again to help plan this years bulb planting.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

A remarkable book that is a guide to planting and integrating bulbs with perennial plants and grasses. The author does such an excellent job that you would think that it just happened all on its own. The designs and colors are done exceptionally well. Included in this book is a brief history of bulbs, defining characteristics, garden plans, and planting tips. It’s a great book for beginners as well as those advanced growing bulbs. I knew that this was a book of great interest to me as I remembered my dad planting tulip bulbs and other bulbs making a spectacular flower garden. My dad didn’t teach me about growing or planning bulbs into a colorful flower garden. This fall, I hope to try my hand at plant bulbs and seeing them in spring, summer, and fall.