Skip to main content
book cover for My Garden

My Garden

A Year of Design and Experimentation

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date May 06 2025 | Archive Date May 06 2025

Talking about this book? Use #MyGarden #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

A month-by-month tour of the renowned naturalistic garden designer Jacqueline van der Kloet's home garden—a visual feast of perennials, trees, grasses, shrubs, and bulbs that have inspired a generation of gardeners and designers. 

From a pioneer of the New Perennial movement, My Garden showcases the practice and process behind Jaqueline van der Kloet's leading-edge, naturalistic planting experimentations, rooted in  her site of experimentation for the past forty years: her home garden. Jacqueline has established a design process emphasizing naturalized bulbs and other plants that intermingle in every month of the year, supporting biodiversity and embracing the natural tendencies of plants.   

With an elegance admired the world over, each corner of van der Kloet's garden reflects an important aspect of her creative process, sharing down-to-earth wisdom from her own little piece of paradise. Enter into this stunning, innovative garden and discover: 

   ·Visionary techniques and methods for tending and cultivating a natural garden, training one's focus to shift along with the seasons
   ·Lists of Jaqueline's favorite plants by color, with insight on inspiring and unexpected combinations
   ·Snapshots of specific spots in her garden, documenting the subtle shifts in each plant as it traverses the seasons' rhythms
   ·A glimpse into the conceptual frameworks for many of her international projects 
   ·Inspiration for your home garden, with ideas for maintaining interest throughout every season, even in the cold and snow
A month-by-month tour of the renowned naturalistic garden designer Jacqueline van der Kloet's home garden—a visual feast of perennials, trees, grasses, shrubs, and bulbs that have inspired a...

Advance Praise

"I have been fortunate to meet many people whose knowledge and actions are creating gardens that have transformed my way of understanding, people who question what and how we do something. It is the most forward-thinking visionaries who always seek to evolve their way of thinking and seeing. Jacqueline van der Kloet is one of these visionaries." —Roy Diblik, author of The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden

"I have been fortunate to meet many people whose knowledge and actions are creating gardens that have transformed my way of understanding, people who question what and how we do something. It is the...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781643264561
PRICE $40.00 (USD)
PAGES 324

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Reader (PDF)
NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)
Download (PDF)

Average rating from 9 members


Featured Reviews

What a delightful read! Spending the year with the author in her garden was educational and enjoyable. I especially liked the various A Year in My Garden pages, photos taken from the same spot in the garden for each month of the year.. Really a way to get perspective on the changes in the garden. And the favorite plant spotlight by color was way more helpful than random recommendations scattered about. I really enjoyed this book!

Was this review helpful?

What a great gardening book!!! So enjoyable and easy to read! I love the fact that it is divided by months with ideas for each of them! This book is a must in every gardener bookshelf!!!

Was this review helpful?

*My Garden* is a dreamy stroll through Jacqueline van der Kloet’s lush and naturalistic home garden—a living masterpiece that’s inspired gardeners worldwide. Month by month, Jacqueline shares how her creative process comes to life, from her famous "toss and plant" bulb technique to her love for blending perennials, grasses, and shrubs in stunning seasonal harmony. Packed with beautiful photos, favorite plant lists, and design tips, this book is perfect for anyone who loves the magic of gardens that feel both artful and wild. A must-read for garden lovers looking to spark their own seasonal inspiration!

Was this review helpful?

What I love most about the book is how the author incorporates stunning images of gardens, capturing their transformation throughout the months of the year. She seamlessly weaves her personal gardening experiences into this journey, starting with September, which I found particularly interesting. It’s hard for me to choose a favorite month, a favorite corner, or even a favorite flower because each moment and detail reveals a unique beauty.

Was this review helpful?

This book is written by an internationally well known garden designer who is especially known for her work with bulbs. In this book, she works through a year in the garden - and not only her own garden, but some of the projects she's worked on. It's jam packed with photos of lush gardens and plantings.

She describes a devastating loss in her own garden, from an invasive species, and the evolution of the garden from the plants she replaced them with. She provides great advice for planning for and ordering bulbs for the spring - one such recommendation is to order early. I've unhappily experienced the bulbs that I wanted being completely sold out. Even if you don't have much land available, the author suggests other options for planting beautiful bulbs for color and beauty by planting in the fall for spring blooms. I am partial to spring bulbs so I appreciated her discussions and photographs of some projects that she designed and completed. She also includes a discussion about plants that were mistakes - perhaps they became too invasive or they didn't achieve the desired effect.

This book also includes the author's favorite flowers and plants by color, tasks in the garden year round, a discussion of favored tools.

I think every gardener would enjoy this book, but my favorite parts of the book were the projects the author has worked on, particularly with bulb collections and the combination gardens with plants, based on colors, texture, and timing of the blooming periods.

Was this review helpful?

In this beautiful book, renowned garden designer and landscape architect welcomes us into both her home garden and behind the scenes of many of the public landscaping projects to which she has contributed. Divided up month-by-month, van der Kloet's latest work is filled with ideas and information that are sure to be inspiring for gardeners of all stripes.

As an avid bulb gardener, van der Kloet focuses heavily, though not exclusively, on bulb varieties and how they can be mixed and scattered to create naturalistic effects all year long. In addition to bulbs, the book contains many sections dedicated to recommended varieties of trees, ornamental grasses, wall climbers, and many other categories of plant. The focus of the book are van der Kloet's gardening to-dos for each month and the evolution of her garden as it journeys through the seasons; throughout time lapses of different areas of her garden over the course of the year show how her planting method creates dynamic landscapes regardless of season. There are many other helpful areas of the book, such as lists of recommended plants by color as well as other notable features and a breakdown of key gardening tools. I especially appreciate the areas where van der Kloet speaks to her gardening regrets and plants she once used but now avoids and the reasons why the were not ideal for her projects. In addition to discussing her own garden, van der Kloet also shares anecdotes, planning diagrams, and photos of several public garden projects to which she has contributed.

As an only very occasional gardener, I appreciate that van der Kloet includes a wide range of methods for using plants even for those with limited traditional gardening space; she includes sections on container planting bulbs and creating "islands" of bulbs within a lawn that can be mowed over once they are out of season. While this is a book of documentation, reflection, and inspiration rather than a step-by-step guide, I think there is enough of a wealth and variety of information that gardeners of all kinds can find something useful in these pages.

3.5 stars

Was this review helpful?

As someone who has been reading lately due to my starting a garden, many gardening and landscape design books, "My Garden" stood out through the captivating layout, and the text blurbs that kept me engaged. Jacqueline van der Kloet writes with an eye for beauty and a heart for experimentation. This book doesn't showcase her work. It invites you into the process. The layout is gorgeous, and the photography is vibrant yet calming. Every page feels like a seasonal mood board. I can imagine this becoming a modern classic for gardeners and designers alike. Thank you for publishing a book that blends aesthetics with authenticity so seamlessly.

5/5 Stars!

Thank you, Timber Press and NetGalley, for allowing me to read this ARC!

Was this review helpful?

This is one of those books that you would love having on paper just to pass the pages and enjoy the pictures of the flowers and leaf plants throughout the year and the gorgeous two page garden pictures. It is also one of those books you can use as a reference just to get ideas of what to plant to have a garden that is interesting either in a specific month or year round, because Jacqueline van der Kloet has a pretty good collection of plants in her garden that many small botanical gardens would envy. I also hope that the missing index in the reviewing copy has a comprehensive list of species and varieties mentioned in the book, because that would be perfect if you’re planning on purchasing it as a reference book.

Other than that, it was a good contrast seeing Van der Kloet personal garden contrasting with her job, since the styles, though similar, are quite different. For me, her garden is a bit lacking on open spaces, at least the parts she shares, were you can rest your sight, while the big projects tend to be more natural and open, with those spectacular mixes of bulbous flowers.

Loved it”

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: