Too bad the book is cut on its spine , you can see it on the photo
Always like to read books to learn gardening techniques. This one was very helpful
This is an incredibly useful and inspiring resource. It's probably my favorite landscaping book that I own. It provides a comprehensive catalogue of great plant varieties, many of which are good in my zone (6, previously 5). It is full of experience based honest information about plant performance and tendencies, noting varieties that take over or self sow, require extra care/staking, fail in harsh winters, extent of bloom periods, etc. There is a great little collection of lists towards the end of the book also that is handy (plants w autumn colors, structural plants, pollinator attracting, etc) which can help if you have specific goals in mind with your landscape. There are some very nice collections of mature landscape photos and plant combination recommendations which sound lovely.I'm a landscape designer and I appreciate books that delve deeper than your typical plant picture book, but I also don't think this would be too much information for your average home gardener. To me, it feels very accessible regardless of skill level. You can flip through it to just look at pictures, but there is a lot if great information if you choose to jump in.I also bought their book Dream Plants and found it to be basically the same as this book, but outdated and much less comprehensive or informative. Planting the Natural Garden is a deeper dive and I recommend it over Dream Plants. Piet Oudolf, Henk Gerritsen, and Noel Kingsbury are probably the biggest names in this trending landscape style. If you are interested in this planting style, I can't recommend this book enough.
I sent this book to my sister for her birthday and she was thrilled!
Valuable information.
This book is great if you want to get ideas from what plants Piet Oudolf uses in his gardens and gives you combinations you can try.I didn't give it 5 stars because it does not list soil/moisture requirements for the plants.
This is an interesting book with beautiful photos, but it has limitations that prevent me for recommending it for everyone. Part of the problem is that the English name of the book is misleading. It's not really about how to plant or plan a natural garden. It's really descriptions of garden plants, with photos. Originally written in Dutch, the Dutch name 'Droomplanten' or Dream Plants is a much better name to describe what's inside. The first two thirds of the book is a plant encyclopedia, organized by botanical name. The last third is a series of plant lists (with great photos) organized by site conditions and/or desired 'garden looks' (tranquil, exuberant, etc.). I am a fairly experienced gardener, and I loved looking at how Piet Oudolf combined plants to generate the lovely vistas he designed. But I think an inexperienced gardener would just be confused. People looking for advice on how to plant a natural garden would be disappointed.
this book is excellent. if you like to garden and want more detailed information on how plants enhance each other throughout all the seasons this is one of piet oudolfs best books
Beautiful! Simple, direct and awesome! I will use ideas exposed in the book to my projects in Chile. Highly recommended!
Beautiful buck, inspiring ideas
Book is very easy to understand, has planting plans and such complete information about the plants. Highly recommend.
Beautiful book with great info, I can't wait to get outside this spring and start!
I was worried this would be a giant list of plants. Plants that I probably could buy if I wanted to, either because the local nursery wouldn't carry them, or that it would cost so much money to buy enough of the fancy plants. That would be a useless tease of a book!It did have a lengthly list of plants. I have no idea yet if I can even buy many of these. We will get to the planning and planting next season, we want to be thoughtful about it.What I did like about the plant list is that it had lots of pictures. Maybe not every single plant and variety, but enough to be happy. It is super frustrating when there are lists of plants with no descriptions. This did a good job here. What I also liked about the plant list, is that it listed sun and height and description and other qualities. This started getting me thinking about why you would select a certain plant, rather than just picking ones you liked.There are also a modest but important amount of text about how to plan the garden, and ways to think about your strategy. For example, think about what the plants will look like in different seasons. It has some interesting descriptions and pictures of gardens that look fantastic in the fall and winter seasons.Perhaps I am new to garden planning, but I found the book approachable and inspiring. It got me thinking about new ways to garden. My only gripe, it is not exhaustive -- I want more! :) I do wonder if I am up to the challenge of actually implementing such a feat.The book is well done in my opinion. The text, the pictures, the print quality. I like the diminutive yet sufficient size of the book. It's not a giant coffee table monstrosity.
This book is not only a re-hash of an earlier book with nothing new except an introduction, but provides very little for those interested in how Oudolph designs and creates.First of all the book is TINY. Forget large beautiful garden photographs, this is a little book.But more problematic, there is little to nothing about HOW Oudolph does garden design, what is his process, and how one could draw lessons into one's own garden.There are lists of plants arranged by the feel they might create when planted en masse. But as others have pointed out, there is little for the American gardener - not even the most basic information like the USDA hardiness zone. This is the bare minimum information that one needs.All in all this was a profoundly disappointing book. If it had at least been coffee-table worthy I would have kept it. As it isn't, I am sending it back (and I have never returned an Amazon book before).
I have to admit, I was expecting a larger format book. In any case, I was not expecting that the pictures would be dull and such poor quality.The title of this book is misleading. I was expecting a book with more planning ideas. The first section of this book is a lot like my beloved Better Homes and Gardens Gardening book listing plant after plant, except there is less detail about the origins of the plant.The second section on Uses looks promising, but it does include many non-native species...not a surprise given the author is Piet Oudolf, but it is published in Oregon and the title is Planting the NATURAL garden.The last section is Planning...are just 5 pages of plans.The biggest disappointment wiht this book are the poor quality and small format pictures. It is a shame to waste paper like that.
I want a wildflower meadow instead of grass since water is highly prized here in New Mexico.This book helps me figure out what I need to do to accomplish my dream.
A gift. Arrived on time and great shape
A terrific book with excellent plant suggestions, I highly recommend. But digital buyers beware, the Kindle edition tends to truncate captions or omit pages with minimal text, such as cutting off sentences in midphrase at the end of a page here and there. Its not a deal breaker but it is annoying. Often what is cut is a species name or other important detail. This may be happening inadvertently during digital conversion, but sloppy work is not acceptable. Otherwise it's terrific.
An amazing book, full of wonderful illustrations and perfect for any keen gardener like me.I loved this book, it was informative and entertaining and a pleasure for the eyes.Highly recommended!Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
For me, this is the most accessible of the Oudolf books. The most readable. Beautiful pictures, nice plant lists, the usual fun of googling cultivars I'll never find in the US. The compact size of this book makes it much more usable as a reference.
