Book title: Planting the Natural Garden
Author(s): Piet Oudolf & Henk Gerritsen (edited by Noel Kingsbury)
Photographer(s) / Illustrator: Piet, Henk, and Anton Schlepers
Type of book: garden planning, plant selection
Publisher: Timber Press (Portland, Oregon)
Year: 2019
Length: 287 pages
quick thoughts
A perfect companion piece to “Planting: A New Perspective” and a great reference book to keep on your shelf, especially if you’re diving into the world of naturalistic planting.
gardening content
amount of information: Whereas “Planting: A New Perspective” is more about the history and the philosophy of naturalistic planting and garden design, “Planting the Natural Garden” has more practical information. A giant section of plant descriptions – it takes up most of the book – followed by the section entitled “Uses” which groups plants by various conditions, such as Blazing (hard, dry, sunny conditions) or Tranquility (the calming atmosphere some plants exude).
quality of info: The number of plants covered (along with sun requirements, height, and bloom time) is so comprehensive, it could border on overwhelming for some beginners. But in tandem with the groupings, garden plans, and ideas for companion planting, it’s a great resource that I often reference over the course of a growing season and from season to season.
citations: Piet and Henk have decades of hands-on knowledge, plant growing, and education between them. They don’t need to cite sources.
book presentation
cover: Gorgeous cover photo. Simple clean typeface, so it doesn’t compete with the photo.
The end paper (inside cover) takes that small decoration of a garden plan from a previous book and expands it to the full page.
layout – sections, chapters: I’m impressed how many photos they were able to include in the plant descriptions section. Most gardening books only include one to three, but this offers photos of almost every plant they list.
The Uses section was an unusual addition I haven’t seen before. How they group plants together is unique, and I love the addition of WHY they’ve grouped them together. It’s not just about memorizing a list of plants, but learning how they come together and balance each other, and how you can do the same to create your own groupings.
photos, infographics: As with all of Piet’s books, the photos are GORGEOUS. Both individual species and planted gardens give you an in-depth idea of what they will look like, no matter what season. Most gardening books only focus on the apex of the bloom time, but Piet and Henk (and Noel) think about every season, and include photos of gardens at rest in the winter.
appendix / index / sources: A nice, healthy index. You love to see it.
There is also a list of nurseries across Canada, the US, and the UK. A literature list of books that dive deep into certain types of plant (e.g. perennials, or hosta).
There’s also a list of plants (listed by genera) and how many you can plant by square meter. A nice touch for those who just can’t figure out how many plants to plant in an area so that it doesn’t look sparse or isn’t overcrowded.
You can see me walk through the book on my YouTube channel!
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