My Garden

A month-by-month tour of the renowned naturalistic garden designer Jacqueline van der Kloet’s home garden, the longtime test site which has inspired her many iconic garden designs—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, Diary of a Plantswoman showcases the practice and process behind Jaqueline van der Kloet’s leading-edge, naturalistic planting experimentations, rooted in her home garden, her site of experimentation for the past forty years. In this garden, deeply integrated with the seasons, 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. Gardeners around the world now use a naturalistic bulb planting technique which Jacqueline developed, where bulbs are mixed, then gently tossed by the handful and planted where they fall, to mimic nature’s own design. 

With a casual, eclectic elegance admired the world over, each corner of van der Kloet’s garden reflects an important aspect of her creative process. Home gardeners, designers, and plant lovers will delight in an inside look of a naturalistic master at work, proof that personality, passion, and dedication are what makes every garden special, and existing in harmony with its gardener. Jacqueline writes with expertise and enthusiasm about her life as a garden and landscape designer, sharing down-to-earth wisdom from her own little piece of paradise. As Roy Diblik says in his foreword: “Jacqueline van der Kloet is a generous designer, and a true collaborator. 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.”

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, from standout favorites to lesser known perennials, shrubs, grasses, and bulbs, with insight on inspiring and unexpected combinations
• Snapshots of specific spots in her garden from the same angle as it develops through the year, 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