Dream Plants for the Natural Garden

Well-written, beautiful photographs. It is gift quality.A perfect book!

Dream Plants: Over 1200 beautiful and reliable plants for a natural garden is a beautiful well designed book intended to list plants that World Famous Garden Designers Piet Oudolf and Henk Gerritsen have found to be reliable in their gardens.The brief introduction and preface set the stage for a potpourri of plants from “tough perennials” to “playful” to Troublesome.” There comes a list of 1200 plants that these two world famous garden designers have selected as useful, reliable, sturdy, and mostly low maintenance in the many gardens they have designed. The few words are a good read. The 250 plus pictures of flowers are marvelously beautiful and details. The descriptions give zone, sun/shade preference, height and width, comments and some useful growing hints. The index appears complete. With the organization of this book, you can start with your problem area find plants to fit in most cases. They do not cover wetlands, or trees or large shrubs.Recognizing that this book is intended for world wide audiences, the selections are at times a little strange, but their choices are well explained. Many of the plants are simple basic common. Many of the plants are unusual. In many cases the exact cultivar the authors used is listed with alternatives. Many of the plants we can only dream of as they are not in our zone or range. But the selections for even Zone 3 are plentiful and well done.Is this the end all book on plant selection? No! However, this is a very useful, beautiful reference book with which to research plants you find in you local nurseries and stores and with to dream of gardens far away.. A local guide is still very necessary, whether a guide book, or a local plant expert.A good book to have in any gardener's library.

Heavy on beautiful full color illustrations, information and ideas. Wish I had a larger property with so I can use all the ideas this book has. Now it's hard for me to pick and choose which to include in next year plantings. But the good thing is, once I do, they are there for years to come rather than resorting to annuals to "fill in" what's there already. Even if you don't garden, it is a lovely book to peruse.

Not a bad book by any means, but it's basically the same as another book by the same authors, Planting the Natural Garden. I like Planting the Natural Garden much better. It is more updated with newer varieties and omits plants that did not perform well. It also includes some full landscape pictures with suggestions for planting combinations, and offers helpful lists (ie plant varieties per square meter) if you are planning a matrix garden.Dream Plants is organized much in the same way (a catalogue) but is less comprehensive. Dream Plants does include a section about bulbs which Planting the Natural Garden does not, but I did not find it especially informative. Overall, Dream Plants a fine catalogue of plants with interesting pictures, but I recommend Planting the Natural Garden if you are looking for a deeper dive.

I've been interested in the "naturalistic" style of gardening ever since a visit to the Highline in New York City five years ago. It seemed to be a great solution for my weedy, barren back yard. I've read, studied, pondered, dug, planted, weeded, experimented ... learned a lot, had a few successes, wasted some $$ ... and I wish I'd had this book several years ago. Of all the books I've read, this one provides the most thorough and practical advice on plant selection and placement. I'm making much more focused and confident plant purchases now!

This is a beautiful and very well-organized, informative, and helpful tool for the home gardener and gardeners of public places, such as office gardens and public parks, who want to use lovely and reliable plants that are hardy, will not invade their neighbors, will not seed themselves so they become troublesome, and demand little attention. Piet Oudolf, a British horticulturalist and landscape architect, describes 1,200 plant species in three parts: Part 1 Tough perennials, grasses, ferns, bulbs,and ferns; Part 2 Playful self-seeding perennials, biennials and tender perennials, and annuals; and Part 3 Troublesome invasive, capricious, and demanding plants who fail the test. Detailed descriptions and information include growing conditions needed, and species that are most reliable.

I love this book. The pictures are beautiful and in color. There is a variety of plants and plant combinations with clear identification of each. I like the overall theme of planting with grasses and low maintenance with such a beautiful outcome. I love that the designs are planned out to have a year round appeal and even though some of the plants may not be available in the US, enough information has been given so that you can find a substitute. So much can be done if you learn the basics and this book does that.

Just what I wanted!!!