This is one of those books that makes you learn a lot and wish you could start using your knowledge at once.
Well written, full of information, easy to follow.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Whether you are an avid gardener, interested in various garden bulbs, or simply appreciate the beauty of flower gardens, this book will please. It’s educational: I was amazed at the vast variety of allium bulbs’ colors, shapes, and sizes. It sparks creativity: The imaginative combinations of color and varieties can help you in designing garden spaces you love. I was especially drawn to pages showing swaths of assorted blooms in one color family. It’s beautiful: Just browsing through the gorgeously photographed garden spaces is a pleasurable pastime. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a temporary digital advance reader’s copy of Growing Bulbs in the Natural Garden.

If you would like to add more bulbs to your garden this would be a good guide to help you do so in a way that is pleasing to the eye.

I have been a green-thumb on & off and I enjoyed reading this book as it gave me ideas for what i can do with my garden, and pots as I now have a garden space to be creative with.
The author is a garden designer and an authority on the subject - She works in the lovely Netherlands, which seems to be a fertile land for growing bulbs.

The book made me realize that I cannot just go helter-skelter planting but that I need to actually plan for the garden if I want to have a garden that is perennial.
I loved reading about the project she has worked on, and the thoughts that went into creating those gardens. The thinking process was helpful as she looks at the whole space, sun and shade, seasons of that place and then plans - I want to be thoughtful too when planting.
She shared about bulbs by season and sun/shade needs and that is helpful.
Also, the photos are pretty! and it made me realise that i can plan a pretty flower garden too with a little planning and planting and regular maintenance.
This book is more for ideas and not so much a to-do manual.
This book does need you to be familiar with gardening, but if you are willing to look up the plant names and find the local names in your area, i think you can totally use this book.

Before reading this book, I considered myself pretty knowledgeable about bulbs. They are my favorite flowers to plant, and I read about them often, but I actually learned quite a few new things from this book and, I am ashamed to admit, even learned of new bulbs I did not know existed! van der Kloet really knows her stuff, and I enjoyed learning more from her.

The pictures are absolutely gorgeous, and while most designs cannot be done in my backyard, I can figure out ways to do them on a smaller scale.

Thank you, NetGalley and Timber Press for the ARC!

For someone like me, who loves flowers from bulbs, this was the perfect book! It will appeal to all who love beauty that can be grown! The author explained why my crown imperial never grew: it has a hole in its bulb and has to be placed on its side to prevent rainwater from pooling and causing it to rot! Who knew? She repeated what gardeners love about bulbs, that they can be planted once and then you can benefit yearly. I learned many things, such as meadow saffron have the big flowers in multiple colors. When planting bulbs in a container in layers, plant the earliest bloomers at the top and the latter ones at the bottom. The book, with its illustrations and descriptions of bulbs, let me know that I would love to add these to my garden: Allium Nigrum (white) to grow in partial shade, Allium Violet Beauty, Glory of the Snow, Ice Stick Tulip and Colchicum Waterlily (in the fall),
This is an advanced reader copy, and the thoughts expressed are my own. It was a joy to read and see the glorious pictures!

Thank you to the author, Timber Press and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The author is an acclaimed garden designer and well-known gardening authority in the Netherlands, and she makes a powerful case for planting more bulbs. Using both colors and times of year, she gives a multitude of examples to show how bulbs can transform a garden. As to be expected, this book has gorgeous photos - but as a beginner, I was a bit stymied by the extensive lists of names and descriptions, with the accompanying photos often being a swath of various flowers with no way to decipher which is which. The ideas for bulbs in smaller spaces such as on a balcony or in a container were helpful, but I had expected a bit more practical how-to and less memoir about her signature projects.

A remarkable book that is a guide to planting and integrating bulbs with perennial plants and grasses. The author does such an excellent job that you would think that it just happened all on its own. The designs and colors are done exceptionally well. Included in this book is a brief history of bulbs, defining characteristics, garden plans, and planting tips. It’s a great book for beginners as well as those advanced growing bulbs. I knew that this was a book of great interest to me as I remembered my dad planting tulip bulbs and other bulbs making a spectacular flower garden. My dad didn’t teach me about growing or planning bulbs into a colorful flower garden. This fall, I hope to try my hand at plant bulbs and seeing them in spring, summer, and fall.

This book is beautifully written and photographed. The explanation and ideas of how to plant bulbs is great and easy to understand. I’ve gardened and planted bulbs for years but this gave me some insight into what bulbs like and fantastic ideas on how to layer bulbs for beautiful colors much longer not just in my gardens but also in my yard and planters. At the end of the book there are beautiful pictures of flowering bulbs and information about each.
I know once it warms up here in upstate NY, I’ll be pulling this book out again to help plan this years bulb planting.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

This book seems to be a good read for those who are already familiar with the work of this particular landscape designer. I was expecting that this would read more as an informational how-to, but instead it was more of a memoir-esque diary of projects she's worked on and plants she's worked with. Perhaps if the title hinted this it would set expectations a bit better.

This is a great book for both eye candy and great information on caring and planting bulbs.. I love the ideas of the sweeps of color that mass planting can provide. Not just strips of color, seem in city council plantings, but a melting pot of designs. The author will show how to get the best results and how to work with color.
I love bulbs Early in my life,I was lucky enough to live in a very cold climate and bulbs where the first go to, after a bare and dull winter garden.Tulips, daffodils, Scilla and crocus grew beautifully. Now I live with hot,dry summer and cold dry winter sort of spot, where cacti thrive and as do some pretty hardy dahlias and Agapanthus. Thanks you NetGalley and the publishers for the DR

Written by an internationally known designer, this book gives all the basics for growing bulbs (and other associated storage forms such as corms, rhizomes and tubers). But, the unique feature of this book is the advice given for growing these flowers along with other plants, particularly perennials. I've grown bulbs for years, but was never really happy with just growing them in a group or a row. This book has lots of inspiring photos to show how to integrate them within other plantings.
The book is easy to read and has great advice for timing the planting and desirable combinations. There is a section that discusses the various colours and how to best combine them. Another section suggests the best bulbs for beginners as well as those for enthusiasts. And, there are sections for various other types of plantings (containers, balconies, green roofs). The last section has profiles of the author's favourite bulbs, divided by season.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who grows bulbs (or wants to). Gardeners of all levels of expertise would benefit from her experience and easy explanations. I am grateful to Timber Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to do an advance review of this book. Having done so, I hope to purchase a copy for myself!

If you are interested in bulbs and gardening, this is a great book that includes a ton of information and many beautiful pictures. There is a lot to learn from this book! The information is presented in logical chapters that help to easily find what you are looking for. This is a good book for beginners and advanced gardeners.

This book is a must for bulb growers. "Growing Bulbs in a Natural Garden" is a great aid for all gardeners growing blubs. From novice to expert this book covers bulbs from every angle. You get the history of bulbs, types of bulbs, bulbs by colors, growing conditions, growing locations, and even how to cut the flowers grown from bulbs.


The photos are beautiful and well labeled and the sections/layout of the book lend themselves to easy reference and focus depending on your needs. As an overall new gardener and a gardener who is looking for beautiful flowers throughout the year I appreciated the ideas of where and how to plant. I also appreciated the in-depth explanation of growing times, conditions, and special considerations on how, when, and where to plant. For the first time I see the possibilities of flowers not only growing in a standard flower garden of rows or clusters, I see how these flowers can grow freely in my grass, as wall borders and in containers.

Great introduction to bulbs! It is broken down by season and color which makes it easy to find what works for your garden. I enjoyed the parts of color combining and planting layout. It also includes “how to” care for a large variety.

This is a lovely book for the new bulb gardener or one who wants to go in new directions. It covers basics of bulb gardening, types of bulbs for various seasons and uses, how far to plant, etc. There are lots of photos but they tend to be stock photos of swaths of bulbs. I really kept wishing for pictures of each flower as it was recommended instead of just lists and descriptions without reference photos. I also was surprised garden zones weren’t listed with the plants, as not all will grow in all zones of the United States and this was published by a u.s. publisher. Still a great read for all garden lovers and a good primer for novices especially.

I read a temporary digital copy of this book for review.

This lengthy book is packed with tons of information and beautiful pictures!
We just recently bought property and I am working on the landscape... this has been extremely informative with maps on where to plant and descriptions of all different types of bulbs. I love how she categorizes bulbs by color..

I even enjoyed the history on bulbs and the origin and belief on Lillies...

I mean what more could you be looking for in a book like this?!
Thank you Timber Press. & NetGalley for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

I am a garden bulb lover. I plant for succession of blooms, but I haven't really thought about mixing bulbs with other types of flowers, or even about color palettes.

This book provides basics information for the beginner as well as fresh points of view for the bulb enthusiast. It also is a wonderful tool that aids a home gardener, or someone with a lot of garden space to plan, with ideas for mixing plants that will bloom at the same time, succession of plants, and planting guides.

I work with a small group of volunteers that is planning to plant many spring bulbs in a month and this book provided me great ideas. The photographs are stunning.

A surprising fact from the author is that few newly graduated landscape architects really know much about bulbs, when bulb flowers make such an incredible impact in home gardens. One thing you realize: bulb gardeners must be patient people, but their patience is rewarded spectacularly. The author, Jacqueline van Der Kloet, is internationally acclaimed (a Keukenhof landscape designer), and she lends her expertise to us mere home gardeners who hold her in esteem. We are lucky t have her 2022 book, Bollenwijzer, finally translated from Dutch.

This book is an absolute treasure. Most gardeners recognize that you just can’t have a bulb garden — you need a full landscape of other flowers to coordinate with bulbs as they appear, bloom, and die back. There are spectacular photos of bulbs that are integrated into perennial gardens (not just pictures of tulips or daffodils on their own), plans for color coordinated gardens, seasonal bulbs (it’s just not all about spring color), lists of unusual bulbs (even a rating system for beginners and more advanced bulb plantings), and innovative ideas for planting bulbs everywhere. There is so much more as well (including amazing places to visit).

Again, the photos are amazing and inspirational — this is a book worth buying in spring (after covering all the neighbors’s blooms and then planning for next year) or in autumn when it’s time to actually plant bulbs. It’ll be a great book to leave around for non-gardeners to read, but it has so much valuable reference material and planning schemes. 5 stars!

Thank you to Timber Press and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and author for the advanced reader's copy.

Beautiful photographs, instruction and easy to follow.
Highly recommend for a follow along and tabletop book.