“A GARDEN IS NEVER FINISHED, SO THERE IS NO USE STRIVING FOR PERFECTION”
‘Early Prolific’ bathe in a white swathe of Narcissus ‘Seagull’ and ‘Mrs Langtry’. The layout is structured, but the planting is loose and billowy. Carien’s solution to grass was simple and beautiful: a wide lawn stretches out along most of the garden, becoming a flower meadow in spring. Narcissus, Chionodoxa luciliae ‘Alba’, Muscari botryoides ‘Album’ and Scilla siberica are naturalised, flowering in shades of white and green.
The garden has become a test lab for Carien’s assignments, including a bulb garden for the Rijksmuseum, and a floral pattern of 90,000 bulbs around her local church. She is also a consultant for one of the Netherlands’ largest bulb suppliers, JUB Holland. “Most people see bulbs as an ‘extra’. But I treat them as a separate phase in any planting scheme. I love their transience and flexibility,” says Carien. In mid-April, the tulips kick in: “Perfect, because that is a time when perennials are still mostly leaves.” But it’s not just tulips, as Carien wants to avoid a colour-blocking effect. “Beautiful, but not for me. Cammasias are wonderful in a flower meadow, and for scent, I loveMuscari ‘Baby’s Breath’.” She is fairly laid back in her approach. “A garden is never finished, so there is no use striving for perfection. I’m not a fan of herbicides and there is no such thing as a weed. Up to a point, of course. Because you will see me hoovering the seedheads off dandelions.”