PLACES TO VISIT
Recommended places to see seasonal plants at their best both in Europe and the UK
Grasses come to the fore in late summer and autumn and one of our favourite gardens to see them at their best is Jakobstuin, in the northern Netherlands. It’s a good example of the new perennial planting inspired by the likes of Piet Oudolf and Cassian Schmidt and the prairie style championed by Jan Spruyt where grasses play an even more prominent role, along with plenty of echinaceas, sanguisorbas and agastaches. The garden is part of a larger property, de Coulisse, which offers bed and breakfast accommodation. Tillewei 21, 9258 GP, Eestrum, Friesland, the Netherlands. Tel +31 (0)512 843667, decoulisse.nl
Around 40 miles south of Rotterdam, on the outskirts of the old city of Dordrecht, is Villa Augustus a hotel and restaurant located in an old water tower overlooking the Wantij. Set in what was originally the water basin for the tower is a garden of more than 1.5 hectares that includes, a vegetable garden, an orchard, an Italian garden and a small grove. The vegetable garden where the vegetables are combined with roses, flowers, berries and fruit trees, always looks spectacular in late summer and early autumn. You don’t have to stay in the hotel to explore the garden, but you might want to try the restaurant. Oranjelaan 7, 3311 DH Dordrecht, the Netherlands. Tel +31 (0)78 639 3111, villa-augustus.nl
We have known Roger and Linda Bastin for a
long time. They’re passionate growers with an overriding concern for nature. Their organic nursery Bastin, in the southern Dutch province of Limburg, specialises in Mediterranean plants, including salvias, lavenders, rosemary and thyme, making a visit to the nursery an olfactory, as well as a visual delight. The nursery, which also includes a vegetable garden, chickens, bees and sheep, is worth a visit at any time but its Salvia and Prairie Plant days, which this year take place on 25-26 August, are especially worth a visit. Nieuwenhuys st ra at 29 6336 XV Aalbeek, Limburg, the Netherlands. Tel +31 (0)45 5231475, bastin.nl
Early autumn is a great time to visit the High Line park in New York. Located on a 2.3km-long former train track built in the 1930s, it stands out for its planting schemes designed by the Dutch designer Piet Oudolf. You can join the park at several points between West 34th Street and Ganesvoort Street, several of which can be accessed via lifts. High Line Start Point, 5861 High Line, New York, NY 10001, USA 91 Gansevoort St, New York, NY 10014, USA. Tel +1 212 500 6035, thehighline.org
The almost desolate garden created by the late film director Derek Jarman on the shingle of his home at Prospect Cottage, is one that many people visit in early summer garden, but I think this garden, near Dungeness nuclear power station, is best seen in early autumn when it seems especially atmospheric. It isn’t open to the public as such but you are welcome to view it from the beach. As Jarman himself wrote: ‘Paradise haunts gardens, and some gardens are paradises. Mine is one of them. Others are like bad children, spoilt by their parents, over-watered and covered with noxious chemicals.’ Unforgettable.