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Tom DeWitte’s Netherlands garden is presented as a naturalistic, prairie-inspired planting rather than a formal border or a prescriptive landscape plan. Fine Gardening’s Garden Photo of the Day feature shows loose drifts of grasses, late-season perennials and self-seeding wildflowers set against farmland. The tour moves from a roadside planting to a shed-side bed, a gravel path and a small seat beneath a tree.
That distinction matters: the feature is a photographic garden tour. It does not publish a plan, measurements, soil analysis, maintenance calendar, exact address or visitor information. The useful lesson is the garden’s composition—how texture, repetition, paths and views create a relaxed whole—not a plant list that can be copied without adapting it to local conditions.
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What makes the garden look naturalistic
The planting’s character comes from relationships among plants rather than from isolated specimens. Grasses supply movement and a fine-textured base. Perennials carry color into the later part of the season. Plants that seed themselves soften the edges and make the planting appear to continue beyond its intended boundaries. The result is loose and meadow-like, but it is framed by deliberate elements such as a gravel path, a shed and a seating place.
Farmland visible beyond the property is part of the composition. The roadside planting uses a mixture of ornamental grasses, flowering shrubs and multistemmed birches so that the garden transitions visually into the open agricultural landscape. Instead of creating a hard visual wall, the planting repeats the broad shapes and layered heights found in the surrounding view.
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The photographs also show why access is important. A path gives the planting a readable route, while a small sitting nook places a person inside the vegetation rather than at its edge. Looking outward from beneath a tree turns the adjacent farmland into a borrowed view. These are design decisions that can be adapted even when the available space, climate or plant palette is different.
A photographic tour of the main spaces
The roadside planting
The roadside view establishes the garden’s relationship with its setting. Multistemmed birches provide a light overhead structure, flowering shrubs occupy the middle layer and grasses fill the lower layer with blades and seed heads. The arrangement is not shown as a clipped hedge or a row of identical plants. Its irregular spacing and varied heights allow glimpses through to the farmland.
For a home garden, the transferable idea is to build a layered edge. Put the tallest woody forms where they will not block important sightlines, use shrubs to bridge the scale between trees and perennials, and let grasses or other fine-textured plants weave through the foreground. Keep enough openness for the view to remain visible; a naturalistic edge is not the same as an unmanaged thicket.
The shed-side bed
The bed beside the shed demonstrates how a service structure can become a calm backdrop. The planting combines a broad-leaved flowering shrub with ferns and late-season flowers. Against the shed, the foliage provides a softer foreground and makes the building feel integrated into the garden instead of visually separate from it.
This arrangement also shows the value of contrast. Fern fronds, broad shrub leaves and upright flower stems have different silhouettes, so the bed remains legible even when individual blooms are not at their peak. When adapting the idea, place plants with distinct leaf shapes next to one another and reserve enough space for each to reach its mature width.
The gravel path and sitting nook
A gravel path cuts through the planting and supplies a clear line of movement. Low, spreading plants soften its edge while taller stems lean into the route. The path is practical, but it also creates a sequence of changing views: a visitor sees the planting from the roadside, then from within the bed, and finally from the sitting area.
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The nook sits beneath a tree and faces the neighboring farmland. Its position makes the wider landscape part of the garden experience without requiring a large structure or an elaborate terrace. In a smaller yard, the same principle can be achieved with a single chair or bench placed where planting frames, rather than blocks, the best view.
The second path view
Another view along the path brings together pale flowers, purple accents, ornamental grasses and a taller, airy perennial. The restrained color groups keep the scene coherent even though the planting is mixed. Repeating a few colors and textures is what prevents a self-seeding style from looking visually random.
Plants identified in the feature
The following names and details are the plants Fine Gardening identifies in its captions and text. The listed hardiness zones are the ranges reported by that feature; they are not a Netherlands-specific growing recommendation. Local suppliers, extension services or botanical gardens should be consulted before choosing plants for another region.
| Plant | Where it appears in the feature | Visual description or role |
|---|---|---|
| Clematis tangutica (golden clematis), Zones 4–9 | Featured as part of the garden tour | Yellow, bell-shaped flowers followed by dark, tufted seed heads |
| Hydrangea paniculata, Zones 3–8 | Shed-side bed | Flowering shrub that anchors the bed’s middle layer |
| Pink Japanese anemone (Anemone hupehensis), Zones 4–8 | Shed-side bed | Late-season pink flowers among ferns and asters |
| Pink sedum (Hylotelephium), Zones 3–9 | Along the gravel path | Low, fleshy-leaved planting that softens the path edge |
| Red Persicaria amplexicaulis, Zones 4–8 | Along the gravel path | Red flowering stems that add vertical color beside the route |
| Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), Zones 4–9 | Another path view | Airy, upright form paired with pale flowers, asters and grasses |
The feature also names ornamental grasses, flowering shrubs, multistemmed birches, ferns, purple asters and white Japanese anemones in its photographs. It does not identify every cultivar or give a complete inventory, so those broader descriptions should not be treated as a definitive plant schedule.
How to adapt the look without copying a recipe
DeWitte’s garden is useful as a design reference, but the source does not document its soil, exposure, irrigation, spacing or maintenance. Use the following as general planning advice, not as instructions for reproducing his property.
1. Start with the site, not the plant list
- Record how many hours of direct sun each area receives in the growing season.
- Note whether water drains quickly, remains damp or changes across the site.
- Measure the mature width available beside paths, buildings and boundaries.
- Check local hardiness guidance and invasive-plant restrictions before ordering seed or plants.
These checks determine whether a plant can perform safely and comfortably. A zone number printed in a caption cannot account for every exposure, soil type or winter pattern.
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2. Build three visible layers
Choose a structural layer, a middle layer and a ground-level layer. Trees or large shrubs create the framework; flowering shrubs and robust perennials occupy the middle; grasses, sedums or other low plants connect the planting to paths and lawn. Leave intentional gaps so stems can be seen and so the composition has depth.
Plant in groups rather than scattering one of everything. Repeated drifts make a mixed border read as a community. Vary the size of those groups so the edge remains relaxed rather than forming a rigid checkerboard.
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Naturalistic planting depends on foliage, stems and seed heads after the first flush of flowers. Include plants with contrasting leaf shapes and retain some attractive dried structures into autumn or winter where local conditions allow. A sequence of early, midseason and late flowers keeps the garden changing without requiring every plant to bloom at once.
4. Treat self-seeding as a managed effect
Self-seeding can create the loose transitions visible in the photographs, but it is not the same as abandoning maintenance. Decide where seedlings are welcome, remove them from paths and crowded crowns, and thin groups before they overwhelm slower plants. Keep records of plants that spread aggressively in your area and avoid introducing species restricted by local regulation.
5. Make circulation part of the planting plan
Lay out the route before final planting. A path should be wide enough for the people who will use it, have a stable surface and include a practical edge where gravel meets soil. Curves or changes in direction can reveal a planting gradually, while a straight segment can direct attention toward a tree, seat or distant view.
6. Frame a view instead of filling every gap
Stand at the proposed seating position and identify what should remain visible. Place trunks, shrubs and tall perennials to create a foreground frame, then keep the central sightline open enough to read the landscape beyond. This approach is especially effective where a garden borders fields, woodland or a broad sky.
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Choosing plants for a comparable composition
If you are selecting substitutes, compare plants on practical attributes rather than on name alone. Mature height and spread determine the amount of space a group needs. Flowering season controls the sequence of color. Foliage, stems and seed heads determine whether the planting still has structure between blooms. Soil moisture, light and wind tolerance decide whether a plant belongs in a particular bed. Finally, use the hardiness guidance that applies to your own location, not the ranges printed for a different climate.
| Design question | What to evaluate | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| How tall will it become? | Mature height and spread | Prevents a path, window or view from being blocked |
| When will it contribute? | Flowering period and persistence of seed heads | Maintains seasonal interest beyond one peak week |
| What will the foliage do? | Leaf size, color and winter structure | Creates contrast when flowers are absent |
| Where can it grow? | Sun, moisture, soil and wind tolerance | Matches the plant to the actual microclimate |
| Is it appropriate locally? | Regional hardiness advice and spread behavior | Reduces winter losses and unwanted naturalization |
What the feature does—and does not—tell you
The published tour establishes the garden’s visual language and identifies selected plants. It does not establish an exact town or address, property size, ownership details beyond the association in the title, soil composition, planting distances, irrigation system, pruning regime, annual labor, public opening hours or permission for visitors. None of those details should be inferred from the photographs.
Photographs also compress scale. A group that looks small in a frame may occupy substantial ground, and a plant’s apparent density may reflect years of growth. Before buying, check mature dimensions from a reliable regional source and draw the proposed bed at scale.
Further reading on naturalistic planting
Fine Gardening recommends Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West for readers who want to explore a related approach. The book discusses a “new nature” that combines wild and cultivated qualities. It is background on naturalistic design, not a documented plan for Tom DeWitte’s garden.
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A practical takeaway for your own garden
Begin with the experience you want to create: a layered edge, a walk through changing texture or a seat that looks into the wider landscape. Then test that idea against your site’s light, moisture, space and local plant guidance. Use repeated groups, preserve useful views and allow some plants to move naturally while keeping paths and access clear. That process captures the most transferable lesson from this Dutch garden without pretending that a photographed property is a universal planting formula.
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