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Spring Flowering Bulbs with Perennials

Taught by Jacqueline van der Kloet

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Course Description

Van der Kloet has worked alongside her compatriot, garden designer Piet Oudolf, to incorporate bulbs into New York City’s Battery Park which we feature in Piet Oudolf and Dr Noel Kingsbury’s latest course here at Learning with Experts.

Longevity is a kind of sustainability, and that may be one reason van der Kloet’s designs have caught on. Jacqueline has had commissions around the world, including a ten-acre renovation of beds at Holland’s Keukenhof, one of the largest ­public flower gardens in the world. The projects she’s done in the United States have met with resounding success. Van der Kloet collaborated with Oudolf again in Chicago’s Millennium Park in 2007, followed by a stint at the New York Botanical Garden’s Seasonal Walk, in 2008. TV host and author Martha Stewart unveiled her at her New York, home, which includes 116,000 bulbs, all in shades of blue and distributed by van der Kloet’s signature “sprinkling,” which means handfuls of bulbs are lovingly tossed onto the ground, to be planted where they fall.

Botanically speaking, ‘bulbs’ is a collective name which tubers, corms and rhizomes alongside tulips and narcissi. This course covers how to plant spring flowering bulbs in the naturalistic style used by Van der Kloet and Oudolf: bulbs that are planted in autumn, go through a cold period in winter and start to flower in spring. The first lesson features all kinds of other spring flowering bulbs (except tulips) which can cheer up our gardens, from early to late spring, like snow drops, grape hyacinths and ornamental onions, to name a few.

Course outline

  • Narcissi

    -You will learn about the history of narcissi. -Today’s classification of narcissi: shapes, heights, colours, leaves, flowering period. -Narcissi from early to late: favourite ones for borders, rock gardens, meadows, woodland areas. How to mix them with suitable companions. When to order and when to plant: preparation, numbers per m2/how to scatter, plant depth, maintenance after planting. -Miscellaneous: more tips for growing daffodils, fragrant varieties, list of best perennialising varieties for warm, moderate and cold climates.

  • Assortment of other spring flowering bulbs

    -Early: Galanthus, Eranthis, Crocus, Cyclamen, Scilla, Chionodoxa, Anemone, Puschkinia, Corydalis -Mid season: Muscari, Hyacinthus, Fritillaria, Erythronium, Leucojum, Ornithogalum, Ipheion, Hyacinthoides -Late: Ornithogalum, Bellevalia, Camassia, Allium, Nectaroscordum, Eremurus -Miscellaneous: bulbs for dry soil, bulbs for wet soil, bulbs that attract bees, fragrant bulbs, seed heads, list of best perennialising species or varieties for warm, moderate and cold climates.

  • Tulips in general

    -Where they come from ( history). -Today’s classification of tulips: shapes, heights,colours,leaves, flowering period. -Botanical tulips from early to late: favourite ones for borders and rock gardens: numbers per m2 and how to mix them with suitable companions, according to colour and shape. -Long-stemmed tulips from early to late: favourite ones for borders: numbers per m2 and how to mix them with suitable companions, according to colour and shape.

  • Tulips in the garden

    -Tulips in borders: annual or perennial. Mixtures and colour combinations/ sequence of flowering periods. Mixtures with other kinds of bulbs, perennials and shrubs. List of best perennialising tulips for cold, moderate and warm climates. -Tulips in pots and containers: mixtures and colour combinations/ sequence of flowering periods. Mixtures with other kinds of bulbs and biennials/ Lasagna-planting. -When to order and when to plant. Preparation/how to scatter and plant depth/maintenance after planting. -Special qualities like seed heads, scent and variegated leafs.

Choose how you want to learn

  • The Expert option

    Recommended

    Develop your learning further with marked assignments and personal tuition from Jacqueline van der Kloet

    • Start course whenever you like
    • 4 weeks tutor access for personalised assignment feedback & coaching
    • 4 assignments marked by Jacqueline van der Kloet
    • Certificate of completion from Jacqueline van der Kloet
    • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
    • 4 lessons with expert videos & notes
    • Group chat & direct message with tutor & classmates
    • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
    Learn more
    $299

  • The Peer option

    Discover the benefits of group learning in an online interactive classroom of no more than 20 people. Get the most from shared knowledge and community study

    • Start course whenever you like
    • Practise what you learn with your peers
    • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
    • 4 lessons with expert videos & notes
    • 4 course assignments
    • Group chat & direct message classmates
    • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
    Learn more
    $99
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  • Online classroom

    Start anytime and join a class of no more than 20 students

    Start anytime and join a class of no more than 20 students

  • Test yourself

    Practice what you learn with assignments after each lesson

    Practice what you learn with assignments after each lesson

  • Personal tuition

    Exclusive assignment feedback from Expert Tutors

    Exclusive assignment feedback from Expert Tutors

  • Share

    Share ideas with classmates from around the world

    Share ideas with classmates from around the world

Meet Jacqueline van der Kloet

I'm perhaps best known for my collaboration with the famous planting designer Piet Oudolf. My expertise is bulbous plants, experimenting in my own garden, the Theetuin (“tea garden”), which was established at Weesp near Amsterdam some 30 years ago. I source plants in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Africa, China, the United States, Oman and “most Western European countries,” observing plant communities in the wild with a view to replicating them at home as part of my naturalistic designs.

A late starter, I “fell into plants” at the age of 28, soon after qualifying as a garden designer I travelled to China and was amazed to see the likes of Nandina domestica (the heavenly bamboo) and also the camphor tree, Cinnamomum camphora, growing both wild and as a street tree. I have been to the USA and China many times, but nothing inspires me as much as the spring mountain meadows, which always blow me away. It has something to do with the 'natural style’ that I love so much.

My first love was perennials. It gave me so much joy discovering which ones would be suitable for the different parts of the garden, which is mainly on clay soil, so quite moist, but with some drier areas. But then after six or seven years I discovered’ spring-flowering bulbs and the possibility of mixing them with other plantings. In the past few years annuals and summer-flowering bulbs have become favourites. I find those four groups of plants so inspiring and I like to test all kinds of combinations.

I'm excited to be able to reach out to you wherever you are in the world, and share my knowledge and passion through these online horticulture and garden design courses at Learning with Experts. Piet Oudolf and I continue to collaborate on bulb plantings all over the world and update our work here accordingly. I look forward to seeing you in the classroom.

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