Piet Oudolf & Dutch Wave Gardens - Carolyn Mullet

Piet Oudolf & Dutch Wave Gardens September 17 - 24, 2015

Photos courtesy Jaap de Vries

Dear Friend, Thank you for your interest in our upcoming garden tour. I’m looking forward to being your host and sharing with you my love of gardens and design this tour season. I’ll be your point of contact leading up to the trip and throughout the tour. This document includes an itinerary and a print-friendly reservation form. I’ve made every effort to address potential questions and provide details about the tour gardens on the website. However, I fully expect and welcome additional questions by phone or email. Fall won’t be here soon enough for me. I can’t wait to inspire you with outstanding garden design and give you an unforgettable travel experience with CarexTours!

TOUR AT A GLANCE PRICE $3,175 per person, double occupancy +$750, single occupancy DATES September 17 - 24, 2015 INCLUDED • 8 Nights, 4 star accomodations • Comfortable coach transport • Admission to all gardens • All breakfasts and dinners • Tips & gratuities

COORDINATED BY

Warm regards, gardentourseurope.com/

Carolyn Mullet [email protected] 240 429 0889

HOSTED BY

Carex: Garden Design by Carolyn Mullet [email protected] • 240 429 0889 facebook.com/gdbycm

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ITINERARY For additional tour information including links to garden destinations and hotels, please visit the CarexTours website.

The following itinerary will be augmented over the summer with private gardens designed by Piet Oudolf. These gardens will be a high point of our tour since they are rarely open to the public.

Day 1, Wednesday, September 16 – ARRIVE IN THE NETHERLANDS • Tour members will arrange travel on their own to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and have time to get settled before our garden tours begin the next day.

Daily transportation will be provided by a modern, comfortable coach operated by an experienced driver.

Thursday, September 17 – AMSTELVEEN, LEUVEHOOFD, MIELE • What’s more appropriate than starting our Dutch Wave tour in a town renowned for its use of Dutch wild flowers? Just around the corner from Schiphol Airport is the suburb of Amstelveen with plantings that have been described as “intensified nature.” We’ll visit Jac. P. Thysse Park, named for a biologist who was an ardent devotee of native plants and birds. Designed by the late Christian P. Broerse, the park is home to just about every Dutch habitat imaginable and loaded with wild and semi-wild plantings. Read blogger Michael King’s enthusiastic post after a recent visit. • Our visit to Rotterdam’s Leuvehoofd Park is just the first of a number of designs we’ll see by Piet Oudolf, master practitioner of Dutch Wave planting. Here in triangular raised beds overflowing with grasses and perennials, Oudolf transformed a bare landscape beside the River Maas into a tranquil space. It’s wild, it’s natural, and it stands in quiet contrast to one of Europe’s busiest ports. • Our final stop of the day will be the contemporary garden at the Miele Inspirience Centre. The design is simple. Perennials and ornamental grasses surround a large, geometric water feature. Designed in 2008 by Grasveld Landscape Architecture, this is an example of the influence of the naturalism of the Dutch Wave movement. It now even permeates the design of corporate grounds.

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Day 3, Friday, September 18 – PRIONA, DE LUIE TUINMAN, THEETUIN DE HEERLIJKEID • We begin our day at Priona, the home garden of the late Henk Gerritsen, one of the founding members of Dutch Wave. Gerritson is credited with developing the main principles of Dutch Wave and it shows throughout the garden. Wild and cultivated plants grow next to each other. Weeds and pests are tolerated in the name of naturalism. Gerritson said his design principle is simple: “What is straight should be curved, what is curved should be straight.” We’ll discuss what that means after our visit to this garden which author Noel Kingsbury has described as “magical and entertaining … wild and zany.” • De Luie Tuinman (or The Lazy Gardener) is a private botanical garden with 24 themed spaces. Created by Jan and Nicolette Nauta over 30 years, their mission was to create a garden where it’s pleasant to linger. Although the structure is not typically Dutch Wave, they’ve borrowed heavily from Dutch Wave in their plant choices. Particularly of interest to us will be the Flower Meadow, Birch Prairie, Grasses Avenue, and Solar Garden. Throughout this garden, we’ll see perennials and grasses combined in ways that are well worth studying while we’re here and emulating when we get back home. • Our last stop of the day will be the garden at Theetuin De Heerlijkheid which was renovated in 2008. Designed by Karin Cruijs, one of the owners, it was made in the spirit of Dutch Wave. Important elements are a lovely, long pond lined with perennials in shades of pink and purple; a circular garden featuring ornamental grasses; and a hot border garden with perennials in shades of red, orange and yellow. Theetuin De Heerlijkheid is also a B&B. Someday you may want to come back for a longer stay.

Day 4, Saturday, September 19 – LIANNE’S SIERGRASSEN, JAKOBSTUIN, MIEN RUYS • The theme of today’s first garden could be summarized simply as “Plants, Plants, Plants!” Lianne’s Siergrassen is a well respected Dutch nursery that specializes in Dutch Wave ornamental grasses and perennials. Not only has the owner, Lianne Pot, indulged her passion and brought together a virtual living encyclopedia of grasses, she has also created a demonstration Prairie Garden arranged in curving beds with over 12,000 dynamic plants. There’s probably not one moment in the year that this garden isn’t beautiful.

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• We continue our tour at Jakobstuin, a garden that falls somewhere between Oudolf’s current style and Prairie Style. The owner and designer, Jaap de Vries, calls Jakobstuin an “Ode to the Dutch Wave.” In addition to warm season grasses typical of the North American Prairie, de Vries also uses many perennial selections favored in the New Perennial movement and arranges plants in the currently popular matrix pattern. Look carefully and you’ll notice that he pays particular attention to texture, form, and light, which is probably the reason his daily photo posts on Facebook are loved by hundreds of followers. There’s also a B&B here. One can hardly imagine how wonderful it would be to wonder this garden alone after a good night’s sleep. • Our final garden for the day is the important Tuinen Mien Ruys. Here we’ll pay homage to the woman many call the “Mother of Modernism,” landscape architect Mien Ruys (1904-1999). She made these gardens over 70 years and they’re a reflection of her amazing creativity. Her style is distinctly architectural but the plantings are loose and naturalistic. There are 28 gardens in all, incorporating old and new styles while using unusual materials and perennial introductions from her father’s internationally renowned nursery. Above all, Ruys was experimental. Never afraid to try new things, her garden was an inspiration to the founders of Dutch Wave as it has been to designers from all over the world from many years.

Day 5, Sunday, September 20 – HET LOO, KRÖLLER-MÜLLER (Today we take a break from Dutch Wave Gardens and visit two places that are important to Dutch culture. One is historical and the other modern.) • At Het Loo Palace, we’ll see an example of 17th century formal Dutch garden design, heavily influenced by the French – about as far away as one could get from Dutch Wave. The Great Garden in the back of the palace was designed by a nephew of André Le Nôtre and has a symmetrical axial layout with radiating gravel walks, parterres, statuary, fountains, and raised walks. In the 18th century, the original Baroque garden was destroyed to make way for a landscape park but it was restored for the palace’s 300th anniversary in 1984. There continue to be renovations. Recently the boxwood in the parterres were pulled out due to boxwood blight and replaced with a cultivar of Ilex crenata.

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• The Kröller-Müller Museum is an art museum and sculpture garden set in a national park. We’ll spend some time here at the museum itself, seeing the second-largest collection of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh (after the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam) and works by Picasso, Gauguin, Gris, Mondrian and Seurat among many other artists. We’ll also want to see the sculpture garden which has an equally renowned collection of modern sculptures in a beautiful park setting. Then, if there’s time, we’ll walk along the Ecological Walking Route or perhaps take advantage of the free bikes and cycle around the 75 acre national park.

Day 6, Monday, September 21 – CRUYD-HOECK, HUMMELO • Cruyd-Hoeck is the nursery owned by the late Rob Leopold, a specialist in wildflower seeds and one of the founding members of the Dutch Wave movement. Leopold established the nursery in 1978 to preserve the biodiversity of wild plants, bees, butterflies, and other animals, offering seed mixtures for native wildflower plantings and flower meadows. His influence continues today. A connection with Leopold’s work can be made to the much acclaimed landscaping done with seed mixtures at the recent London Olympics. Since Leopold’s death in 2005, the nursery continues under the leadership of Jasper Helwinkel and Jojanneke Bijkere, designers who are experts in Dutch Wave principles. • Piet Oudolf’s private garden at Hummelo has become a place of pilgrimage for thousands of followers from around the world. As the master designer of the New Perennials style of naturalistic planting (which, of course, started as Dutch Wave), Oudolf’s garden is a place of experimentation and testing and therefore, constant change. Enclosed by typical Dutch hedges, the interior garden explodes with familiar and new plants in an exuberant, unconventional display. Oudolf has said, “What I try to do is build an image of nature.” Here we’ll see his current image of nature and draw inspiration from Oudolf’s own innovations. This will be a garden experience we’ll never forget.

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Day 7, Tuesday, September 22 – HORTVS, MAXIMILIAN • Our first garden in Germany is Hortvs, the private garden of designer and author Peter Janke, considered a rising star in the German landscape design world. The design is inspired by the work of British designer, Beth Chatto, with whom Janke studied in England. We’ll see meadows, a gravel garden, a woodland garden with simple mulched paths, and a wild, abundant herb garden. It’s geometric and organic, a beautiful mixture of classic and modern styles. • Next we’ll see Maximilianpark, a former coal mine transformed into a 22 acre park, partly designed by Piet Oudolf. Paths now lead through flourishing gardens. Filled with lush, textural grasses and high performance, colorful perennials, Maximilian Park has been called an outdoor classroom noted for its balanced ecosystems. Prepare to see ecological planting communities at their best.

Day 8, Wednesday, September 23 – HERMANNSHOF, GRÄFLICHER • The Schau und Sichtungsgarten Hermannshof is a five-acre botanical garden directed by Cassian Schmidt that’s a must-see for every designer, plantsman, and gardener interested in modern planting styles. Known for its experimental approach, its plantings explain, for example, how plants work together to establish natural plant communities. The influence of Hermannshof has been profound. It is credited by many to be the originator of the matrix planting style that’s now au courant among Dutch Wave practitioners and to have the best Prairie Garden in Europe. There’ll be much to discuss and think about after seeing this garden that shows successful examples of new directions in planting design. • At Gräflicher Park, we’ll want to zero in on the fairly new garden designed by Piet Oudolf inside this large landscape park. Filled with Dutch Wave herbaceous perennials and grasses, Oudolf’s design winds in a river of color and texture. The overall effect is simply beautiful. The history of the site is also rather fascinating. More than 200 years ago, Count Caspar Heinrichvon Sierstorpff founded a spa at the foot of the Teutoburg Forest, and it is now managed by the seventh generation of the family. The Count designed the complex in the style of an English landscape park, with neat lawns, a rose garden, a game reserve, duck pond, a lily meadow, and other features often found in British gardens. Many of those features are still in evidence today.

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Day 9, Thursday, September 24 – AHRENDS, TUINZONDERNAAM • At our last stop in Germany, we may come away overloaded with information. There’s just that much to see at the world-famous Ahrends Nursery owned by landscape architect Anja Maubach. The nursery was established in 1888 by Maubach’s great-grandfather Georg Arends, who introduced more than 350 perennials bearing the name ‘x arendsii’. As for the design of the nursery plantings, author and designer Debra Prinzing calls it both “rhythmic and alluring.” According to Maubach, this historic nursery is a place where you can immerse yourself in another time and also be inspired by 21st century plantings. • We return to The Netherlands for the last garden on our tour. Surrounded by farmland, the half-acre Tuinzondernaam (Garden without a Name) was designed by the owner Frank Thuyls and his late partner Pierre van Kol. Composed of 10 garden rooms separated by yew or hornbeam hedges, each has its own distinct character. Among them are a pink garden; a trowel-shaped garden with plants in Bordeaux red; a hot garden in hues of orange, red, and yellow; a rose garden; and a yew garden. Celebrated for its magical beauty, Tuinzondernaam was featured in Gardens Illustrated in 2013.

Day 10, Friday, September 25 – DEPART THE NETHERLANDS OR CONTINUE TRAVEL ON YOUR OWN

ACCOMMODATIONS After a day filled with garden inspiration and botanical discoveries, we will retire to the comfort and convenience of 4 star accommodations. All hotels are thoughtfully appointed and have a first class rating. Rooms are double occupancy with the option for a single room for an additional fee.

Hotel Links: September 16: A4 vd Valk Hotel http://www.hotelschiphol.nl/en/

September 17, 18, 19: Van der Valk Apeldoorn http://www.booking.com/hotel/nl/van-der-valk-de-cantharel.nl.html

September 20, 21: Van der Valk Assen http://www.booking.com/hotel/nl/assen.nl.html

September 22, 23: Top Hotel Bruchsee http://bruchsee.de

September 24: A4 vd Valk Hotel

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Tour price includes: • 8 Nights, 4 star hotel accommodations. • Comfortable coach transport. • Admission to all gardens. • All breakfasts and dinners. • Tips & gratuities • Friendly and knowledgeable professional tour guide. • The design and botanical expertise of your CarexTours host.

Tour price excludes: • Airfare. You’ll book your own flights but only after CarexTours sends an email confirming that our minimum of 20 reservations has been met and the tour will proceed. • Travel insurance. See page 12. • Ground transportation between hotel and airport on arrival and departure days. • Lunches. Budget $15 per lunch minimum. • Meals on arrival and departure days. • Hotel accommodations on September 24. CarexTours does not arrange hotels for the night the tour ends allowing you the flexibility to continue your travels on your own.

Airfare: Airfare is NOT included in the price of the tour. Each tour member will need to make their own airline reservations to arrive at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on September 16th and depart for home September 24th or later if you are continuing your travels on your own.

Please DO NOT make your airline reservations until CarexTours has guaranteed (by email) that the tour will proceed.

Passports: Passports or National ID cards are required for travel to The Netherlands and Germany. Check these websites to see what you will need: http://www.worldtravelguide.net/netherlands/passport-visa http://www.worldtravelguide.net/germany/passport-visa Please make sure your passport or National ID card is current.

Visas: Tour members are responsible for getting their own visas. Check these websites to see if you need a visa: http://www.worldtravelguide.net/netherlands/passport-visa http://www.worldtravelguide.net/germany/passport-visa

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Piet Oudolf & Dutch Wave Gardens September 17 - 24, 2015 It’s easy to book your tour by email or mail. Simply follow these instructions: Option #1) Reserve by Email • Complete Reservation Form in this packet. • Email the completed form on page 10 to [email protected] • Your reservation will be secured after a check or credit card deposit/full payment is received. • Deposit amount: $800. Full payment (double occupancy): $3,175. Single supplement: +$750. • Checks can be mailed to: CarexTours LLC 516 Philadelphia Avenue Takoma Park, MD 20912 USA

• Credit card payments can be made by phone:

CarexTours LLC Carolyn Mullet 240 429 0889

Option #2) Reserve by Mail • Complete Reservation Form in this packet in ink. • Mail the completed Reservation Form along with your deposit/full payment to CarexTours. • Your reservation will be secured after a check or credit card deposit/full payment is received. • Deposit amount: $800. Full payment (double occupancy): $3,175. Single supplement: +$750. • Checks and Reservation Form can be mailed to:

• Credit card payments can be made by phone:

CarexTours LLC 516 Philadelphia Avenue Takoma Park, MD 20912 USA

CarexTours LLC Carolyn Mullet 240 429 0889

Your trip reservation will be confirmed by email upon receipt of the completed Reservation Form and trip deposit/full payment. Payment in full must be received by August 10, 2015. For questions or help completing your reservation, please contact Carolyn Mullet. Phone: 240 429 0889 or Email: [email protected]. Additional information about the CarexTours costs, including details about inclusions and exclusions, can be viewed on our pricing page.

PLEASE NOTE: As a small tour company, CarexTours offers thoughtfully arranged garden tours. Each tour is guaranteed to proceed as soon as the minimum of 20 reservations has been met. In the event that our reservation minimum is not met by August 10, 2015, CarexTours reserves the right to cancel the tour. Deposits/payments will be refunded in full if the tour is canceled.

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RESERVATION FORM Name(s*)_ __________________________________________________________________ *Please complete one form per person even if you are sharing accommodations.

Address____________________________________________________________________ City_________________________________ State______________ Zip Code____________ Country____________________________________________________________________ Cell Phone_________________Home Phone_________________ Work Phone___________ Email Address_____________________________Business Name______________________ Business Website_____________________Business Facebook________________________ Emergency Contact Name______________________________________________________ Emergency Contact Cell Phone__________________________________________________ Accommodations: Check the box that best applies to your accommodations preference.

I plan to share accommodations with another tour member.___________________________ I would like CarexTours to help me find a roommate*

Roommate’s Name

*We will try our best but this can’t be guaranteed.

I will be traveling with a single supplement. Special meal requirements:*____________________________________________________ *We will do our best to accommodate your meal requirements. However, this can’t be guaranteed.

How did you hear about this tour?_ ______________________________________________ Price: • $3,175 per person, double occupancy, with a minimum of 15 persons. • +$750 Single supplement. • An $800 deposit is due when you book your tour. Important Date: • Final payment, in full, is due by August 10, 2015. I have read and agree to the Terms and Conditions on pages 11 & 12. ______ Initial here. Signature_______________________________________ Date_ _____________________

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS Responsibilities: CarexTours, LLC is a limited liability company organized under the laws of the state of Maryland in the U.S. CarexTours hosts garden tours operated by Garden Tours. As the hosting organization, CarexTours provides reservation services and has designated Garden Tours, a professional tour operator, as its designated tour operator. As the designated tour operator, Garden Tours conducts the actual tour at the garden sites. Garden Tours also acts as an agent for services connected with specific tours hosted by CarexTours such as ground transportation, lodging accommodations, and meals. Each service provider is solely responsible to the participant for providing their respective services. By making a reservation for a tour hosted by CarexTours, the participant certifies that he/she does not have any mental, physical, or other condition or disability that would create a hazard for him/herself or other participants. CarexTours and Garden Tours, reserve the right in their sole discretion to accept, decline to accept, or remove any participant on a tour hosted by CarexTours.

Price: Published tour prices are based upon current exchange rates, tariffs and taxes. Fluctuations in these rates could result in a price adjustment without prior notice until the tour is paid in full. Once the price for the tour is paid in full, the fee will not be adjusted due to any later change in exchange rates, tariffs or taxes.

Liabilities & booking conditions: Garden Tours is established in the Netherlands, and rights and responsibilities for all tours operated by Garden Tours will be governed by Dutch and EU laws only. CarexTours and Garden Tours will have responsibility only for the proven negligent acts and omissions of its employees or agents and suppliers, sub-contractors, servants and/or agents of the same while acting within the scope of or in the course of their employment in respect of claims arising as a result of death, bodily injury, or illness caused to the signatory to the contract and/or any other named persons on the booking form.

Smoking: All participants in Garden Tours agree to comply with a non-smoking policy on all coaches and in all lodging places.

Liability: CarexTours and Garden Tours have no responsibility or liability to any person for loss of baggage, money or other property whatsoever. CarexTours and Garden Tours have no responsibility or liability for any loss or additional expenses caused by delay or interruption to travel services through weather conditions (such as rain, wind or fog), civil disturbance, riot, illegal acts of third parties, strikes, wars, floods, sickness or any circumstances amounting to Force Majeure.

Complaints: In the unlikely event that you have a complaint, you must promptly inform the Garden Tours tour guide directly, so he/she can take remedial action on the spot. If the matter cannot be solved directly, any complaints must be submitted in writing to Garden Tours within 20 days after the date of your return.

Your tour canceled by us: CarexTours and Garden Tours aim to provide your tour as booked. But if, for example, there are not enough people booked on your tour or you do not pay the balance of the tour price on time, we may cancel it. We reserve the right to cancel your tour in any circumstances, but if we cancel your tour, except where this is because you have not paid, you will receive a full refund.

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS CONTINUED Changes in itinerary details: CarexTours and Garden Tours strive to operate according to our published itinerary. However, in the event of unforeseen circumstances beyond our control or opportunities that would enhance the itinerary, adjustments may be necessary or appropriate. CarexTours and Garden Tours reserve the right, without penalty, to make changes in the published itinerary whenever, in their judgment, conditions warrant or if they deem it necessary for the comfort, convenience, or safety of participants. CarexTours will let you know about any important changes when you make your reservation. If you have already made your reservation, CarexTours will let you know as soon as we can if there is time before your departure.

Cancellations & refunds: If you should need to withdraw from the tour for whatever reason, you must notify CarexTours in writing. Cancellation becomes effective when written notice is received. The following cancellation charges will apply: • Cancel by 7/16/15, the refund will be the deposit (or full payment, if that is what you paid as a deposit) less $200 administrative fee. • Cancel between 7/17/15 & 8/17/15, the refund will be 50% of total tour price. • Cancel after 8/18/15, there will be no refund.

Insurance: Travel insurance is required in case you have health emergencies or other unforeseen issues arise. World Nomads is one well regarded company. It can be found at http://www.worldnomads.com. You might also try “Insure My Trip”, a travel insurance search site found at http://www.insuremytrip.com. You may identify other travel insurance providers on your own. Before departure, you will be required to provide evidence that you have obtained travel insurance.

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