Friday, April 5, 2019

The Van Der Kloet Method: Confetti Planting Bulbs

When I attended the GardenComm (formerly GWA: Garden Writers of America) conference in Chicago last summer, I found myself captivated by the ideas of keynote speaker, Jacqueline van der Kloet. She has designed garden beds all over the world and has become known for her flower bulb combinations.

She spoke about her approach to designing with bulbs. She mixes a variety of bulbs in a wheel barrel and then tosses them into the desired area like confetti. The gardener then plant the bulbs where they land. She recommended having bulbs in different sizes and colors:



I was captivated with this idea and starting telling people I was going to plant my bulbs using the Van Der Kloet Method. My husband prepared the bed in the front of our house and then we mixed the bulbs (my assortment is shown above) and tossed them like confetti into the prepared area.

We did this in the October when we had a house guest and she thought it was a fun approach to bulb placement. I love having a Master Plan and in this case, I was planning for a happy combination of flowering bulbs in our front garden.
It looks darling! The bloom time has been staggered, so I will definitely add even more bulbs this fall to maximize the effect. Now that I know that it is effective, I want more confetti-like color and texture in my front bed. Only 3 tulips have shown themselves so far, so I'm a little nervous that they were eaten, but this bed develops more every day.

Thank you, Jacqueline van der Kloet for the inspiration.

#floweringbulbs #gardenlife #plantingbulbs #springhassprung #springflowers #finddelight #masterplan

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