Welcome to my hidden town garden. Two keys are needed, just two doors to be passed and you enter a garden, covering 1000 square metres, made to dream in. In summer when you wander into the garden from the street, it seems you suddenly find yourself in an open space in the woods instead of somewhere in the middle of town. Once inside the hidden garden, you are outside; even more so than when out in the streets. Through the assortment and arrangement of plants I want to call up the atmosphere of valleys full of ferns, tropical gardens and hazy slopes.
Photography © Harry Pierik

In 1984 a large part of the garden was a bumpy field full of couch grass, horse-tail and ground elder. It was littered with old iron, mattresses, bits of glass and plastic. Once all this rubbish had been collected and removed in large containers and the field was weeded, with my spade I drew flowing lines in the ground. Then the paths were dug. Surplus earth was used to make a grassy hill. All kinds of trees, especially elderberries, were planted on the edges, two metres from the adjacent gardens. Old fruit trees were kept and served as the basis for the overall design. What I wished for was a garden that would never fail to seduce me. Something interesting to be seen in every season. Flowering all year round even at slight frost or when aucasinosonline temperatures would drop way below zero. Always those flowing lines and fascinating shapes. A balance between, perhaps frosted-over deciduous or evergreen shrubs.

My aim was to create a garden which, whilst wandering through it, would change around you. Dug-out paths winding in flowing lines through the lawns, under old fruit trees and along various borders which emerge from dark backgrounds like islands and peninsulas made up of luxurious bouquets of wild flowers. These islands have a kaleidoscopic effect: whilst walking through and around them perspectives will be changing all the time. Added to this there are all kinds of pleasant surprises in the garden. For instance next to what seems to be a a hill with hydrangeas, you are as it were drawn into a woody grotto surrounded by a light spring-green haze. Just a moment later you are submerged into one of the deep-lying paths, so you can just about look out over bulbs and perennial plants. Flowers at eye and nose level. The best view at the lowest point. In other words the lowest point as the culmination.

Seemingly at the edges of the garden all types of evergreen and deciduous entwined climbers can be found. Such as the sweet-brier and rosa Kew Rambler, which together form a curtain of roses in summer.
If you would like to visit Harry Pierik's garden, please make your reservation by phoning.

Tel: +31 (0) 38 4220564
Entrance fee: € 3,00