Stunning Gardens of the Netherlands with Annie Guilfoyle

DAY 1: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 – Arrival in the Netherlands

Tour members independently arrange travel to Amsterdam and transfer on their own to the DoubleTree Amsterdam Centraal Station, where a room is booked for them (included in the tour price).

At 5:30 p.m. we'll gather for a welcome lecture, "What Makes a Great Garden," by our host, British garden designer and educator Annie Guilfoyle, then have dinner in the hotel restaurant (included in the tour price).

DAY 2: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 – Singer Laren Museum and Theetuin Weesp

After breakfast at the hotel (included) we’ll board our coach for the day.  

Our first stop will be the Sculpture Garden at the Singer Laren Museum, which is devoted to presenting and preserving the collection of the American artist William Henry Singer and his wife, Anna. The garden was designed by Piet Oudolf, considered the leading figure in the "New Perennial" movement. Oudolf uses herbaceous perennials and grasses in his designs for their structure, movement, and color. The garden opened in 2018 and features contemporary Dutch sculptures that highlight the relationship between culture and nature.

Nestled on a historic site, the Weesp Tea Garden is a quietly romantic model garden that has been a testing ground for plant combinations since the early 1980s. Jacqueline van der Kloet, together with Niek Roozen and Stan Gall, shaped the garden’s simple, clear frameworks. The designers then layered in seasonal succession plantings, relying on bulbs, perennials, shrubs, and a few specimen trees to give this unique spot its drama. Well-loved by locals, the teahouse remains the centerpiece of the property, while the surrounding centuries-old trees create the cool, green garden rooms that allow the beds and borders to shine. As you wander and photograph the late-season peak of this garden, you’ll come to realize why the history and planting approach make this stop an archetype of Dutch design. Lunch will be catered in the gardens (included).

At the end of our day we’ll return to our hotel and gather for dinner (included). After dinner be sure to take the elevator to the rooftop bar and take in the canal view.

DAY 3: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 – An exploration of Carolien Barkman’s work

After breakfast at the hotel (included), we'll meet Carolien Barkman, an innovative designer and master of transforming compact spaces into beautiful gardens. We’ll be visiting a series of her gardens today, all showcasing her knack for maximizing space through strong structure, thoughtful materials, and layered, textural plantings. From a newly laid garden around a modern wooden house to an intimate green room with a planted living-room wall, Carolien’s work balances utility with subtle surprises—every spot and design choice is considered for both daily life and seasonal excitement. She often frames garden beds as living architecture: restrained hardscape lines provide the scaffolding while exuberant, well-timed perennials and shrubs supply movement and color. Spending a full day with her will reveal how she uses scale to make small or awkward sites feel purposeful and generous.  

We’ll stop at a local restaurant for lunch together (included) and at the end of the day will have time to explore the area around our hotel to enjoy dinner on our own.

DAY 4: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 – Jelle Grintjes Garden, Marieke Nolsen Garden, Hans and Lucien Gieszen Garden

Eat breakfast at your leisure this morning (included). Our first stop of the day is the private garden of designer Jelle Grintjes. This 5,000-square-meter garden is composed of almost 20,000 perennial plants and grasses, as well as more than 50,000 flower bulbs, all only a few years old. He employs airy and see-through perennials and grasses judiciously in his plantings, and pays careful attention to how each variety behaves, while acknowledging that you can never totally predict what a plant will do from year to year. Jelle will introduce us to his design philosophy and share his extensive plant knowledge and recommendations.

After lunch together (included), we’ll make a stop at the garden of Marieke Nolsen, a flower stylist, gardener, and lecturer extraordinaire whose lifelong passion is flowers. She says, “My garden is a bouquet.” The dahlia is the center of attention in this garden, with countless varieties, colors, and textures creating a spectacular explosion of color in beds where the supports are made of pine and birch. The gardens close to the house are mostly yellow and white, the colors of the estate on which the property sits, and include a large espaliered lime and pollarded apple trees.

Our final garden visit will be the garden of Hans and Lucien Gieszen, near the village Renswoude. A self-taught garden designer, Hans has learned to use the shape, structure, and seasonal changes of plants to create stunning gardens. He began creating his garden in 2012, beginning with perennials that could be easily grown and maintained sustainably. Lucien is the hardscaping expert in the family and has laid many of the stone walls and pathways herself.

At the end of the day we’ll return to the hotel, where we’ll have dinner together (included).

DAY 5: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 – Superbloom Arnhem with Arjan Boekel, free time in Amsterdam

Take your breakfast at the hotel (included), then we'll travel to designer Arjan Boekel’s Superbloom project in Arnhem. It's a bold, urban experiment that replaced municipal paving and a dry lawn with a long, richly flowering meadow. Arjan will be on-hand to explain how the project’s aim was to regenerate the local ecology and provide expansive views of the beautiful city. Conceived with LOLA Landscape Architects and installed by Boekel (Coöperatie De Bloeimeesters), the plan mixes native and ornamental species, an array of self-sowers, and short- and long-lived plants to create what has been described as a “meadow on steroids.” Sited on top of a layer of poor, sandy soil, the garden embraces tough growing conditions so the planting can evolve as a living system rather than a fixed palette. The resulting garden reads as both exuberant spectacle and careful ecological design—an ideal case study for gardeners interested in large-scale, low-input planting strategies.

After this garden visit, we’ll return to the hotel, where we can explore the area all afternoon and evening on our own. Visit the nearby Anne Frank House or the Rijksmuseum. Walk to the picturesque 9 Streets district, wandering in and out of the many shops or cafes along the canals. Or book an evening dinner cruise to see the city from the water.

DAY 6: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 – Mien Ruys Garden, The Garden at Fortmond

After breakfast (included), we’ll check out of our Amsterdam hotel and make our way to Dedemsvaart to explore a sequence of 30 inspirational horticultural displays at Mien Ruys Gardens. A groundbreaking mid-20th-century female landscape architect, Mien Ruys’s work has inspired generations of designers not only in the Netherlands, but also across the globe. Nine of the gardens have been given national monument status and offer a chronological overview of 20th-century garden architecture. We’ll have an opportunity to explore the Sunken Garden, the Water Garden, the Wilderness Garden, and many others. We can discuss what we’ve seen over lunch together here (included).

Next, we’ll travel to The Garden at Fortmond in Olst. This marvelous home and garden overlooks the IJssel Valley, with the hills of the Veluwe in the distance. From the terrace, you have a panoramic view of the property, including bird groves with natural undergrowth, the stunning flower meadow, as well as De Duursche Waarden nature reserve, which sits adjacent to the garden.

This afternoon we’ll travel to Rotterdam, check into The DoubleTree Rotterdam Centre, and dine together (included).

DAY 7: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 – Tom de Witte Garden, In Goede Aarde Garden

Begin with breakfast at the hotel (included). Our first visit today is with plantsman and designer Tom de Witte, who brings a naturalistic sensibility to his gardens, informed by formal training in Boskoop and a long-standing working relationship with Piet Oudolf. Tom’s unique style results in plantings that read as both natural and meticulously composed. His home garden is an education in texture, rhythm, and seasonal structure. Some areas of the property are more prairie-like, but turn a corner and you’ll find a more refined expanse. The deeply personal space reflects Tom’s influences from his garden travels, from Tasmanian rainforests to Dutch polder verges. His practice emphasizes durable plant communities and multiple viewpoints, so this garden is as much about how you move through it as what’s planted where. On site, this master plantsman will share his planting logic, maintenance choices, and the design decisions that make plant-forward gardens both resilient and deeply expressive.

After we dine together for lunch (included), we’ll visit nearby nursery In Goede Aarde. This small-scale, charming, and impeccably maintained nursery’s display gardens include traditional regional windbreaks, perfectly clipped privet hedges, and brick pathways set against the expansive Zeeland landscape. Here you’ll find a curated selection of perennials and grasses, ranging from the familiar to the truly rare. And in the owners’ private garden borders, perennials and grasses are woven into inspiring combinations.

This evening, you’ll have time to explore Rotterdam’s dining options on your own. While you are out, you may wish to visit Leuvehoofd, a nearby park whose plantings were designed by Piet Oudolf.

DAY 8: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 – Waterside Garden, canal tour at Boskoop

We’ll start our day with breakfast (included) before checking out of the hotel. Then we'll meet Olga and Arno Rijnbeek at their Waterside Garden and wander among gardens they’ve created in a variety of styles: woodland, prairie, English cottage, Japanese, Mediterranean, vegetable, and even drought tolerant. They installed these display gardens at their perennial nursery in 2022, and there’s something to enjoy here year-round because of the variety of bulbs and perennials, plus a number of unusual trees and shrubs.

After our tour of the Rijnbeeks’ garden, we’ll board a small canal boat from their personal dock and begin our next adventure. A boat tour along the nurseries in Boskoop is undoubtedly the best way to see the horticultural center of the Netherlands. From our boat, you can enjoy the views over countless nurseries of shrubs, trees, and perennials, while learning about the historical district and hearing stories about this fascinating botanical world. We’ll enjoy lunch together during this excursion (included).

Next, we’ll travel back to Amsterdam, check into the Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and reflect on our week together at a farewell dinner (included).

DAY 9: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 – Farewell

Breakfast will be available at the hotel (included) before you check out and depart the Netherlands or continue the adventure on your own. Note that the Hilton is connected to both the train station and the airport, making travel to your next destination simple.