2026/23 - Japanese Garden in Stellendam and Hunky Dory

I'll end this post with a story about a Beaver we met, but first I'll tell you about a garden I visited.

We have a garden lover's society in my country, which organises open garden days in both Spring and Autumn. Last September I visited the Japanese garden in Stellendam, and this year I decided to see what it looks like in Spring.

The gardener is an enthousiast, but no professional. Still, the garden is lovely and approaches the Japanese vibe in a pleasing way.

Being no professional myself, I understand what he is trying to do. And mostly it works!

His three ponds in particular got me very enthousiastic. I love a good pond! He's put in a huge effort to create three levels, and although the water flows from one to the other, they all have their own atmosphere. The one above is the middle one, and is home to a mass of fish. No Koi, but (to me) the equally lovely Golden Orfe. We call them Goudwinde, and I used to keep them in my own pond years ago. Like Koi they become quite tame, and recognise the person that feeds them.

The same pond, but from the top. The lower one is situated behind that Yew ball and the upper is behind me. Both are much smaller than the middle pond, which is probably the reason they are choked by vegetation.

The Japanese are masters at the concept of 'Ma', meaning the negative space between two objects, which they think is just as important. This garden is rather crowded, so the 'Ma', to me, is rather 'mwah'. 

But, again, it is a very pleasing garden. We are Dutchies, after all.

This Bulgarian Allium was showing off next to the path.

The overview from the terrace. Well worth a visit.

On the subject of Japanese-like trees, we have our own type of Acer in the delta. The leaves are not as pretty, but the way of the tree to propagate itself is the same. It is an Acer campestre, or Spaanse Aak, and the wind blows in thousands of those pretty helicopters to my Hunky Dory. I spend a lot of my time pulling the saplings out of my beds, and if I overlook one, it has grown into a sturdy sapling of 60 cm high within one year.

Another plant which obviously has the capacity to explode into growth is this Hedera hibernica. I could not believe my eyes this week! It has tripled its size within those two weeks of constant rain we've had, I am not fibbing! It is very welcome to do so, as I planted it especially to eventually hide that ugly water butt, but mostly to provide a nesting spot for the Blackbird, or any other bird that likes to take up residence.

Okay, I'll finish with our adventure of this week. The weather had turned from too cold and very wet to heatwave overnight, (and back again to very muggy and wet) so we walk even earlier in the mornings as usual. This is Puck on our way to the meadows next to the river at 5.30 a.m. She's on high alert, because we sometimes meet the Roe buck here. Puck still dreams of catching it (she is always on leash though, I take no chances).

But: guess who we met instead?

The Beaver!!!

Not the greatest photo ever, sorry. It was munching on a nice branch, and refused to turn around for the shot. What amazed me, was that both animals totally ignored eachother. Puck just stood and stared, and Mr or Mrs Beaver simply munched on, eventhough there was only a metre between us. It made my day!

Look me up on Renée Grashoff Schrijft to keep up to date with my books. I'll again post some extra photos in post 23a. Have a lovely week, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff 

2025/42 - Open Tuinen Groei & Bloei - 3

 I promised, right? So here is my third visit to the Open Garden Scheme. This time* we went to Melissant and Nieuw-Helvoet. Both small villages; the first on the next island over: Goeree-Overflakkee.

The Uulestee is situated on the outskirts of the village, near the Grevelingenmeer. It is a farm, a real one, so the court where you park is muddy and there is a midden, with residing chickens. My eye was immediately caught by some very attractive goats.

I adore goats, grew up with Nanny goats. So with these ones, I really had to look hard, a breed I had never seen before. Anyway, lovely and friendly animals.

The garden, which was the purpose of this visit, is situated on the other side of the farm buildings. And jolly good, there is a tea garden.

 Finding the entrance to the garden was a bit tricky... it took three goes for me, but then I got it: cross the 'sloot' next to the sheep. And ah...that was not easy for a not very stable-on-the-feet  old woman like myself. So be warned, take a sturdy fellow traveller with you for support. Or a cane.

That sloot has high sides...But the view! More typically 'my side of the Dutch delta' you will not find.

The garden is well worth the effort of scrambling down the muddy side of the sloot, and up the other side. It is inspired by Piet Oudolf, with lots of tall, waving grasses, and I thought it wonderful.

Narrow shell paths lead you through an area planted with waving grasses and masses of tall perennials, most of them in the purple/blue/pink/red spectrum.

Caryopteris, beloved by all kinds of bees, and with a nice scent. I have this shrub in Hunky Dory, but it is still a baby.

* it being the middle of September when I visited, most of the flowers of the Echinops had gone over, but the Verbena bonariensis was still going strong. It made a lovely contrast with the already brown Thistles.

Nieuw-Helvoet

A totally different garden, in my old neck of the woods. I used to walk past this garden, so it was great to finally be able to satisfy my curiosity and have a peek inside. And joy of joys, a huge pond! Very clear water, with a bog area at the back. But the gardener told me that it is not problem-free: the pond has a leak, so he has to fill it up from time to time (hey, where have I heard that before? Oh, right, at home), and the bog garden is silting up and rambling plants colonise it. Still, I thought that pond beautiful.

The entire garden was very attractive. This is a very good example of the shrubbery/trees, this is a very green, leafy garden, with layering. And not an ornamental grass in sight! Except for the pond area, it is mostly shady, because of the high Poplars everywhere. The highest of the entire polder, the owner said proudly. It had one of the loveliest umbrella shaped Mulberry trees I have ever seen, which he prunes by climbing on top of it. That is what you may call a sturdy tree! I forgot to take a photograph, sorry.

I did take one of the tiny Cyclamen though, aren't they sweet?

Here you are, one more. You'd expect Ophelia to dreamily drift by, don't you?

Or the Frog Prince.

This was the last Open Garden garden for this year; I'll make sure to visit some gardens in 2026.

In the meantime I have made a start with building raised beds in my greenhouse. As soon as there is something worthwhile to see there, I'll show you. Hunky Dory is winding down now, and the storm we had this week does not really help. My Artichokes look a fright, but the grasses are looking absolutely fine. That Melissant garden has convinced me to plant some more!

Right. Have a great weekend, wherever you are. Do follow the blog when you like it, and look me up on my website Renée Grashoff Schrijft , won't you? There is a translator button. Oh, and I have news: part 2 of my trilogy about Noor and Agnieken will be in the shops by Spring 2026.

Bye!

Renée Grashoff 

2025/37 - Open Garden Scheme Groei & Bloei 2

 A month ago I promised you all the 2nd instalment of my visit to some gardens in my area of the Dutch Delta. This time I visited a modern garden in Oostvoorne (on my island of Voorne) and a Japanese style garden on the next island over (Goeree- Overflakkee).

Oostvoorne has one of those idyllic roads that everyone knows by reputation, and then sighs 'oh, I would love to live on that road'. It used to be a sandy road, as sand is the predominant substance around there, it bordering the dunes. It is asphalted now, but still called the Zandweg (Sandy road).

This garden is modern, but at the same time quite traditional, in that it is divided into large square or rectangular beds divided by hard paving. That's the modern bit.

The traditionality lies in the use of old-fashioned plants.

So: modern beds, with traditional plants that thrive in sandy soil. A definite win-win in this garden.

The front garden is green. You immediately feel calmed.

You reach the much larger back garden from the side of the house, through a wooden gate.

The first thing that struck me was that the bricked or paved paths were wide. The second thing was they were immaculate. 

Now, when you follow this blog, you'll know that this style is NOT my personal preference... But here it was very effective, and again very calming.

The lady gardener admitted that this year was a challenging one for her many Hydrangeas; she simply had to water them for the open days, especially the Annabelle. But many of her other plants took the scorching sun in their stride.

There was a pond (I love ponds), only four years old, which was not supposed to be that big, but they got a bit carried away with the digger, she said.

It had a lovely Waterlily (not in view on my photo), but I was mostly captivated by the tall grasses at the far end.

There is something exciting about grasses swaying on the breeze, isn't there?

The water was crystal clear, which is great obviously, but at the same time it enhanced the fact that the plants on the upper shelf were not very large (yet). And that in turn made those rocks around the pond stand out. So, in my opinion this pond still needs some time to fulfil its promise.

The (again very tidy) greenhouse was the latest addition. All in all a visibly cherished and very well maintained garden.

Next we drove across the Haringvlietdam to Goeree, where on the Voorstraat in Stellendam is the Japanese style garden that I was really looking forward to, as it is a style I admire.

The front garden of the house was a surprise, in that there was absolutely nothing Japanese about it, and neither was the side garden. Hm...

But later on the gardener told me that he simply had not got round to that bit yet.

But then I got to the back garden, clucked onto my way by the chickens in the large coop.

 And there it was! The huge back garden, enclosed by old Conifers and fruit trees, and dominated by three large connected ponds.

Love at first sight!

I told you I 'have a thing' about ponds, well, I was not disappointed!

This garden is crammed full of plants.

The first pond (to the left of this path, but see the photo beneath this one) which is fed by the rainwater that flows from the roof is a Waterlily pond chock full of very friendly golden orfe and goldfish. Then it flows into the second pond, which has an Acer island with many different Acers on it, as well as the traditional Japanese lantern. And then into the third pond, which  has a traditional staggered wooden walkway, 'to fool the demons'.

There also is a traditional red bridge connecting the first two ponds.

Just one of the many delights along the path to the teahouse at the back of the garden.

The back of the garden is mostly in shade, so it has Acers, Conifer and Pines as well as a large woodpile fence for insects that feed the many birds that live in this garden. It also has Rhododendrons, but they struggle due to the heavy clay of this garden. They are pampered, but still.

The owner came into a lorryload of leftover slabs, so has made rocky mounds all along the borders of the garden.

The largest rockgarden.

The  parterre next to the house.

 

Would you believe this garden was only wrestled from a mess of brambles and totally overgrown fruit trees four years ago? It is a labour of love, and not finished yet. I was utterly charmed by it, and full of admiration for the hard work. The owner promised it would look even better next Spring, so I promised I would come back then.

And that's it. I hope you enjoyed joining me on my garden tour. If you like this blog, please do follow me. And if you'd like to keep informed of my writing, look up my website on Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Take care, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff