Dutch Wave Gardens

Day 1 – Arrival in Amsterdam

Touchdown. Welcome to a country that produces 1.7 billion cut flowers a year (yes, that does say “billion!”). It’s not for nothing that this corner of the Low Countries is considered the horticultural epicenter of Europe. You’re about to get your fill of all things crocuses and hyacinths, but hold your bunch of tulips just a moment, because today is for meeting your fellow garden buffs. Cue some more terrible flower-related puns about blooming friendships and all that… sorry, we’ll stop now!

We keep it simple today. After you jet into Amsterdam’s big Schiphol Airport, it’s an easy mosey across to your hotel. Drop the bags, take a nice hot shower, and then convene for an evening of dining with the Carex crew (and your guide, Chris, a character to say the least!).

Accommodation: Hilton Schiphol Airport, or similar
Included: Dinner

Day 2 – Lianne’s Siergrassen and Mien Ruys

We know this is flower country, but we kick off with something a little different. Lianne’s Siergrassen is where Europe does its best impression of the prairie. Tall, swaying grasses dance in the wind, occasionally spiked through by the spear-like violet tops of fascinations, sometimes bushing out with the big honey blooms of windspiel. It looks wild, but somehow it’s ordered. Wander around, discovering how the unique combination of perennial meadow plants helps to naturally suppress weed growth and sustain rare insect habitats.

Head abuzz with ideas for the grass garden back at home, the group moves on to Mien Ruys. It’s tucked away in rural Overijssel in the eastern Netherlands, but is a special glimpse at a formative moment in European garden design. The 25 plots there showcase what happens when horticulture and hardscaping collide with deep-set social principles. Notice the artful mix of utilitarian concrete paving, upcycled railway sleepers, and creative uses of small space for bursts of heavy greenery. There’s lots to get through, so we fuel up with a lunch at the onsite teahouse before we start poking around.

That’s two whole garden complexes and up to two hours of driving done and dusted today, so you’ve earned the pampering offered by Grand Hotel Karel V back in Utrecht. It’ll be your accommodation for the bulk of this trip, so check in, soak in the pool or sizzle in the sauna, and then meet up again for a meal at the acclaimed Brasserie Goeie Louisa. Dinner? Well… that’s a whirlwind of scallops in porcini broth and pork neck with cavolo nero. Yum. Oh, and drinks are on us tonight!

Accommodation: Grand Hotel Karel V, or similar
Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 3 – Singer Museum and Vlindertuin Tiel

Wake up. Het Gooi’s a-calling. ‘Het’, what? It’s only one of the most beautiful corners of the Netherlands, where heathlands are carved up by lily-padded canals and peppered with pockets of ancient woodland.

Our morning drive cuts straight through the middle of the region on the way to the Singer Museum in the charming town of Laren. You can discover what lies within when you get there, but let’s just say there aren’t all that many places where you can get a taste of Dutch Impressionist painting alongside garden sculptures of giant blackberries.

Hopefully the sun will be beaming for the afternoon, because, finally, it’s time for some flowers. Cue the Vlindertuin de Zindering, a wedge of urban space that’s been artfully cultivated into a quilt of colorful planting right in the heart of the town of Tiel. Be dazzled by the hues – yellow borders blazing with yellow wild indigo, central plots emboldened with magenta plume thistles. It’s audacious stuff.

Back in Utrecht, dinner will be at your own pace, so rally your Carex crew and head out to find whatever cuisine takes your fancy.

Accommodation: Grand Hotel Karel V, or similar
Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 4 – Marieke Nolsen, Hubertushof and Hans Gieszen

Ready yourself, for today is a three-garden day. Thing is, they’re all in relatively close proximity, which means dahlias and daffodils without the long coach journeys. Yay!

Marieke Nolsen’s private picking garden gets things rolling. It’s but a little corner of the much-larger Den Treek estate east of Utrecht, but packs a hefty punch of color and pizzazz. That is, if your idea of pizzazz is a stunningly organized array of picking flowers that complement each other like mustard on a hotdog – a Dahlia Copperboy there, white gladioli here, purple puffs of wisteria overhead.

Right next door, your second garden is a bit more traditional. Notice the way it harnesses the age-old boundaries of the property, incorporating a wild oak that stood long before the ancestral home of the Den Treek estate was built, then moving through expertly planted patches of ornamentals and shrubs.

The third, and last, garden of the day is a special, special place that would be difficult to put into words. You’ll need to see it, to touch it, to wander its snaking paths. Expect a lesson in the fabled Dutch naturalistic style pioneered by the master Piet Oudolf, only this time recreated on a patch of rustic Utrecht meadowland.

Sheesh – four days and counting, folks! We think that nigh-on halfway mark deserves a celebration, so tonight’s a bit of a moving feast…a few stops, a wander, and a cruise on the canals for your final destination; dessert. Good food, a little adventure, and that feeling of not quite knowing what’s next.

Accommodation: Grand Hotel Karel V or similar
Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 5 – Vlinderhof and Utrecht

Pay homage to the revered garden designer and Netherlands native Piet Oudolf this morning over in the Vlinderhof. The gardens here are quintessential Dutch Wave stuff, mingling lanky grasses with bright, light flower beds across a patchwork of lush lawn. We have time to get lost, to explore the shady arbors, to stand and take in the sea of over 15,000 plants.

Then, press pause on the perennials with a hard-earned break. We’re giving you the whole afternoon to get stuck into all that Utrecht has to offer. Stroll along the Oudegracht (the old canal that carves up the city center), shop in indie boutiques, devour stroopwafel at a street market – the town is your North Sea oyster!

Accommodation: Grand Hotel Karel V or similar
Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 6 – Jelle Grintjes and Appeltern

If yesterday’s visit to Vlinderhof was the perfect intro to the Dutch Wave style, today is your chance to see the Dutch Wave with rocket boosters on. It comes courtesy of Jelle Grintjes, a designer dedicated to experimental combos of perennials, ornamentals, dwarf trees, borders – you name it! His magnum opus is a 5,000-square-meter plot close to the Netherlands-Germany border. Grab a coffee and dive in to get lost amid the fragments of flower beds and weaving, winding pathways made of grass.

Our garden odyssey takes you east from there, hopping across the River Rhine, skirting the German border, all the way to Appeltern. It’s the kind of place that’ll get your green fingers twitching with joy – think over 200 model gardens, each bursting with planting ideas and landscaping you’ll want to copy when you get home. One moment you’ll be stepping between bursts of untamed wildflower meadows, the next surveying oriental areas strewn with gingko leaves and bamboo.

Accommodation: Grand Hotel Karel V or similar
Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 7 – Fortmond and Kröller-Müller Museum

We dive straight back into the dreamy world of Dutch naturalistic garden design this morning – yep, seven days in and we’re still going strong! This time it’s the turn of a private garden in Fortmond, a rural area hidden away in the east of the country. It’s got the whole shebang. We’re talking ribbons of grasses that sway like slow-motion dancers, perennials that look like something Van Gogh would paint, and the striking addition of modernist architecture right in the middle of it all. Take some time to try and find the edges here – it’s hard to tell where the garden ends and the surrounding nature reserve begins.

Lunch awaits at the Kroller-Muller Museum, and you’ll want to fill up, since the second-largest collection of Vincent Van Goghs awaits inside, not to mention pieces by Picasso and groundbreaking works of Futurism to boot. It’s hungry work getting through all that. Plus, you’ll want energy to explore the vast gardens as well – they’re home to the biggest sculpture garden in Europe, no less!

Accommodation: Grand Hotel Karel V or similar
Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 8 – Boskoop and Arno Rijnbeek

Hardly possible, but if you’ve doubted for even a second during this trip that the Netherlands is one of the world’s horticultural capitals, Boskoop will put that right. Yes, it’s your last morning with your botanical fanaticos – AKA the Carex crew – but try not to think about that as you hop aboard a river boat and drift through the nurseries that surround this small town – there are a whopping 21 in all! You’ll be gazing at acers, rhododendrons, and witch hazels stretching out for as far as the eye can see. The zenith comes with the garden of Arno Rijnbeek, where the perennials glow almost as bright as the wanderlust that’s been stoked by this very trip.

But all good things must come to an end; all raging wanderlust fires must dip to an ember. So, tonight, we reconvene at our last hotel near Amsterdam’s big airport for a night of reminiscing, reliving, planning future travels together, and chatting about what planting is to be done back at home. Dinner’s on us, of course.

Accommodation: Hilton Schiphol Airport or similar
Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 9 – Farewell Carex crew!

That’s it! After nine whole days of garden hopping, this is sure to be a hard farewell. You’ve shared coffees among ornamental grasses, traded gasps over Dutch Wave border beds, and stood beside priceless Van Goghs. So, instead of “goodbye,” why not make it an “until next time?” That way you can start thinking of your next green-fingered outing as you head to the departure lounge.

Included: Breakfast