Planting & Borders

Planting covers the design, preparation and installation of borders, plant beds, green boundaries and shade or cutting gardens. Work starts with soil preparation — digging, soil improvement with compost, pH correction where needed — and moves on to selecting perennials, grasses, bulbs, small shrubs and specimens. A good planting plan accounts for flowering succession through the year, maintenance level, location (sun, shade, dry, wet) and growth rate. With takeovers or replanting the existing soil is often restored first — putting a plant in exhausted ground is rarely successful, regardless of species. Rootstock choice for fruit trees, pH for acid-lovers, and final growth form for shrubs all help determine whether the planting still works five years on.

Our approach to planting

1. Site assessment — soil type, sun/shade pattern, water balance, existing neighbouring planting.
2. Planting plan — plant list, quantities, placement, flowering succession and maintenance level.
3. Soil preparation — digging, compost, fertiliser, pH correction. Often the most important part.
4. Planting and aftercare guidance — first-year watering policy, mulch layer, overwintering for sensitive species.

What we watch for in planting

A border that's spectacular in May but only green from July onwards — for young borders this is almost the rule rather than the exception. The cause is in the plant selection, not maintenance.

Typically there's too much early bloom in the plant list: peonies, tulips, forget-me-nots, early irises. All beautiful in May, but they retreat afterwards. Summer and late bloomers like asters, rudbeckia, echinacea and ornamental grasses are often missing in the first version of a border. On top of that: location mistakes are frequent — sun-lovers in damp clay, or shade species in full sun. With young borders the soil also hasn't settled in yet; ratios between species change considerably in the first two years as some plants become dominant at the expense of others.

In practice we top up a season-poor border with mid-late and late bloomers, remove what structurally doesn't work, and check end-July and end-September how the ratios are developing. With persistent issues we run a pH test or soil analysis — sometimes a simple lime application or a feed with different NPK ratio resolves a years-old stuck problem.

Planting in Purmerend and surroundings

On polder clay around Beemster, Purmerend and Edam-Volendam, perennials that handle both drought and wet winters thrive — geraniums, astilbes, salvias, alchemilla and heavier ornamental grasses like miscanthus. On sandy soil towards Hoorn species that prefer leaner ground perform — lavender, santolina, stipa and verbena bonariensis. In Zaanstreek, with peat soil, moisture-loving ornamental grasses and shade plants under trees do well. Plant choice is strongly steered by where you are.

Why clients choose us for planting

• Planting that holds up — plant choice based on growth and character over multiple years, not just the pot photo.
• Soil prep not skipped — many problems start below ground and get fixed there too.
• Honest about maintenance — if a border is intensive or thirsty, we say so before you sign.

A border can fill in considerably within one season, provided plant choice and soil preparation are right. We work throughout Purmerend, Zaandam, Hoorn, Diemen and Edam-Volendam. If you also want someone to follow up after planting, see garden maintenance.