January 10, 2026
Reading time: 5 minutes
Happy New Year! Wishing you all a healthy, green, and above all, peaceful 2026.
2025: what a year it’s been! The Paradijstuin just celebrated (January 8, ’26) its third anniversary, and I can safely say that we were in full swing last year in terms of projects. These were really fun and challenging projects that I worked on hard and with great enjoyment—from small urban gardens to large landscape gardens. Each had its own challenges, and each had wonderful, enthusiastic owners who all had one thing in common: they didn’t just want to make their gardens more beautiful, but also wanted them to support the ecology of the surrounding area. That means healthier soil life, native plants, and a safe haven for beneficial insects, birds, hedgehogs, and more. And since every square meter counts in our small country, that gives me a good and hopeful feeling.
And wow, I’m still learning so much every day… This field is an inexhaustible source of information and growth, and I’m soaking it all up greedily. Constantly discovering new plants and plant combinations, developments in sustainable materials, knowledge of water management and composting, gaining a deeper understanding of the soil and soil life, and so on. But also seeing little things go wrong and having to do them over—it was all part of the past year. And then there are the many hours I’ve spent mastering certain software programs so I can create better digital and 3D designs.
One of the major milestones was definitely the feature in the December issue of Groei & Bloei magazine. I was so honored when they asked me if I’d like to have my own garden featured in it. “Yes, of course I’d love to!!” But it was also nerve-wracking, because it feels a bit like putting yourself out there when a much larger audience suddenly gets to see your design. So I was just about as nervous before the interview as I sometimes am before a job interview. There was absolutely no need for that, of course. Because it was a super fun conversation—one in which I got to talk with Edwin Oden (editor of G&B) for over an hour about our shared passion. When I got to read the article afterward, I was truly impressed and incredibly proud. Because it’s not only a very well-written article, it’s also really about me and my work—wow!
You can read the 6-page article—which is about (daring to) combine ornamental and edible plants— here. The beautiful photography is by Sietske de Vries. It includes a number of tips and plant combinations that you might enjoy trying out yourself.
See you in the next blog post! One of my New Year's resolutions is to write more, so hopefully it won't just be a resolution ;-).
