Brett Gilman

As a passionate environmental thinker and creator, I am motivated by a strong persuasion that our everyday spaces and the way that we think are connected.

Follow me on Instagram for more content: .moments

Studies Landscape Architecture, Conservation Biology and Fine Art & Design
Middlebury College | Oxford | DIS Copenhagen I pursue studies of landscape architecture at the intersection of environmental policy, conservation biology, fine art, and philosophy. Follow along with me as I explore the world of forward-thinking garden and landscape design!

08/03/2026

Had to keep this under wraps for a few months, but now it’s finally been released! This past fall, I regularly volunteered with a fantastic local Dutch garden group in the small town of Tiel. What made it even more special? Monty Don came to visit!

Vlindertuin de Zindering was featured on the famous garden show of Monty Don. Such an honor to participate alongside a wonderful group of gardeners excited to share their work with the world. It’s a unique story of how a grassroots approach to naturalistic gardening brought a community together and transformed a town.

You can catch the full segment in episode three of “Monty Don’s Rhineland Gardens”

montydon

14/02/2026

I’ve long dreamed about a landscape of fall blue/violet. Here it is come to life at Beethovenplein in Amsterdam.

This past October, I had the opportunity to bike around the Dutch capital with the skilled and inventive city landscape architect- Ton Muller. We talked about the importance and challenges of bringing the Dutch New Wave style into public landscapes. Naturalistic gardening requires adaptations for urban environments under extra stress from high user traffic, declining budgets, and imprecise management. Here, I think he’s done it quite successfully- by sticking to a few species, repeating for impact, and selecting species for resilience. Many of the plants Ton has used here are perennials native to the eastern U.S.

Thanks for welcoming me to your city,

09/02/2026

“A garden is a habitat for people and animals.” This is the guiding philosophy of Dutch garden designer Arjan Boekel. Such an elegant statement is emblematic of an entire portfolio across the Netherlands, and I was lucky to accompany Arjan on site visits throughout this past fall. To me, it’s Arjan’s approach of bringing the Dutch New Wave from big park landscapes into intimate residential spaces that is truly stunning. This rural canalside garden, featuring places to cook and eat and relax defined by wild-style plants, is so different from the expansive lawns of American neighborhoods. It is in these naturalistic landscapes of home where I see a transformative vision for our everyday contact with wildness unfolding.

So grateful to .boekel for autumn weeks crisscrossing the Netherlands in the work van, tagging along to garden talks and nurseries, and for the chance to follow in your footsteps.

30/01/2026

A momentous occasion from this past fall when I got to meet my longtime garden hero Piet Oudolf!

On a late September day, I woke up before dawn and ventured across the Netherlands for the rare chance to step into the private garden, Hummelo, of the superstar Dutch master. It was a once-in-lifetime chance made possible by the inspirational Arjan Boekel, a day that brought together three generations of garden professionals.

Oudolf has been the guiding figure in my passion for naturalistic garden design, reinforced every time I visited NYC’s Highline since a young age. Not only did I get to explore his world-famous garden at Hummelo, I was also witness to the filming of a new documentary. And then to be included in the publication of an article summing it all up!

Many thanks to for his welcome, .boekel for his guidance and mentorship, and for his incredible writing!

Adres

Amsterdam

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https://www.instagram.com/bgilman.moments/

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