Dendermonde (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The City of Dendermonde has launched a new edition of its “Behaag je tuin” project, encouraging residents to transform their gardens into greener, more natural and climate-resilient spaces.
The scheme enables people to buy native tree, shrub, hedge and climber species at a favorable bulk-buying rate. The scheme is arranged through the Regionaal Landschap Schelde-Durme, an organization that collaborates with local governments and citizens for improving biodiversity, landscape quality and climate resilience in the region. In its press release issued on August 21, 2026, Dendermonde stresses increasing pressure from warm, dry, and wet conditions. The town believes that gardens can be made adaptable using some basic actions, such as planting trees and shrubs that help absorb rain water and offer shade in times of excessive heat.
“You can easily make your garden more climate-resilient. Improve the water absorption of your garden and its surroundings with trees and shrubs and enjoy the air-conditioning effect of a tree,”
the City of Dendermonde said in its announcement.
Residents are being encouraged to view private gardens as part of a wider ecological network. Even small gardens can contribute to biodiversity when they contain native plants, flowering shrubs, fruit trees or climbing vegetation.
How will the 2026 project work?
Orders can be made via the “Behaag je tuin” website. According to the announcement by Dendermonde, orders may be placed between September 1 and October 31, 2026, and pick-up is scheduled for early December. According to the project page on the Regionaal Landschap Schelde-Durme site, the closing date is set for October 15. Therefore, the deadline shown on the ordering platform should be checked before making a purchase.
The use of collective buying makes native planting materials cheaper and more available to the residents. This way, combining the orders of several people living in participating municipalities will enable the organizers to sell the necessary plant materials for a cheaper price compared to many separate retail purchases. The following groups of plants can be purchased: mixed hedge plants, plants for woodland edges, high-stem fruit trees, native trees, shrubs, and climbing plants. Some packages are intended for special soil types (dry/wet), and there are also pollinator plants (bees).
The organisers also offer choices involving thorny or non-thorny species, enabling residents to select plants according to the size, location and purpose of their garden.
Has Dendermonde organised the scheme before?
The 2026 campaign follows earlier municipal support for “Behaag je tuin”. Dendermonde’s municipal records show that the city approved support for the project in 2025. The city’s college of mayor and aldermen also approved support for the 2026 action in June.
The project is not exclusive to Dendermonde. It is a repeat project that is undertaken by Regional Landscapes in various Flemish regions and municipalities contribute to ordering, communication and delivery arrangements. The previous projects include native hedges, hedgerows, woodland strips, high stem fruit trees, leafy trees, knot willows and climbers. Ordering used to occur in September and October, while delivery occurred in December.
The results from a 2024 edition that was held in Meetjesland and Leie Valley region show the magnitude of the broader project. In the participating municipalities, there were orders for 366 mixed hedge bundles, 94 woodland edge bundles, 1,462 high stem fruit trees, 1,083 high stem leafy trees, 270 climbers and 101 willow cuttings. The organizers claimed that the plants used were autochthonous plants which have long been in the area and thus well adapted to the local environment.
