Piet Oudolf (; born 27 October 1944) is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

garden designer A garden designer is someone who designs the plan and features of gardens, either as an amateur or professional. The compositional elements of garden design and landscape design are: terrain, water, planting, constructed elements and buildings, p ...

nurseryman A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general p ...

and author. He is a leading figure of the "New Perennial" movementhis designs and plant compositions using bold drifts of

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

s and

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

es which are chosen at least as much for their structure as for their flower color.

Design philosophy

Working primarily with

s, Oudolf practices a naturalistic approach to gardening. Taking a cue from architectural design, Oudolf prioritizes the seasonal life cycle of a plant over decorative considerations like flower or colour. He focuses primarily on structural characteristics, such as leaf or seed pod shape, present before and after a plant has flowered. He explains: "A garden is exciting for me when it looks good through the year, not just at one particular time. I want to go outside and for it to be interesting in all weather, in early spring and late autumn." The stability of perennials after planting are key to Oudolf's designs, especially the use of long-lived clump-forming species. The result are gardens that persist in their planned state years after being planted with little deviation from Oudolf's hand drawn maps. Oudolf's overall approach to planting has evolved since the 1980s when he and his wife Anja opened their nursery, at Hummelo, in

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

. His early work with perennials consisted of block-type groupings based on structure and texture. More recently Oudolf's gardens has experimented with a variety of approaches, which, broadly speaking, are more naturalistic, often using blends of species. The change in style has been described as a shift from a painter's perspective to one informed by

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

. It was first introduced into Oudolf's public work in 2004 as part of the

Lurie Garden Lurie Garden is a garden located at the southern end of Millennium Park in the Loop area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Designed by GGN (Gustafson Guthrie Nichol), Piet Oudolf, and Robert Israel, it opened on July 16, 2004 ...

in Chicago. The approach can be seen in the New York

High Line The High Line is a elevated park, elevated linear park, greenway (landscape), greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the West Side (Manhattan), west side of Manhattan in New York City. The High Line's ...

project.

Projects

*Garden, near the

Vitra Design Museum The Vitra Design Museum is a privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany. Former Vitra CEO, and son of Vitra founders Willi and Erika Fehlbaum, Rolf Fehlbaum founded the museum in 1989 as an independent private foundation. The ...

(2021) *Oudolf Garden Detroit at Belle Isle Park (Michigan, USA, 2020) *Meadow garden,

Delaware Botanic Gardens Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

(Dagsboro, Delaware, USA, 2019) *

Singer Laren Singer Laren is a museum and concert hall located in the center of Laren, the Netherlands. The museum is devoted to presenting and preserving the collection of the American artist William Henry Singer (1868–1943) and his wife Anna (1878–1962 ...

Sculpture Garden (Laren, Netherlands, 2018) *Vlinderhof (Leidsche Rijn, Netherlands, 2014) *

Hauser & Wirth Hauser & Wirth is a Swiss contemporary and modern art gallery. History Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth, and Ursula Hauser, who were joined in 2000 by co-president Marc Payot. In 2020, Ewan Venters was ap ...

(Bruton Somerset, England, 2013) *

Serpentine Gallery The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Central London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery, ...

, interior garden (London, England, 2011 with

Peter Zumthor Peter Zumthor (; born 26 April 1943) is a Swiss architect whose work is frequently described as uncompromising and minimalist. Though managing a relatively small firm, he is the winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize and 2013 RIBA Royal Gold Medal. E ...

) *

(New York City, 2006) *

Toronto Botanical Garden The Toronto Botanical Garden (TBG) is located at 777 Lawrence Avenue East at Leslie Street, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Termed "The little garden with big ideas", the TBG is nearly four acres and features 17 themed "city-sized gardens". Located ...

Entry Garden Walk (Toronto, 2006) *

Trentham Estate The Trentham Estate, in the village of Trentham, is a visitor attraction located on the southern fringe of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. History The estate was first recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. At th ...

(Trentham,

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

, 2004) *

Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to ...

(New York City, 2003) *

Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center near ...

(Chicago, 2003 with

Kathryn Gustafson Kathryn Gustafson (born 1951) is an American landscape architect. Her work includes the Gardens of the Imagination in Terrasson, France; a city square in Évry, France; and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park, London. Sh ...

and

Shannon Nichol Shannon Nichol is an American landscape architect and founding principal of Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN), located in Seattle. Nichol has led many of GGN's landscape design projects including the designs for Boston's North End Parks, Seattle's ...

) *

Scampston Hall Scampston Hall is a Grade II* listed English country house, country house in North Yorkshire, England, with a serpentine park designed by Charles Bridgeman and Capability Brown. It is located on the north side of the A64 Leeds/Scarborough road, ...

(England, 2002–2003) *ABN Amro Bank (Netherlands, 2000) *Hoogeland (Netherlands, 2001) *Millennium Garden at

Pensthorpe Nature Reserve Pensthorpe Natural Park is located in Pensthorpe, Norfolk, England and is approximately one mile from Fakenham and close to the A1067 road. The park covers . The River Wensum, which runs through the site, is a designated Special Area of Conserva ...

*Country Cork Garden, Republic of Ireland *Parts of Kurpark

Bad Driburg Bad Driburg () is a town and spa in Höxter (district), Höxter district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, situated on the river Aa (Nethe), Aa and the Altenbeken–Kreiensen railway. Geography Bad Driburg lies on the eastern slopes of the Egge ...

, Germany *Municipal park of

Enköping Enköping is a locality and the seat of Enköping Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 30,000 inhabitants in 2018. Geography Enköping is situated near Lake Mälaren, about 78 km west of Stockholm. A comparably large number of Swedi ...

, Sweden His own garden at

Hummelo Hummelo is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Bronckhorst, about 6 km northwest of Doetinchem. Hummelo was a separate municipality until 1818, when the area was divided between Ambt Doetinchem ...

, near

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, was established in 1982. It has gone through many changes which reflect Oudolf's constantly developing designs. Initially it was designed with a series of yew (''Taxus baccata'') hedges and blocks, reflecting Oudolf's architectural style which owed much to

Mien Ruys Wilhelmina Jacoba Moussault-Ruys (14 February 1904 – 9 January 1999), was a Dutch landscape and garden architect. Her gardening legacy is maintained in the Dutch town of Dedemsvaart, which is home to the ''Tuinen Mien Ruys''. With people such a ...

, the designer who dominated Dutch garden design in the post-war period. High Line 20th Street looking downtown

High Line (2006)

Oudolf's work on the

relied heavily on plants native to the region. A matrix of grasses with perennials grouped throughout was used to convey how the plants grow and intermingle in the wild.

Published works

*''Gardening With Grasses'' (1998) with Michael King and

Beth Chatto Beth Chatto (27 June 1923 – 13 May 2018) was an English plantswoman, garden designer and author known for creating and describing the Beth Chatto Gardens near Elmstead Market in the English county of Essex. She wrote several books about gard ...

*''Designing With Plants'' (1999) with

Noel Kingsbury Noel Kingsbury is a British garden designer and writer on gardening, plant sciences and related topics. He is best known for his promotion of naturalistic planting design in gardens and designed landscapes (e.g. the 1996 publication of 'The New ...

*''Dream Plants for the Natural Garden'' (2000) with Henk Gerritsenoriginally published in the Netherlands under the title ''Méér Droomplanten'' (1999) *''Planting the Natural Garden'' (2003) with Henk Gerritsen, revised (2019) with

originally published in the Netherlands under the title ''Droomplanten'' (1992) *''Planting Design: Gardens in Time and Space'' (2005) with

*''Landscapes in Landscapes'' (2011) with

*''Planting: A New Perspective'' (2013) with

*''Hummelo: A Journey Through a Plantsman's Life'' (2015) with

, revised (2021) *''Planting the Oudolf Gardens at Hauser & Wirth Somerset'' (2020) by Rory Dusoir with forward by Piet Oudolf

Film

''Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf'' (2017) is a documentary directed by Thomas Piper following gardens designed by Piet Oudolf through five seasons.

Awards

Veitch Memorial Medal The Veitch Memorial Medal is an international prize issued annually by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Goal The prize is awarded to "persons of any nationality who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement o ...

(2002) *New York City Public Design Commission Award for Excellence (2004) *Swedish Park commissioners' Dalecarlica Award (2009) *

Association of Professional Landscape Designers Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

Award of Distinction (2010)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oudolf, Piet 1944 births Living people People from Haarlem Dutch gardeners Dutch garden writers Landscape or garden designers Landscape Veitch Memorial Medal recipients