One way to get a glimpse of Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf's romantic view of ruin? Join the Disney-size crowds who are shuffling along the elevated length of Manhattan's High Line Park, where tall sweeps of grasses and wildflowers poke up theatrically through an abandoned elevated railway. Another way—for a lucky few—is to hire him for your own project.
For a client in northern Germany, Oudolf designed a private garden (located about a two-hours' drive from Hamburg) that incorporates on a smaller scale the same philosophy of using plants with structure and shape that lend year-round interest to a garden. Let's take a look (no pushing, please):
Photographs via Piet Oudolf.
Above: Purple coneflowers (L), an Oudolf staple, are also scattered deliberately along the High Line.
Above: Dramatically shaped hedges, which Oudolf uses as a backdrop for a mixed perennial border, limit the garden's scale even as they lure the eye to consider a distant vista.
Above: Waves of clipper-constrained hedges echo the softer undulations of grasses and perennials; on Oudolf's list of favorites are meadow rues and Joe Pye weed, which he doesn't cut back in winter because, he says, the contemplation of its decaying stalks is a reminder of nature's life cycle.
Above: As on the High Line, large shrubs and relatively small trees create a sense of scale for perennials and grasses.
Above: The house opens onto a deck-as-outdoor-room, where "walls" are defined by a high, close-clipped hedge; the geometric severity is softened—in typical Oudolf fashion—by a sprawl of grasses.
Above: Mr. Oudolf relaxes against a backdrop of grasses; Sporobolus heterolepsis (R), on his list of favorites, offers a good example of why Mr. Oudolf extols the virtues of the color brown in the garden. Images via Scrampston and Fine Gardening.
Above: A collection of Mr. Oudolf's books, including (From L) Planting the Natural Garden, Planting Design, Designing with Plants, and Gardening With Grasses are available online, from new or used booksellers through Amazon or from used booksellers through Bookfinder.