Many of the perennials are species of North American origin, reflecting the long fascination Europeans have had with the continent’s flora. The dominant flowering season is from June to October. And the flowers with intense color - the blue spire of camassia and the deep magenta-pink of the cranesbill Geranium ‘Patricia’ - would be especially striking when seen dotted around in grass. I could see how the ornamental grasses, including Calamagrostis, Panicum virgatum (the prairie species known as switchgrass), and Festuca mairei (a drought-tolerant species from North Africa) would provide long-term basic structure. So why do it? “It was about a creating a solution,” said Piet, “less maintenance for the future, and an experiment to see how robust perennials would grow with native grasses and wildflowers.” Framed that way, the new garden began to make a lot of sense. This was definitely an unconventional plant combination. Or was it the other way around, a wild grassy area being made into a garden?įluffy plumes of Deschampsia caespitosa grass set off the silhouette of dark late-season Veratrum californicum, a handsome, graphic plant when left to go to seed. As I walked past the plants, I realized that to the uninitiated, it might look like a garden that had been invaded by wildflowers. The perennials were growing strongly, and the grass and the first of the wildflowers were getting established, including wild chamomile and yarrow.

Between the grass and perennials, Piet then sowed a meadow mix created by the Dutch company Cruydt-Hoeck containing Dutch native grasses and wildflower perennials, such as Dianthus carthusianorum and Valeriana officinalis. They included late-flowering robust perennials, but also earlier ones like Monarda bradburyana, which flowers from the beginning of June. Other plants (very strong perennials that could compete with native and spontaneous vegetation) went in at some distance from each other, more or less randomly.

The Calamagrostis “echoed the plantings around the office building,” Piet explained. I watched as Piet began filling the empty space by planting Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’, an ornamental grass well established as having a long season, providing a strongly vertical visual element, and being very wind resistant in certain soil conditions. The weather on the weekend of my visit was clear and sunny - perfect conditions for setting out on a new project. Writer Noel Kingsbury was fortunate to witness its 'wild' transformation.Ĭlosing the nursery in 2010 left a roughly 6,000-square-foot area of poor loamy and sandy soil between the farmhouse and Piet’s office building, and an inevitable question in the air. After Piet and Anja Oudolf closed their 6,000-square-foot nursery, it left an empty space.

Piet oudolf gardens to visit