This is a conversation about what could be.
A conversation between two generations of exceptional Dutch landscape designers imagining what might happen next in the dynamic field of planting design. What lessons we can take from a multilayered private garden like Hummelo to bring to the public space and back again?
It’s well worth a listen and a cinematic treat to watch.
Especially when one side of the conversation is the iconic maestro Piet Oudolf and the other side is Arjan Boekel, planting designer/LA on the rise. Here we follow them out for a morning walk and talk in the mist at Hummelo, followed by a visit to Superbloei, a new urban collab project with Arjan of De Bloeimeesters and LOLA landscape architects in the nearby town of Arnhem.
That’s a Dutch play on Superbloom, the massive low-input, high-impact public project engineered by Professor Nigel Dunnett that turned the moat surrounding the Tower of London into a kaleidoscopic wildflower field for the late QE2’s centenary.
I know both Piet and Arjan well (and Nigel too, come to think of it).
Arjan is the real deal, a landscape professional who has clearly studied the greats in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK in order to forge his own point of creative and ecological departure. Every time I traveled to one of the great symposia happening in Europe over the past decade or so, Arjan was always there too, a friendly presence, open and listening.
He’s now both a solo act and member of the Dutch design/build/care collective De Bloeimeesters, a group with the depth of garden talent and resolve to make things happen in both the private and public space. The Superbloei project is a collab that shows what’s possible when enlightened city clients let the designers walk the walk.
This atmospheric short film about the future of plant knowledge is the work of filmmakers Generatie Alles and captures the feeling of Hummelo at a whole different point in its evolution. Kudos to the team who pulled it off.
Give it a watch and get back to me with your thoughts.
More to come from the New Perennialist who is currently plugging away on a self-titled book for Timber Press with a summer 2027 launch date.
In the meantime, clear your coffee table for The Contemporary Garden, a monumental new book from Phaidon that profiles 300 gardens from around the world that have defined the zeitgeist of modern garden design over the past thirty years. I’m one of the international contributing authors, writing about Piet’s work and the work of many other leading designers. You can catch up to the latest on my own design work on Insta.
Credit roll:
Piet and Anja Oudolf
Arjan Boekel
De Bloeimeesters
LOLA Landscape Architects
Generatie Alles
I find this level of passion, foresight, skill and creativity deeply inspiring. If only we could see more of this kind of planting here in the public spaces of Dufferin!
Agreed on both counts.
This was a joy to watch. Thanks for sending.
It is good to have you back!
You’re very welcome. It seemed like a good opportunity to revive the blog… gradually.
Thanks for this Tony. In particular, the book recommendation. A local bookstore has asked me to recommend gardening books and I will add this to the list. Will watch the film with a cup of tea later this afternoon. Piet Oudolf is a living legend (an overused term, I know). It makes me wonder who are Canada’s great garden designers? (In addition to yourself of course.)
Hi Christine, Enjoy your tea and short film. He is a legend/icon indeed. Canada’s great gardeners? In the public space, Biidaasige Park at the mouth of the Don looks amazing (US landscape architect MVVA). We do have some good residential designers like Botanica in Vancouver and Ben O’Brien in PEC.If you’re working up a book list, check my previous post for the fairly extensive list at the end (Wild-ish at Heart). Hopefully to add my own someday.
You’re doing such important work by contributing to and documenting the evolution of naturalistic garden design Tony. This mini doc (and everything you do) feeds the soul and provides priceless insight for designers and gardeners alike.
Such kind words. With the short doc, I am strictly the messenger of other people’s work but they asked me to share it, so here you go! Hopefully my own book in the works can help help fulfill everything you describe.