Meeting the Netherlanders I: Plants, Places, People

In late June, I left my patch of Canadian woodland far behind to travel overseas to the Netherlands and Germany. I was a gardener on a mission to meet some luminaries of contemporary Dutch planting design and explore their gardens and nurseries in my version of a midsummer night’s dream. Above all else, this trip was about the chance to again meet visionary Dutch planting designer, Piet Oudolf on his home turf …

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Piet Oudolf: Royal Recognition at Home

On Monday November 11, Queen Máxima awarded the Prince Bernhard Culture Prize 2013 to garden and landscape designer Piet Oudolf. This lifetime achievement award is given annually to a person or institution who have contributed something exceptional to the cultural fabric of the country.

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Grassendaggen: A Fall Epiphany at Hummelo

There comes a moment in every voyage when you know you’ve arrived. And that’s how I felt on my first-ever visit to the private dream garden of Piet and Anja Oudolf on ‘Grass Days’, one Saturday morning in early September 2009.

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Piet Oudolf: In his own Words

Click on the magic box below to transport yourself to the Netherlands and meet Piet in conversation in his home garden at Hummelo. I cannot recommend this excellent video highly enough. Dutch Profiles: Piet Oudolf from Dutch Profiles on Vimeo.

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Dutch Master: Piet’s Garden at the TBG

Seeing the New Perennial planting at the Toronto Botanical Garden for the first time was like discovering a Rosetta stone of modern garden design. The day I saw it, the Entry Garden Walk had been newly planted and the perennial beds looked like an immense puzzle, with each plant poking up its head like a clue.

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