It's winter and as much as we gardeners pray for warmer, more colorful days, there are still opportunities to find beauty in the dormant beds of our gardens. Dutch landscape architect, Piet Oudolph, knows this better than anyone as he designs four season landscapes that continue to awe, well after the final blooms of fall's Japanese anemones perish.
Oudolph, who is a leader in the New Perennials Landscape Movement, suggests choosing (perennial) plants for their texture and long-lasting shapes as opposed to simply their color. He has practiced this philosophy in his international acclaimed gardens for years. Oudolf was recently asked to partake in a Q&A segment in the New York Times last week to discuss the merits of winter gardens.
Included in the interview is a spectacular slide show (I could not download, you must click on link to see), demonstrating Oudolf's passion for all season gardens, which has been a favorite Neglected Beauty topic for years. While many people still believe their gardens are unappealing during the winter months, they may change their minds when they look at his incredible images. Skeletal remains of echinacea and dried ornamental grass reeds seem every bit as beautiful as when they were alive, but now they are caste in haunting, sepia tones that pull the viewer in a new direction. All you have to do is adjust your perspective a bit, and you will see Oudolph's message: while everything must have a season, beauty still continues to bloom in death as it once did in life.
To learn more about Piet Oudolph, visit his website.
All photos property of Piet Oudolf.
1 comment:
I have always loved winter gardens/landscapes. How else can one see the gorgeous skeleton of trees and plants unless stripped of all the dressing?
Nice post Flowerspy!
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