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Piet Oudolf Naturalistic Gardens

Like many Dutch, Oudolf speaks English fluently. He told me that he doesn't have a philosophy of gardening but explained, "I know what I like." Early on, he said he had felt trapped by English gardening -"I'm not a color gardener" - and he tried to find a way to escape. Tall decorative grasses and prairie plants appealed to him. As we walked through his personal gardens his love of big plants, particularly those that provide winter interest was obvious.

Piet and his wife Anja (who runs their plant nursery) have a couple of acres of gardens surrounding thier house. I visited in January, a time when only a few early hellebores were blooming, but the gardens were nicely decorated with seed heads and grasses. He uses lots of sharply clipped hedges in the garden, some of which reminded me of waves on the sea, with rolling curves and graceful lines. These stiff hedges served as counterpoints to the masses of tall grasses that waved in the winter wind. I asked him what he might suggest for a homeowner in a smaller setting, say something 30 meters (100 ft) square. First, he said you need to plan a space that is comfortable year round - someplace where you'd like to spend time. Start by taking up most of the sod, and getting a soil test done before doing any planting. Amend the soil with compost and minerals as needed.

Oudolf emphasized the importance of selecting easy-to-care for plants, things that are tolerant of a variety of conditions and will compete against weeds. "Nothing is as labor intensive as traditional gardening," he said. It's important, he noted, that you choose plants that need the same basic conditions if they are to grow together and do well. So, for example, don't try to plant heather (which needs acidic soil) right next to lavender (that needs sweet soil).

Instead of planting a hodge-podge of individual plants of many different colors and species, Oudolf recommends mass plantings with many plants of the same kind. To keep the garden interesting all year, Oudolf explained that you must plant things that flower in different seasons. He suggests 30% spring plants, 40-45% summer bloomers, and 25% plants that are best in autumn - including many that continue to perform in winter. He doesn't clean up his garden until late winter or early spring because he uses many tall grasses and perennials that are interesting all winter long.

It is important to separate your garden space from that of your neighbors, according to Oudolf, either by planting a woody hedge or by building a fence. In their gardens he uses English yew - which is not hardy here - for evergreen hedges, and beech (which hold their browned leaves through the winter), maples, oak, Corneliancherry dogwood (Cornus mas) and shadbush (Amelanchier spp.) for deciduous hedges. He likes iron fences that can be used as support for climbing plants like clematis, or be used to train woody plants into shaded tunnels.

In his own gardens Oudolf has created raised beds to change the level of the flat Dutch countryside, building 20-inch tall brick circles filled with soil and planted with tall decorative grasses. These brick structures, perhaps 20 feet in diameter, also serve as places to sit down briefly - though not comfortably, I might add. Oudolf believes that having adequate seating is important, as it encourages people to linger in the garden.

Pathways are important for gardens, Oudolf explained, as they lead the viewer through the garden. He believes that you shouldn't be able to see the entire garden at once. You can create tension by placing tall plants and hedges that block parts of the garden, he said. He likes hard surfaces for walkways in small gardens, either stone or brick, but grass as the path in larger gardens.

I liked Oudolf's garden in winter - it made me want to try some mass plantings of grasses, among other things. I don't have any hedges in my gardens, but will contemplate some now, as winter lingers on.

The designs of Piet Oudolf for huge landscapes also make sense for small, personal gardens: keep the design simple, don't use too many varieties, and choose tough plants that have a long seasonal interest. This summer I'm hoping to take a trip to see his gardens in Battery Park, and maybe I'll be able to visit the garden-in progress on the elevated rail line in Chelsea. Meanwhile, I have his book to study and plans to make.

Henry Homeyer's new book is "The New Hampshire Gardener's Companion: An Insider's Guide to Gardening in the Granite State." Write him at gardening.guy@valley.net or P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, N.H. 03746

Sidebar: Part of Piet Oudolf's Plant Palette: (I use these, and know they will work in New England)

Spring and early summer:

• amsonia (Amsonia spp.)
• be species
• asterwort (Astrantia major)
• baptisia or false indigo (Baptisia australis)
• barrenwort (Epimedium spp)
• Hellebore species
• Peonies

Mid-summer bloomers:

• Bloody cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum)
• Other geraniums (Geranium spp)
• Queen of the prairie (Filipendula spp)
• Bee Balm (Monarda didyma)
• Catmints (Nepeta spp.)
• Culver's root (Veronicastrum virginicum)

Fall Performers:

• sneezeweed (Helenium spp.)
• Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum, especially a variety called 'Gateway)
• burnets (Sanguisorba obtusa and other species)
• Purple cone flowers (Echinacea purpurea, especially the new orange ones: 'Sunrise', 'Sunset' and a white one he developed, 'Virgin', which I have not tried)
• Angelica (Angelica gigas)
• great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)
• ironweed (Vernnonia spp.)

Grasses (I'm not an expert here, so I'm just taking his suggestions):

• Molinia caerulus and litoralis cultivars,
• Miscanthus cultivars,
• Deschampsia species
• Panicum species
• Festuca species