One of Piet Oudolf's projects is a garden surrounding a new gallery of contemporary art near Amsterdam. The 2,000 square metre garden at Museum Voorlinden needed to encompass the gallery's contemporary building and connect it to the surrounding countryside.
Oudolf is best known for designing schemes of perennial plants and grasses that focus on the way that plants relate to each other throughout the year. The hallmark of his schemes is sustainability and durability. The garden at Voorlinden needed to look spectacular for the opening of the museum and for this Piet had to adopt a different approach.
“We had just a few months between being able to plant and the inauguration of the museum. I decided that we needed to introduce annual and tender plants into the design to ensure that the garden was looking as good as possible for the gallery opening.” The result is spectacular and exuberant, with the ephemeral plants adding a lightness and effervescence to the garden that sparkled even into late October.
Here is Oudolf's list of annuals and perennials to give you an idea of his exciting mix of plants - and also some of the quantities used for an area of 400 squared metres.
Achillea 'Hannelore Pahl' x 120
Achillea filipendulina 'Hymne' x 60
Agapanthus x 30
Agastache mexicana 'Summer Glow' x 104
Agastache 'Blue Fortune' x 59
Ammi majus x 50
Anemone hupehensis 'Hadspen Abundance' x 114
Aster novi-belgii 'Bluae-Nachthut' x 15
Aster macrophyllus 'Twilight' (= Eurybia x herveyi) x 100
Calamintha nepeta subsp.nepeta x 200
Centaurea cyanus
Cosmos atrosanguineus x 25
Crocosmia 'Yellow Lucifer' x 22
Cuphea llavea 'Tiny Mice' (= Cuphea llavea 'Georgia Scarlet')
Cynara cardunculus Scolymus Group x 25
Echinacea pallida 'Hula Dancer' x 200
Echinacea paradoxa x 50
Echium vulgare 'Blue Bedder' x 121
Eupatorium rogosum 'Chocolate' x 21
Foeniculum vulagare 'Giant Bronze' x 81
Gaura lindheimeri 'Whirling Butterflies' x 136
Gladiolus murielae x 258
Helichrysum petiolare 'Goring Silver' x 77
Hordeum jubatum
Kalimeris incisa x 29
Leonotis leonurus x 70
Limonium latifolium x 200
Lobelia speciosa 'Hadspen Purple' x 112
Lupinus angustifolius
Muhlenbergia capillaris x 50
Nassella tenuissima x 315
Nicotiana mutabilis x 44
Nicotiana langsdorffii x 171
Orlaya grandiflora x 155
Pennisetum villosum x 66
Penstemon 'Apple Blossom' x 60
Phacelia tanacetifolia
Reseda alba x 118
Rudbeckia hirta 'Prairie Sun'
Salvia patens x 84
Sedum 'Matrona' x 87
Tagetes patula 'Linnaeus' x 119
Zinnia 'Red Spider' x 75
Dahlias
Dahlia 'Honka Fragile' x 100
Dahlia 'Mexican Black' x 50
Dahlia 'Gryson's Yellow Spider' x 50
Dahlia 'Bishop of York' x 100
NOTE please be aware that these plants will have been especially sourced by Piet Oudolf in mainland Europe and may not be more widely available.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Address Museum Voorlinden, Buurtweg 90, 2244 AG Wassenaar, the Netherlands.
Tel +31 (0)70 512 1660
voorlinden.nl
Open Daily 11am-5pm.
Read 24 plants from Hauser and Wirth, another of Piet Oudolf's great gardens.