With less than two months to go until its unveiling, the Oudolf Garden is really coming together. The plants are growing and filling in, the historic Rose Arbors have been renovated, the benches are set, and just last week we laid the sod on the mounds in the central sections of the garden.
When visitors first walk in, they might be surprised to see these dots of lawn set in the middle of the garden. After all, it might seem old-fashioned to have mown turf amongst the boisterous flowers and grasses. To understand these grassy mounds, we first need to understand their context.
Last month we explored the ‘block planting’ of the beds around the exterior, where large, graphic groups of plants repeat in a patchwork across the site. The mounds, however, are set in the central meadows that run across the middle of the site that we call the ‘matrix’ beds. The metaphor I’ve been using for these areas is that they’re like a jello with stuff in it – picture strawberries floating in the middle of the gelatin. Scattered across this central area are all the fruit in my metaphor – small groups of irises, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, etc. Each species repeats in a rhythm across the area, so when the irises are blooming you’ll have a flash of blue here, another there, and another further on. And filling in all the space between those flowers are thousands of grasses – that’s the matrix.
This area will feel much like a wild meadow. There are no obvious block shapes like in the other beds, and plants of all sorts are all growing in and around each other. Then, amidst these boisterous flowers and grasses, three domes of lawn grass rise up. Raised as they are, these domes offer a vantage point floating at the height of the flowers from which to experience the garden. Imagine laying on a nicely mown lawn, surrounded by flowers and butterflies, with clouds passing through the sky above. These domes will be a place of rest for visitors physically.
In addition, the consistent, flat green of the lawn also offers a visual respite from the bold, colorful, texturally varied planting around. So as visitors walk through the gently winding paths with all their color and excitement, these domeswill give the eye a gentle place to rest. Trust me, it works!
I can’t wait for you all to see it when the garden opens October 17.
from Landscape Curator, Peter Slothower.