The Oudolf Garden

Over a century after its creation as a private estate, the ingenuity and imagination behind the making of Planting Fields still informs the place today. In that spirit, Planting Fields Foundation has invited Piet Oudolf, recognized as the foremost landscape designer of our time, to create a new garden for the site. Making spaces that celebrate the four-season offerings of plants, Oudolf has redefined notions of beauty, invoking a holistic appreciation and sustained sense of awe of the natural world. Set to be completed in fall 2026, the Oudolf Garden will add a bold new experience to the richly layered landscape of Planting Fields, representing the most significant addition to the site since the Olmsted Brothers completed their work in the 1930s. 

Make History with Planting Fields Foundation

The Oudolf Garden offers supporters a unique chance to leave a mark on the landscape of Planting Fields and be a part of history in the making. By supporting Planting Fields Foundation’s The Most Beautiful Acre on Long Island campaign, donors are bringing Piet Oudolf’s work to a public setting on Long Island for the first time ever. This project also marks Oudolf’s first public garden in New York in over a decade, building on a legacy of iconic spaces such as the High Line and Battery Park.

As a patron of this transformative project, donors will not only help bring a world-class garden to life but also become an integral part of its story, ensuring that its beauty, sustainability, and community impact will endure long into the future. We invite you to align your philanthropic vision with a project that speaks to the highest ideals of environmental stewardship, artistry, and community.

Special thanks to our supporters. See dedications here! 

There are many ways to support the Oudolf Garden. Read below to learn more.

Rendering of the Oudolf Garden, 2025, by bloomimages.

Sponsor a Plant in the Oudolf Garden

Featuring over 24,000 plants, the Oudolf Garden is a living work of art designed to inspire, educate, and nurture both people and the environment. By sponsoring a plant, you help the garden flourish while supporting biodiversity, environmental education, and a space for reflection and connection.

Sponsorships are available at $25, $50, and $100 per plant, allowing you to choose a level that feels meaningful to you. Each donation can honor a loved one, a teacher, a friend, or a moment in your own life, with your personal message included on our website. All plant sponsors will also be invited to celebrate the garden’s opening.

Plant a memory. Celebrate a life. Help us grow a garden that will inspire and endure!

Mai and Henry Coe, 1921, from the Planting Fields Foundation Archives. 

Support the Restoration of the Rose Arbor

For more than 120 years, the Rose Arbor has been a beloved feature at Planting Fields. Landscape designer, James Greenleaf, created the Rose Arbor for the Byrne family around 1906. When the Coe family took ownership of Planting Fields in 1913, they continued to cherish the feature and designed important gardens surrounding it. The Rose Arbor became a central backdrop to life at Planting Fields. Historic photos show baby Natalie Coe in her highchair under the abundant roses in 1911 and Henry Coe with his toy buggy alongside his mother, Mai Coe, in 1921 amid the blooming flowers. The arbor’s significance to the site’s past owners, and now to its visitors, was recognized by landscape designer Piet Oudolf, whose plans for the new one-acre garden place the Rose Arbor at its center.

As part of the development of the Oudolf Garden, Planting Fields Foundation will restore the Rose Arbor. A series of thirty-one new custom designed arbors will be installed, and additional plantings will add seasonal interest to the feature. The result will be a magical integration of the imaginations of Greenleaf and Oudolf, two garden visionaries.

Restoring the Rose Arbor will be a key initiative within the campaign for The Most Beautiful Acre on Long Island and Planting Fields Foundation is seeking to raise $300,000 for the design, construction, and ongoing care of the restored feature.

Be part of the campaign to support the Rose Arbor Restoration and make an impact for generations to come.
– A gift of $300,000 would support the complete restoration project and ongoing care of the Rose Arbor and neighboring landscape.
– The 31 arbors are available to sponsor for a contribution of $10,000 each.

Henry Coe, circa 1912, from the Planting Fields Foundation Archives.

Sponsor a Tree in the Oudolf Garden

Piet Oudolf selected 15 trees and shrubs to form a garden bed at the west end of the one-acre Oudolf Garden. Each of these species was handpicked by the Oudolf Garden team at local nurseries in New York and New Jersey and approved by Piet Oudolf. These trees and shrubs are available for sponsorships for a period of three years for $5,000 or $10,000 each. At the end of the three-year period, roots will have grown deep, and the trees and shrubs will have sustained themselves within the landscape. Tree Sponsors provide essential support for the purchase, planting, and first three years of care of these trees at Planting Fields.

A tree or shrub sponsorship allows supporters to play a vital role in the tree’s earliest stage of growth and be forever connected with the creation of the Oudolf Garden. As the garden matures, your name – or the name of someone you wish to honor – will be associated with a defining element of its structure and seasonal character. This is a unique and limited opportunity to help shape the Oudolf Garden from the ground up, contributing to a landscape that will continue to evolve and inspire over time.

The following trees and shrubs are available for sponsorship:

W.R. Coe circa 1950, from the Planting Fields Foundation Archives. 

Sponsor a Bench in the Oudolf Garden

Vantage points are central to landscape design. Creating perspectives is a key part of a garden designer’s work, guiding how visitors experience a landscape as it unfolds. The Oudolf Garden at Planting Fields is designed to be immersive and ever-changing, inviting guests to move through it slowly and taking in each moment.

Piet Oudolf identified four distinct locations for seating, each offering a carefully considered view of the garden. These benches are not simply places to sit, but spaces to pause, reflect, and connect with the surrounding landscape as well as the person sitting beside you. The benches invite visitors to rest and experience the garden’s subtle shifts in color, texture, and light throughout the seasons.

Sponsoring a bench offers a meaningful way to support this experience. Each bench will bear the name of its donor or honoree, becoming part of the visitor journey through the garden. Those who pause there will encounter that name in a moment of quiet reflection, linking this generosity to the experience of the space itself. This is an opportunity to create a place of rest for others while contributing to one of the most personal and memorable aspects of the Oudolf Garden.

The four benches are created by the Italian design firm Metalco and mirror the thoughtful design of the garden.

As part of the campaign for The Most Beautiful Acre on Long Island Planting Fields Foundation is seeking four donors to add the name of their choice to a bench for a period of 5 years. Donations of $25,000 per bench will support the cost of manufacturing the benches, shipping them to Planting Fields, and ensure their subsequent maintenance.

Mai Coe in the Rose Arbor at Planting Fields in 1921, from the Nassau County Photo Archives.

Become a Founding Funder

Philanthropy is a core tenet of Planting Fields. The site was given to the people of the State of New York by the Coe family in 1955. Ever since, it has existed as a public resource that continues to thrive because of a partnership between Planting Fields Foundation and New York State Parks. During his lifetime, W.R. Coe donated exemplary collections of Western Americana and Ornithology to Yale University, gifted significant art collections to the National Gallery of Art, while also endowing numerous professorships, most of which are still active today, at Yale University, Stanford University, and the University of Wyoming, among others. Coe also established American Studies programs across the country, shaped by his own experience as a young English immigrant.

We invite you to find inspiration from the Coe spirit of philanthropy and become a Founding Funder of the Oudolf Garden. The Coes were patrons of the most prominent and celebrated designers, artists, and architects of their time. Each of these left their mark on Planting Fields. It is therefore appropriate that at the heart of the campaign for The Most Beautiful Acre on Long Island there will be a group of ten donors — The Founding Funders — who have pledged their commitment to the vision for the Oudolf Garden. The Founding Funders will donate $100,000 or more over five years and will be listed on permanent signage. They will also have access to a range of tailored intimate experiences that will enhance their enjoyment of the new garden and the expanded visitor experience it will facilitate.

Join The Founding Funders by pledging $100,000 to the campaign for The Most Beautiful Acre on Long Island payable over up to five years. All Founding Funders will enjoy the following benefits:
– Honorary admission into Planting Fields Foundation’s Oak Circle for 10 years.
– Listing as a Founding Funder on permanent signage.
– Invitations to exclusive events celebrating the Oudolf Garden.

To become a Founding Funder, please contact Planting Fields Foundation President and CEO, Dr. Gina J. Wouters at gwouters@plantingfields.org.

W.R. Coe and greenhouse technician, 1946, from the Planting Fields Foundation Archives.

Landscape Curator Position Endowment 

Land stewardship has been central to Planting Fields for centuries. Originally named planting fields by the Matinecock people in their native tongue, the greatest attribute of the land has always been its fertile soils and what grows because of it. Whether lush forests, abundant agricultural fields, or designed gardens, the land’s caretakers are the protagonists in the history of the site. W.R. Coe, creator of the Planting Fields we know today, brought the most noted landscape architects, horticulturalists, and superintendents of his era to care for his prized 409 acres. In this new chapter of the Planting Fields story, we seek to endow the Landscape Curator position to ensure that the Oudolf Garden and Olmsted Brothers-designed landscapes stay true to their creators’ intent.

The addition of the Piet Oudolf Garden in an already storied landscape brings the opportunity to foreground the creation and care that goes into sustaining a designed garden. The Landscape Curator will bring a deep love of gardens and gardening; hands-on experience in creating and maintaining landscapes; and enthusiasm for sharing knowledge and best practice with colleagues, volunteers and the public. They will be the person entrusted to sustain Piet Oudolf’s vision for the new garden, serving as a critical factor in its success.

Planting Fields Foundation is seeking a visionary donor to support the core costs of the Landscape Curator position with an endowment gift of $2 million. Naming opportunities accompany the endowment of the position.

To endow the Landscape Curator Position, please contact Planting Fields Foundation President and CEO, Dr. Gina J. Wouters at gwouters@plantingfields.org.