The Piet Oudolf field at Hauser & Wirth in Somerset is the much-photographed and universally adored example of a style of planting that has been gathering momentum since the Victorian era. In defiance of an increasingly industrialised landscape, garden-making has steadily become more conscious of the vitality and importance of wilder and naturalistic landscapes as they disappear in an ever-more urban world. But it was Piet Oudolf who has transformed this yearning for the wild into a widely recognised style, one which has arguably been the defining characteristic of contemporary garden design over the last 20 years.
Swathes and large groupings of long-flowering perennials and grasses, naturalistic shapes and lines (no rectilinear symmetry here), an abundance of colour and variety of form and an appreciation for plants long past their flowering “best” are some of the hallmarks of this style of planting. Thanks to this, naturalistic gardens look good well beyond the traditional late-Spring -Autumn window, and in fact often look their best in the depths of winter.
But how to recreate it at home? Well the clue as it turns out, is not in the title. The big misconception about naturalistic meadow planting is that it is not a simple replica of nature that you can just abandon to do its thing, but a stylised and contrived rendering of it. As Oudolf says “I try to create nature as you would wish to see it” – it’s a controlled, edited and maintained version of nature, which gives the impression of the wild.
Over many years of experimentation, Oudolf has identified plant communities that mimic those in the wild and recreated them in more domestic and ornamental settings. However they rely on the hand of a gardener to keep them stable – by very definition a wild planting will shape shift and evolve where the wind blows – literally. Therefore maintaining a garden like this involves identifying the self-seeders early on and editing them out. But on the upside, there is little other work to be done – no dead-heading, cutting back or filling in with a cast of annuals to plug gaps. The joy is embracing the full seasonal spectrum these plants have to offer.
According to Oudolf “a plant is only worth growing if it looks good when it is dead”, and he wasn’t joking. The plants that have made it through auditions and found a place in his schemes have to be consummate tickers of boxes – reliable, hardy, as lovely in flower as in seed, and able to stand tall throughout the winter. They need to offer height, texture, colour and movement, and be generally pest and problem free. Luckily, through a lifetime of observation and study, he has done the hard work for us.
How to recreate a Piet Oudolf garden at home
The backbone of naturalistic planting schemes are grasses, which form the visually quiet and restful stage on which the other players perform. Grasses are used as a matrix plant, to knit the more showy characters together harmoniously.
In a smaller space, in order to achieve a similar look, selecting fewer species and having larger groupings of them is key. If you have a larger space, this style of planting is great way of covering large areas with (relatively) low maintenance planting. It works particularly well as a focal plot, or island bed. At Hauser & Wirth, the beds are designed to be viewed from all sides, unlike the traditional English border with its hierarchy of graduated heights from front to back. Equally, the intrinsic movement and fluidity of this style of planting is a great foil to rectilinear designs, softening otherwise severe materials and angles.
Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Goldtau’
Low growing evergreen tuft which gives rise to plumes of shimmering panicles that catch the light and the slightest breath of air.
Sporobolous heterolepis
A genuine prairie grass and ultimate matrix plant, designed to create a gauzy haze against which other plants can shine.
Stipa tenuissima
A shorter, more easily placed grass that offers year-round feathery swoosh and texture.
Achillea ‘Credo’
A tall Achillea that delivers an intense hit of lemon yellow, wonderful umbrella form both in flower and as seed heads, and very robust.
Amsonia Hubrichtii
Despite having beautiful spires of cornflower blue star shaped flowers in Spring, it’s the foliage - needle-like and feathery in spring and richly golden in autumn, silver in winter, - that makes this such a winner.
Anemone Hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’
A classic for a reason, extremely long-flowering beautiful pure white flowers on airy stems. Could out-compete other species if not kept in check.
Echinacea pallida ‘Hula Dancer’
In my mind the poster-girl for prairie planting, instantly recognisable silhouette, fragile reflex petals that give way to surly charcoal cone-shaped seed-heads that last all winter.
Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’
Extremely floriferous and vigorous daisy shaped flower in the richest russet tones.
Persicaria amplexicualis ‘Firedance’
Mid height spires of intensely coloured racemes with extremely useful foliage which is a great ground cover
Phlomis Russeliana
Whorls of lemony yellow flowers which transform into distinctive statuesque silhouettes in winter. Foliage evergreen, textural and great ground cover.
Veronicastrum virginicum
Tall spires of lavender hued flowers with sparse evenly spaced tiered foliage. In winter they transform into ethereal snakey figures that sway in the breeze.
