The Gardens of Remembrance, blocks away from the former site of the World Trade Center, will be designed by Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf. Ketzel Levine speaks with NPR's John Ydstie about Oudolf's way with plants.

See a photo gallery of Oudolf's gardens and favorite plants.

Piet Oudolf

Designing with Plants

January 16, 2003 -- One look at Piet Oudolf's book, Designing with Plants, and you'll be ready to book a flight to New York to see for yourself what he's envisioned for the Gardens of Remembrance in The Battery. I recommend you wait a bit, though, at least until fall, when 10,000 square feet at the tip of Manhattan will be dancing and playing in the wind.

Oudolf likes kinetic plants: Dierama, Molinia and Miscanthus. Oudolf likes edgey plants: Eryngium, Echinops and Angelica gigas. And Oudolf likes plants with purpose, that romp, sway, tickle and cavort. He likes them red and orange, blue, purple and pink; he uses them as curtains, globes, buttons and spires. His grasses weep with joy.

I'm sure there are plants Piet Oudolf doesn't like (his idea of a woody plant seems to be a green hedge), but if its got life, color and dies gracefully (looking good dried and dessicated is a must), you will see it in an Oudolf garden. So when you make that trip to the Gardens of Remembrance, don't simply settle for a stroll. Prepare yourself for the exuberance of his vision, and his botanic interpretation of the varied, jarring and always poignant rhythms of life.

More Great Gardens and Gardeners

A View from the Woods
Ketzel speaks with Rick Darke, author of The American Woodland Garden. Darke has suggestions for using lessons from the forest to bring drama and mystery into the garden.

Wave Hill Garden Story
Ketzel visits Marco Polo Stufano and Wave Hill, an unusually personal yet public garden in the Bronx.

A Walk Through a Tasmanian Garden
Ketzel takes us on a tour of a three-acre garden on the Australian island state of Tasmania. The catch is, she never leaves home.

Other Resources

Piet Oudolf
Piet Oudolf's Web site includes photo galleries of some of his gardens.

Chelsea Flower Show Review
Read about the award-winning Gardens Illustrated Evolution garden designed by Piet Oudolf and Arne Maynard.

The Battery Conservancy
Located at the southernmost tip of Manhattan, The Battery is one of New York City's oldest public open spaces.