Piet Oudolf: Landscapes In Landscapes [Paperback]

If you are a Piet Oudolf fan - this is a book to add to your collection. Produced in a stylish glossy magazine format it contains photographs and sample planting plans, from a broad range of his commissions for private and public clients. Visual images and partial planting plans, some in centre-fold style double-page spreads, give a flavour of each commission, alongside text which sets the planting in context. However, you will not find sufficient detail to explain how to do it or to see the visual effect of combinations identified in the planting plans. The images and detailed plans do not relate to each other. For some people, this will restrict the book to a 'nice to have' coffee table glossy. You have to study the plans, some with a magnifying glass,and re-read the text carefully to understand and appreciate what is going on in the various projects. If you are dedicated you can pick apart Piet's designs. It's extraordinary to see quite how structured they are yet look so natural.

The book reads in order of project size, starting with the smallest and progressing to the largest. But if you delve into the chronology, what becomes apparent is Piet's progression over time from perennial plantings with grasses used as accents; to plantings today consisting of 75% grasses with a few forbs; moving from planting in blocks, to blocks blended drifts and islands with scattered accent plants, to matrix planting with accents in thematic schemes.

The change appears to date from 2004 - Lurie Garden, Chicago when Piet first used blocks and drifts with accent plants using a large percentage of local wild flora - a departure from his normal plant palette. There is also a meadow feature using a matrix planting of grasses. This appears to have been a career-changing moment leading later to large-scale matrix plantings such as the High Line, Nantucket, and Berne Park; but also prompted Piet to totally rip-up his own garden and start again, removing lawns, clipped hedges and trees that represented 30 years of effort and also the nursery to give more room for experimenting with plants - this man takes his work (hobby?) seriously!

The hidden narrative of the book is Piet's movement over time towards increasingly complex and subtle plantings producing a more naturalistic look, with reduced reliance on a contrast with sculptural clipped hedging in the traditional Dutch manner. I feel this narrative would have been more easily understood if the commissions had been presented in chronological order.

Matrix planting produces a more natural look but requires a chef's knowledge of its ingredients and is most effective on a large scale. Piet clearly believes the future for public plantings lies in combining aesthetics, and ecology in this more naturalistic way. I personally believe juxterposing perennial plantings in blocks transposes easiest to the smaller scale of a domestic setting. The art installation at Graflicher Park, shows how block planting in borders with accent planting repeated throughout the design can give a planting coherency, and be visually stunning on a smaller scale.

Most readers will love the book for it's collection of photographs and easy to read text. Some will appreciate having a visual retrospective of Piet's work. For others, the value will lie in studying the design methodology. In this context, 'Landscapes' is as potentially a useful reference book as 'Designing with Plants' and 'Dream Plants for the Natural Garden' making a triology that complement each other. Piet is always very open about his planting methods, and seeks to encourage their wider use in public plantings. Understanding the design methodology, of course, is not enough to be successful; you still need to know your plants!

Readers may therefore find most helpful the projects at R.H.S. Wisley, Potters Fields Park and Skarholmen Park where Piet has combined in bands, islands or concentric circles perennials that are aesthetically compatible, provide a long season of interest and do not out compete each other. Such plant groupings can be easily transferred to the domestic setting, and may be the best reason why you should buy this book.

This handsome portfolio recognises the landmark importance of Piet's work. It demonstrates how a career can take off in later life - Piet was in his mid-fifties when commissions suddenly escalated in 2000 and even now, at an age when most of us have retired he is still learning, accepting new challenges and experimenting with new concepts.

Piet Oudolf is surely the most creative and accomplished plantsman and garden designer the world has seen since Mien Ruys (also from the Netherlands). With this book he continues to touch and inspire people around the world to engage more fully with the seasons and experience an emotional connection to their gardens. And as always, he leaves us wanting to learn more!

I was disappointed with this purchase.It is a book of photo landscapes; not educational, because this book does not advise the reader as to the names of the main plants featured in each of the photos. I consider the photos are excellent, with lots of wide angle shoots showing plant association. Mr Oudolf's other book 'Dream Plants for the Natural Garden' gives the names to the plants depicted in the photos and that book is highly recommended, so this book is just a coffee table photo book, not a reference book. Two of my favourite plants--eryngium pandanifolium and lythrum virgatum were great to find in the photos.

I am a big fan of Oudolf's work though recognising much is a result of the penmanship of his co-writers who have ensured his work is accessible to the general gardening public (the exception being his last publication in English, which I have commented upon elsewhere). Our garden in France was, and our new garden in North West Italy is greatly influenced by Oudolf's gardening style(s) and ethos. So I put aside my suspicions that I first needed to have sight of a copy of Landscapes in Landscapes and ordered a copy. At first sight I was impressed. Thames & Hudson appeared to be a worthy successor to Timber Press. But then I started to study the plans and associated narrative and (at times) superb pictures and was sorely disappointed: the editorship is light handed and superficial. Who is/are the intended market(s)?
A few examples: Thames & Hudson claim that "detailed plans provide inspiration and insight", but not all of the plans are detailed (e.g. Bury Court) and the way they are presented does not necessarily inspire. Granted my own focused needs based on climate and ecology are not now necessarily well addressed by Oudolf's `mainstream' work but one can always assimilate, learn and apply and miraculously it sometimes works to great effect! I mind not the need to use a magnifying glass to view those plans that are detailed, but object greatly to find no indication how the photographs of the planting relate to the plan. I like the vertical plant listing incorporated in some of the photographs but on at least one occasion the photo was cropped and the first two plants on the list were thus almost irrelevant. If there had been public criticism of a planting - e.g. Wisley - this was referred to in the narrative but, in general, there are no comments within the narrative re the specific physical problems of each site and how they were overcome. It would have been helpful if these had been included in an addendum. No addendums exist at all, save for the Photography Credits (where it is good to see that Oudolf's name features strongly - all gardeners need to photograph their gardens throughout the seasons to record and learn). The lack of addendums is marked and thus the usefulness of the narrative and the visual texts are reduced. The narrative is at times helpful, though not necessarily "insightful" (this time Kingsbury's penmanship is free of academic turgidity) but too often it fails to do little more than tease the taste buds. Oh for some more helpful detail!
In summary Landscapes in Landscapes, while undoubtedly gloriously colourful, only offers a superficial view of some of Oudolf's work and thus provides neither the insight nor the inspiration one would have expected. Was this the outcome Thames & Hudson sought? Or, and this is the cynic in me surfacing, was this the outcome sought by Oudolf? I hope not because as one of the plantings indicates on at least one occasion in his career Oudolf has accepted a commission where he only provided the design. It was the responsibility of the owners to implement it and this they did with demonstrable great aplomb!