A Piet Oudolf Story: Naturalistic Landscape and Garden Designing (Virtual)

THIS PROGRAM IS A VIRTUAL-ONLY EVENT. REGISTER BELOW BY LEAVING YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO RECEIVE LOGIN AND CALL-IN INSTRUCTIONS (SENT TO YOU ONE DAY BEFORE THE PROGRAM). 

The first part of Deborah Chud’s “Piet Oudolf Story” traces her discovery of his work, her research on his plant combinations, and her use of that research to create a garden in his style. The second part explores the historical context in which he emerged as a landscape designer. And the final part provides an introduction to his design principles—particularly his concept of structure and the special balance he creates between coherence and contrast. Toward the end of her talk, Deborah offers home gardeners some practical Oudolfian “dos & don’ts” for solving the problem of excessive contrast.

“A Piet Oudolf Story” is a personal introduction to the design principles of the leading naturalistic landscape & garden designer in the world, Piet Oudolf. Deborah Chud’s 5 years of research on Oudolf’s gardens led to her own Oudolfian garden and the only known database of his plant combinations. Her talk is part memoir, part history, and part design theory–with some practical Oudolfian “dos and don’ts” for gardeners at every level.

Deborah Chud is a retired Massachusetts physician turned landscape design consultant and educator. Her five years of research on Piet Oudolf have generated the most comprehensive existing database of his plant combinations. Last summer, she presented her work at an international event (“Piet Oudolf: How Does He Do It?”) organized by Oudolf’s co-author on multiple books, Noel Kingsbury, under the aegis of gardenmasterclass.org. She has also presented to members of the following institutions and organizations: Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum, the JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University, Toronto Botanical Garden, and Delaware Botanic Gardens. The latter two public gardens contain Oudolf-designed sections. Currently, she is collaborating with the education department at Toronto Botanical Garden on a multi-session online course to coincide with the restoration of their Piet Oudolf Entry Walk. This past winter Deborah presented a 6-session online course on Piet Oudolf’s design principles to a class of 30+ amateur gardeners and professional landscape designers. She currently offers that course as a video series.