to go along with the discussion about planting design raging below, i thought i’d post this as an example of what can happen when a good designer and a good plantsman work together.
as part of Chicagos Millenium Park it references the indigenous landscape of the Midwest. the beds are contoured so the visitors walk along with the gardens at knee and waist height immersing them in colour. the native perennials (over 200 species) were carefully selected to create a dramatic sequence of colour and seasonal change. the effect is like a painting whose tone continually shifts throughout the year. if anything, i think it shows, if you want to create abstract effects 1. you cant be lazy about it and 2. you have to know your stuff
photograph copyright: Scott McDonald
drawings copyright: Gustafson Porter Ltd
There is something about the scale of American park and garden design which has much to do with its ‘big’ city context. I am not sure that this translates well to the UK which is much more intimately and intricately settled and has more an altogether different sense of space and distance. I understand the allure of the contemporary approach….
I have been critical of Kathryn Gustafson for not being a place-maker. My impression of the Lurie garden is that it is excellent – but this was also my opinion of the four other Gustafson landscape designs before I went to visit them! Working with Oudolf may have eased the problem.
http://www.gardenvisit.com/history_theory/garden_landscape_design_articles/designers/kathryn_gustafson
The Princess Diana memorial is amazing! I haven’t visited it…but sometimes from a photograph you know a work will not disappoint. Kathryn seems to work very well in birds eye-view. And her schemas are very subtle in their resolution. I can see that Oudolf is very strong with plants. Their work is quite exciting…As a built environment designer they are definitely a team you would hope to work with!
well Tom, you have the advantage over me in actually having visited some of her schemes. certainly they look good in photographs, and i admire her for designing strongly in three dimensions, but i guess i’ll have to check her work out for myself before i can come to a conclusion. perhaps it is the planting that makes this garden?