Philadelphia’s Oudolf Gardens
On my trip to Europe I had a layover in Philadelphia and went to check out the Piet Oudolf planting at the new Calder museum, Calder Gardens. It’s appropriate they call the museum ‘Gardens’ because the building is set within a meadow planting that’s more interesting than the Calder sculptures inside. Maybe I’ve seen too much Calder, but I was there for the Oudolf. His meadow is lovely, a year old I believe, a bit heavy on the grasses with the flowering plants still maturing, but with some nice patches of color and a lot of pollinator life. It’s not my favorite of the Oudolf gardens I’ve seen — I like Vlinderhof and Vandalorum best — but it’s great to see a big meadow like this in downtown Philadelphia. I wish there were more public plantings like this, and I wish someone would bring Oudolf out to California to see what he would do here.
There’s only one Calder sculpture outside in the garden, and it’s set in the entryway rather than inside the plantings. I’d like to see some Calder sculptures truly surrounded by plants.
The Asters were the highlight of the plantings.
Or maybe how the plants showed against the reflective cladding. I’d be afraid the plants would cook in front of a surface like that but everything was handling it so far.
As always in a Piet Oudolf garden, there was Echinacia blooming.
Some areas had been replanted, but the garden looked great overall. Awesome place to visit on a layover and an awesome thing to see in the middle of an American city.
Tags: Oudolf
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