Over near the Nancy Brown Peace Carillon, a new garden is in the works by renowned Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf. He’s most famously known here for the Lurie Garden in Chicago and the Highline in New York City. After touring Detroit with the Garden Club of Michigan last spring, he decided on Belle Isle for a new garden for Detroit.
via Curbed Detroit
October 2017
Public Input Open Houses Nov. 14 and Nov. 28
With many thanks to our collaborative partners and the DNR, we are making progress toward obtaining official approval for the Belle Isle site Piet Oudolf proposed for his first Detroit garden design.
September 2017
This afternoon we said a fond goodbye to our new best friend Scott Stewart, who is the head of the Millennium Park Foundation in Chicago. Millennium Park has an astounding 20 million visitors a year and is Chicago’s number one tourist attraction. He came to see Detroit and offer his help as we work toward making an Oudolf designed garden a reality on Belle Isle.
August 2017
This summer the Garden Club of Michigan raised the $150,000 needed for the design phase of the Piet Oudolf garden.
And, we are closer to getting approval for the site on Belle Isle.
We are thrilled with the progress we’ve made to secure Piet Oudolf’s services to design a garden in Detroit on Belle Isle. As you know commissioning Piet is just the beginning – next, once we have all the permissions and next steps in order, we will need to raise the money and support to install and maintain his garden.
See More “Piet Oudolf in Detroit Update #4”
We hope this note on this last day of June finds you looking forward to the 4th of July holiday.
See More “Piet Oudolf in Detroit Update #3”
He proposed! In mid-May, we were thrilled to receive a proposal from Piet Oudolf for a 1.5-acre garden he envisions in the heart of Belle Isle’s cultural area.
As Richard Thomas, a Garden Club of Michigan member and local landscape designer put it, “He saw what no one else did. The hole in the donut between the Conservatory, the Carillon, and the Band Shell.”
Detroit’s Belle Isle could see a garden designed by internationally renowned garden designer Piet Oudolf.
At the Garden Club of Michigan’s request, Oudolf visited Detroit recently to tour a bit of the city, the riverfront and Belle Isle.
The Dutch designer — who has been likened by some to the late famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted who designed Central Park in New York City and Belle Isle — was charmed by the island and said it’s there that he can see one of his famed gardens.
Oudolf is a rock star in his world, according to the Garden Club’s immediate past President Maura Campbell. He designed the Lurie Garden in Millennium Park in Chicago, several gardens at Battery Park in New York City and the full design of the High Line park in Manhattan.
He is known for designing year-round gardens that look good even when the plants are dormant.
via Crain’s Detroit Business
We had the best 30 hours with Piet Oudolf earlier this month and thank each and every one of you who share our vision of an Oudolf garden in Detroit.
See More “Piet Oudolf in Detroit Update #1”
