Origins of the Dutch Wave
copyright: chambersdesign
The Dutch Wave has become an industry standard for many designers and gardeners. Its style of free flowing patterns has captured the imagination of people the world round. Though it’s gained popularity, it still has room to grow. Yet, whenever someone mentions native plants or gardens that has a “naturalistic” look - they, knowingly or unknowingly, are referring to the Dutch Wave. The list of important people that brought this way of planting to the forefront is long, but two men more than any others are the father and son of this movement: Piet Oudolf and Karl Foerster. Oudolf is without doubt the crowned king of the Dutch Wave, but it was Foerster that first blazed the trail for this new way of gardening.
Titans of the wave
Piet Oudolf has become the most famous gardener of all time. Maybe only eclipsed by Frederick Law Olmstead. Oudolf nearly a household name at this point. His work in NYC with the High Line and in Chicago with the Lurie Garden are epicenters for the transformation of how people want to use plants. What these gardens did was inspire the extensive use of perennials and grasses where annuals, trees and shrubs dominated. He used a river of Salvia in the heart of the Millennium Park and created elevated meadows of grasses in Manhattan. But before there was Oudolf, there was Karl Foerster, a German gardener that first pioneered this way of planting. Oudolf refined the approach, but Foerster gave him the foundation to replicate nature in public and private settings.
The Dutch Wave gets its name from Oudolf. Born in Holland, he crafted his mastery during years and years of work. He is so intimately connected to the Dutch Wave, sometimes called the New Perennial Movement, the first living example of the style was popularized by his personal garden in Hummelo- about 1hr and half outside of Amsterdam. It is essential his backyard garden. It has been showcased in a library of books, websites, documentaries and videos on the subject. Images of it are synonymous with the style. For decades, he and his wife operated a nursery and hosted designers, thinkers and gardeners to the site. Until recently, his garden was open to visitors but a few years ago regular access was stopped. I can only guess due to the fact that Oudolf is a living legend - and the number of visitors likely got overwhelming.
Lesser known and yet more important is Foerster. If Oudolf is Rembrandt, Foerster is da Vinci. Foerster began exploring new ways of gardening with a list of new plants in 1912 that would become the basis of nearly all New Perennial plantings. This means he was well within his October when Oudolf was speaking his first words in the 1940s. When the world was firmly set in using the old trope of trees, shrubs and roses - and planting in straight lines firmly rooted in Victorian era landscapes - Foerster was combining naturalistic patterns with perennials that needed no trimming or pleaching at all. As you can see in the images below of Foerster’s garden, these plants were wild and he allowed them to speak of the wilderness from within. His garden in Potsdam-Bornim is a marvelous early example (almost pre-historic in the context of modern design) of the Dutch Wave. And, it is still open to the public all year round from dawn to dusk for free. An aerial view of the garden has a remarkable resemblance to the High Line and the Luire Garden.
Controlled Elements
Oudolf isn’t the architect of the more controlled elements in his most famous gardens such as walls, sitting and pathways. They are the work of others. This shouldn’t suggest his work is inferior, because these projects aren’t famous for the architecture. It is his Dutch Wave that sets the spaces apart. Foerster’s garden is also contained within a more controlled built unit - with an almost classical look. But the plants are what transcends the space. Plants showcased in it have become crowd favorites in recent years like Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, Verbena bonariensis, Veronicstrum virginicum and Perovskia atriplicifolia - however, a mere 10 to 15 years ago, these were alien names to people and never used. The fact that Foerster embraced this way of gardening in the early years of the 20th century has been lost. In fact, this list of species is the bedrock of Oudolf’s designs where he commonly champions them in his gardens and books.
Like Oudolf, Foerster established himself with many books. However, the difference is that all of Oudolf’s book are offered in several languages. If you want to read Foerster, you’ll need to brush up on your German - it’s difficult to find English translations. But it’s not that no one has recognized Foerster’s importance. The uniqueness of his garden is codified by its designation as a UNSECO World Heritage Site. Moreover, he has achieved a bit of immortality. One of the most popular ornamental grasses used today is Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’. The story is that he found the grass in the Hamburg Botanical Garden in the 1930s and slowly made it a commercial success twenty years later. If you have ever seen an upright grass that is narrow with a wheat-like seedhead in a municipal plaza or lining a roadway, it was likely C. ‘Karl Foerster’. It’s a wonderful plant that easily grows in most conditions.
The Dutch Wave could have be called the German Way. At the time of Foerster’s death in 1970, herbaceous plants were still a long way from being the celebrities in garden nurseries. It’s the similarities of these two men’s vision for planting that truly defines the Dutch Wave. It’s always interesting to find out the history beyond the glamour. And, it’s important to note that it’s not simply the use of perennials that define the style. There’s something more to it - there’s an art to it. An art that they introduced to the world and is unmistakable when seen.
image copyrights of Karl Foerster’s garden ML Preiss and M. Foerster