I’m not going to lie, I was a little taken back when a client came to me and asked if I could design a Piet Oudoff inspired garden where there lawn currently existed. It’s not a huge lawn but it would still be a large undertaking that would require thousands of plants. Of course, I was up to the challenge. It looks months of discussions to actually figure out what they were hoping to accomplish. When they first approached me, I was thinking more of a native wildflower/grass meadow but as we worked through the discussions and a host of pictures and books, the strategy was starting to become clear. What my clients were looking for was a very large perennial garden. They are only at the house on Lake Waramaug in New Preston during the summer so everything would focus on that time. They definitely wanted Russian Sage and Nepeta. That was the turning point from wildflower meadow to perennial garden. Even though the goal is not a true native garden, the garden would definitely have a native component. Below is the plan that was created so the homeowner could see how the plants all interwoven where different plants come together.
