Piet Oudolf, creator of the High Line in New York and many other influential gardens, received the annual Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation Award in Amsterdam last week. Tim Richardson was happy to help
This week I was in Amsterdam giving a speech at the city’s main concert hall, the Musikgebouw, to an audience including Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. It was one of the more surreal experiences of my life, but also a pleasure and privilege.
The occasion was the presentation of the annual Prince Bernhard Cultural
Foundation Award to Piet Oudolf, the Dutch plantsman who has gained
international plaudits for his work on the High Line in New York and the
Millennium Park in Chicago, as well as numerous projects in Britain,
including Trentham in Staffordshire and Scampston Hall in Yorkshire.
The foundation felt that Oudolf had not received the recognition he deserved
in his home country, and wanted to wheel me out as a way of confirming his
international and professional status to the audience of some 600
dignitaries. Needless to say, it was the first time this major cultural
award had been awarded to someone from the world of gardens.
Despite being wary of awards in general, I was very happy to respond to the
call because Oudolf richly deserves the accolade. It is not controversial to
state, as I did, that he is the most influential plantsman in the world.
His naturalistic designs featuring drifts of grasses and daisy-type flowers -
the so-called New Perennials approach - have had a considerable impact on
planting style in Britain and elsewhere, as have a succession of books. The
prize, and the 150,000 euros that comes with it, is the personal gift of the
monarch, so it has to be taken very seriously.
