Piet Oudolf at | The Battery Conservancy’s | 10th Annual Gardeners Luncheon

On Wednesday, September 18 The Battery Conservancy held its 10th Annual Battery Gardeners Luncheon with special guest speaker Piet Oudolf. This festive event marked the celebration of more than a decade of Piet Oudolf’s association with The Battery. Piet created the horticultural master plan for The Battery and with the planting of the Tiffany Woodland Gardens and Bikeway Gardens, The Battery Conservancy is nearing completion of his original vision. Piet spoke about his experiences designing gardens in the United States since 2000, and in particular the development of The Battery horticultural master plan. Hosts Bill Rudin and Warrie Price, Chairman and President of The Battery Conservancy welcomed a room full of guests at the Battery Gardens restaurant, including Patti Harris, First Deputy Mayor for the City of New York, and Veronica White, Commissioner, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

About Piet Oudolf
In 2002, The Battery Conservancy recruited internationally acclaimed Dutch horticulturist Piet Oudolf and commissioned him to develop a horticultural Master Plan for The Battery. The 10,000 square feet of the Gardens of Remembrance were the first phase of Oudolf’s horticultural design, planted in 2003 and inspired by the Battery’s location overlooking 11,000+ acres of the New York harbor.

Based in the Netherlands, Oudolf was one of the first planting designers to introduce large-scale perennial plantings into public landscapes. He is known for establishing enchanting, inspiring and resilient landscapes utilizing bold movements of perennial plants and grasses. His style is one of texture, fragrance, and color, with a particular interest in seasonal variation, plant life cycle, and transformation over time.

Completed in 2005, the four-acre Battery Bosque features 60,000 square feet of new perennial gardens. These gardens compliment Oudolf’s work in the Gardens of Remembrance with a graceful mix of rugged prairie and woodland perennials. Oudolf will continue to advance his vision for the Battery’s horticultural master plan by designing the Tiffany Woodland Gardens and the Battery Bikeway Gardens.