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Learn with Piet Oudolf & Noel Kingsbury

Planting the Piet Oudolf Way

Piet Oudolf teaches you how to plant the Piet Oudolf way from the Oudolf family garden at Hummelo.

Course overview

With guidance and personal feedback from Noel on this first project you will orientate yourself with plants which have good and distinctive structure: flower heads, seed heads, foliage, or the shape of the plant overall.

Meet Piet Oudolf & Noel Kingsbury

"Structure is the most important component in a successful planting; colour is important too but it is a secondary consideration" I looked at landscape gardening as a career alternative to my family business of catering. I'm probably best known as the landscape designer from the Netherlands! And I consider myself along with Noel Kingsbury as one of the leading figures of the ‘New Perennial’ or ‘New Wave Planting’ movement, using bold blocks of perennials and grasses to create Prairie style designs. My wife and I first opened a nursery in Hummelo, the Netherlands back in the 1980s, this is where my planting style emerged with strong block-type groupings based on structure and texture as much as colour. As my design style progressed I have focused on the perennial meadow, mimicking nature in my planting style. Nature is my biggest influence. It comes as a surprise to some people that I'm also an early adopter of some technologies. I love using my iphone to capture videos and photos as I work. I have a large presence on instagram, and I'm excited to share my work through teaching on Learning with Experts. Dr Noel Kingsbury and I have been collaborators for over 25 years, and Noel will be with you in the classroom marking your work, while Noel and I developed and filmed the course materials together. We are planning more courses over time here too. I hope you enjoy your online courses with me.

Course description

Piet Oudolf and Dr Noel Kingsbury take you on an exclusive tour of Piet's family gardens at Hummelo, so you can learn how to plant a garden the Piet Oudolf way and which plants to choose and combine.

Piet will introduce plants and plant combinations, and takes you into his studio to look at planting plans and how the garden design works throughout the year.

You'll learn how to create a Piet Oudolf perennial design for your garden, which plants to choose for form, structure and colour, and how to adapt the Piet Oudolf style for your region.

Choose the Expert option for feedback from Dr Noel Kingsbury on your assignments. Evaluation of assignments will be done by Noel, whose links with gardeners across the world give him a uniquely global perspective.

You'll learn:
  • which plants to use for structure in garden design
  • elements of plants that create structure - seed heads, foliage and plant shapes
  • how to combine plants to use texture and structure for garden design
  • planning your garden design to work through all seasons
  • choosing plants for your region
  • using repetition plants and matrix plants in your garden
    • The course includes:
  • 4 on-demand video lesson - presented by Piet Oudolf and Dr Noel Kingsbury
  • lifetime access to the videos, notes and interactive class
  • flexible classes - join and learn when and where you like
  • downloadable lesson notes
  • practical planting design projects (with tutor feedback available)
  • access on your mobile, PC, Mac or laptop
  • small interactive online classroom - chat online to students from around the world and share your creative ideas
    • Time to complete the Piet Oudolf planting course:

    Every student is different but in general we think the whole course will take around 7 hours 30 minutes to complete including:

  • Video lesson: 1 hour 30 minutes in total
  • Course notes: 30 minutes per lesson
  • Your planting design projects: at least 30 minutes per lesson
  • Interactive classroom time: 15 minutes per lesson
  • Tutor feedback review (Expert level): 15 minutes per lesson
    • You'll need:

    This course includes optional practical assignments - you'll need some photos of plants.

    Suitable for all levels of gardener - from beginner to professionals who want to learn how to recreate Piet Oudolf's planting style in their own gardens and designs.

    Explore more Piet Oudolf related courses:

    Planting Design with Perennials taught by Dr Noel Kingsbury. You will learn the more technical detail of Piet’s signature style, using plants that are predictable and long-lived;

    Piet Oudolf Vlinderhof Garden taught by Dr Noel Kingsbury & Piet Oudolf and based on the community Vlinderhof Garden designed by Piet Oudolf.

    Perennial Meadow Planting, a detailed, practical course covering all aspects of this planting style taught by Michael King.

    Gardening with Grasses which takes a detailed look at this critical element of the Oudolf-look planting palette. To perfect Piet’s overall planting style all of these courses are recommended.

    Ready to get started?

    Just add the course to your basket above - choose the 'Expert' option for personal feedback from Noel on your Piet Oudolf assignments and questions.

    Any questions? Contact us by clicking on the orange speech symbol - we'd love to hear from you.