When it comes to Piet Oudolf, the hospitality world’s loss is gardening’s gain. “I come from a family of restaurateurs and barkeepers, and I did not want to continue doing that,” says the undisputed maestro of cult landscapes—what he calls “gardens that look wild but are not wild.” That includes New York’s game-changing High Line and lush Battery Park and, in England, adventuresome nurseryman John Coke’s Bury Court estate in Hampshire and art dealers Hauser & Wirth’s complex in Somerset. “I’m always looking for plants not usually found in gardens, like Sporobolus heterolepis [prairie dropseed], Amsonia hubrichtii [bluestar], and Bouteloua [grama grass],” Oudolf explains. “I still like visiting decorative gardens like Sissinghurst and Great Dixter—I just don’t make them anymore.” ► Hummelo, Netherlands; oudolom
