New Wave Garden

Most gardens are designed for beauty, but our New Wave Garden is also designed for balance. Embracing ecological principles, it uses plants that originated in similar habitats to recreate the naturalistic look and health of wild plant communities — in this case, an open sunny area with good drainage. This garden relies primarily on natural rainfall and does not receive regular irrigation.

Matching the Plant to the Place

Selecting vigorous plants native to the location, or combining plants that are adapted to the habitat in which you are gardening, means less weeding and watering of the garden. Our New Wave Garden embodies this philosophy, which features prominently in the gardens of Dutch designer Piet Oudolf, and draws on principles developed by earlier English and German nurserymen and designers. New Wave gardens typically group plants into habitats ranging from sunny to shady and from damp to dry. Our sun-loving border gets a naturalistic feeling from combining shorter plants with medium and taller selections in an irregular, interwoven planting pattern. Seed heads are typically left on the plants so they re-seed themselves and spread naturally over time, and the border is not cut back until spring, thus providing food and cover for birds and insects in winter.

Did You Know?

Garden soil is filled with thousands of weed seeds just waiting for a chance to germinate and mature. covering the soil's surface with black plastic for a year before planting an area traps heat and blocks sunlight. This solarization process kills most of those seeds that lie beneath the plastic and results in a relatively weed-free area ready for planting.