This morning I read the obituary of landscape architect Wolfgang Oehme in the NYT. Here’s a snip:
For 30 years, Mr. Oehme teamed up with James van Sweden to develop self-sustaining gardens, free of pesticides, that could remain beautiful even as the seasons changed. They planted flowers and bushes not by threes and fives, but by the thousands. Details, like how the wind would move the leaves of different plant species, were studied meticulously. Water, whether trickling or in reflecting pools, became a hallmark.
Their work graced embassies, universities and private homes, including Oprah Winfrey’s. In Washington, it can be seen at the Treasury Department, the National Gallery of Art, the National Arboretum and the Federal Reserve building. In New York, they created pieces of Battery Park City and Hudson River Park. Their work extended to Minneapolis and West Virginia.
In effect, they revolted against the American lawn, which traditionally opened to the street with bushes around the house. Mr. Oehme and Mr. van Sweden put big plants in front of a property to create secluded space, which they filled with carefully plotted but unclipped plantings. Mr. Oehme abhorred the ever-popular azalea, arguing that it flowered for just two weeks before becoming a boring green bush. Grasses, he noted with approval, change with the seasons and can look striking in winter.
“Wolfgang Oehme, a Free-Form Landscape Architect, Dies at 81“
I don’t think I’ve ever some across his work, but I know that I will love it when I do. The heralding of grass has long been a passion.
Here’s a gallery of his work and a nice compendium of obituaries, including where to find his spaces.