VISIONS OF BEAUTY (part 2) / Day 3 -- Wolfgang Oehme

courtesyofcambridgewhoswhocom

Peeps,

Sadly, in early December we lost one of our most revered friends, landscape architect Wolfgang Oehme; and who is considered by many to have been the leading advocate (and perhaps also the founder) of the ' new American garden' movement. Emigrating to America in 1957, he was shocked at the landscape(s) that he observed in our cities.  He abhorred the sterile, passive yards where tightly sheered and pruned evergreens dwarfed homes, where expanses of lawn met the sidewalk without any attempt at privacy or charm, where beds of English ivy grew rampant, and where seasonal interest and color was limited to pansies and impatiens.  He was repulsed (and rightfully so) at the unimaginative gardens he witnessed, as well as concerned about the high degree of pesticides and care demanded by lawns and plant species plainly unsuitable to these parts.  First as a single practitioner, and later as part of the design firm Oehme, Van Sweden & Associates, Wolfgang introduced us to the joy of grasses, drought-tolerant perennials and native plants; interest and color throughout all four seasons; the role of insects and wildlife in a garden's ecosystem; as well as to the concept of planting en masse--hundreds and thousands of the same plant(s) installed in careful designs to resemble broad brush-strokes of color.  He especially loved the to design his gardens to resemble the great plains, with grasses swaying to the movements of the wind. 


" I like it wild," he said to me last Easter Sunday after lunch.  We were both gazing at the garden of the late Dr. Stephan Cisternino, who singlehandedly had created a visual delight through the astute placement of Joe-pye weeds, sedums, black-eyed susans, day-lilies, peonies, assorted grasses, and barberry bushes.  Wolfgang seemed pleased that dandelions and thistle had been allowed to spread freely throughout, and that box-turtles had taken up residence beneath the roots of the smoke-bush tree.  Wolfgang will be greatly missed by many.


Hope you enjoy today's visual treat (a Maryland garden designed by the late Mr. Oehme).


Thanks,
Shane






PS:  Tonight's soundtrack is Fireflies (Jose Padilla & Kirsty Keatch)