Lurie Garden by Piet Oudolf

Photo: © Esther Westerveld from Nieuwkoop, Nederland, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Completed in 2004 as part of Millennium Park in Chicago, Lurie Garden unfolds like a living poem in the heart of the city.
Designed by Piet Oudolf in collaboration with Kathryn Gustafson and Robert Israel, it reimagines the urban park as a place of rhythm, resilience, and quiet renewal.

Oudolf’s artistry lies not in symmetry but in life cycles—in how plants grow, bloom, fade, and return.
He composes with texture, form, and time itself, allowing perennials and grasses to tell the story of the seasons. Even in winter, when most gardens retreat, his landscapes remain alive in structure and spirit—a reminder that beauty endures in change.

Here, nature is not decoration but a conversation between the wild and the human-made.
The skyline rises behind a horizon of flowers, merging city and meadow into one breathing landscape.
Lurie Garden embodies Oudolf’s visionary power: the courage to let nature lead, to design not perfection but life in motion.