In May 2014 a new public garden opened in Utrecht, the fourth largest city of The Netherlands. This garden called Vlinderhof, is not only beautiful but also quite special as the idea was initiated by a local resident, who decided to ask the renowned Dutch landscape and garden designer Piet Oudolf to design the garden.
Today, the 5000 m2 garden within the Maximapark can be visited and enjoyed all year. With its changing colors and textures, the garden offers a different experience in each season. As Piet Oudolf once said himself: ‘My gardens are like a changing exhibition’.
From tiles to Piet Oudolf
Years ago Marc Kikkert moved to a new residential area next to the Maximapark in Utrecht. Initially, his garden looked like most gardens in the neighbourhood, one covered with tiles and barely any green to be seen. But gradually his longing for nature led him to replace more and more tiles with plants and greenery. While becoming more interested in gardening, he got inspired by Piet Oudolf’s garden designs. Although many view Piet Oudolf as one of the best garden designers in the world, strange enough he’s less known in The Netherlands. Marc was so impressed by Oudolf’s work and thought it was a shame that few people knew his work in The Netherlands. So he decided to have a real ‘Oudolf garden’' created in Utrecht, which would be accessible to everyone. With permission from the municipality, funding from different sources and a group of enthousiastic volunteers that would plant and maintain the garden, he was able to turn his dream into reality.
The vision for the garden
Marc envisioned an enclosed garden that would connect people with people and nature. It would become a peaceful place in a busy residential area where you could meet, relax, exercise and enjoy. He was inspired by the monastery courtyards (hofjes) in Utrecht. This is why he chose to use the word ‘hof’ for the name of the garden and added the prefix ‘butterfly’ (vlinder in Dutch), as he believed butterfly is a positive and cheerful word that makes people happy. Although the garden is not specially designed to attract butterflies, it houses many plants that are attractive to butterflies, but also to (bumble)bees, hoverflies and other insects.
Below you can see photos of the garden taken in December 2023 (a few days before the start of the Winter).
Vlinderhof’s design
The planting style used by Piet Oudolf for the Vlinderhof is known as Dutch Wave or New Perennial movement. This approach takes its inspiration from nature and is characterised by the planting of shrubs, grasses, and perennials. The used plant combinations tend to strengthen and maintain each other.
Gardens designed in this way have a wild and naturalistic look and feel, and remain beautiful throughout the seasons due to the variations in colours, textures, shapes and plant heights.
The Vlinderhof houses 100 different perennials such as the coneflower, reed grass and eastern bluestar that are shown on this interactive map.
The garden is open 365 days a year (best to visit between April and January), so go check it out yourself when you can and enjoy! If you’re not able to visit, you can view plenty of pictures of the garden in different seasons here.