Watch Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf
My heart broke open with happiness, while streaming a film about celebrated garden designer Piet Oudolf, when the Dutch designer was suddenly cruising down a Texas highway, exclaiming over azure bluebonnets, coral-red Indian paintbrush, and crepe-petaled white prickly poppies splashed along the roadside like spilled paint. “This is too much,” he marvels. Oh yes, I know that feeling! I love him for feeling it too.
I largely missed the wildflowers this spring because of the pandemic and orders to shelter in place. So seeing Piet react to the painterly beauty of a Hill Country spring brought on a rush of joy, pride, and wistful yearning. And when he and his companions stop for Cooper’s BBQ in Llano and he gazes with amazement at the meat pits, my elation was complete. Piet Oudolf in Texas! In the Hill Country! Doing a wildflower drive and eating BBQ! It’s a springtime ritual I know all too well.
The Texas segment takes up only a few minutes in the middle of the 1 hour 15 minute documentary Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf, which premieres digitally this weekend only — for free! — via the Hauser & Wirth website. The rest was filmed at Piet’s personal garden at Hummelo in the Netherlands, at Lurie Garden in Chicago, at the High Line in New York City, and other locations where Piet has designed his famously plant-rich, naturalistic (nature as you wish it were, as he puts it) gardens.
Do. Not. Miss. It. Bring it up on your phone or laptop, AirPlay it to your TV screen, sit back, and prepare to be transported by beauty. I’ve been longing to see the film since it came out in 2017, and so I’m grateful to Hauser & Wirth for offering free access this weekend:
“This spectacular and meditative feature-length documentary immerses viewers in Oudolf’s work, taking viewers inside the creative process. From his aesthetic theories to his strikingly abstract sketches, to the ecological implications of his ideas, the film poetically reveals how Oudolf upends conventional notions of nature, public space, and, ultimately, beauty itself.”
Aside from the soul-soothing beauty of the featured gardens and the cinematography, I was struck by Piet’s thoughtful musings about gardening and design:
“Gardening is also a promise….You’re looking forward to what will be there.”
“Everyone can make a good picture of a bad garden. It’s all about light and the moment. But it’s hard to make a garden that looks good even if the light is bad. That’s what I aim for….Getting things right for bad moments.”
“Life is about birth, life, and death, so that is the garden as well. What we do in our whole life span happens here [in the garden] in one year. I think that works on your soul.”
“If [my work] will save the world, I don’t know. At least it saves me.”
I think gardening, and immersing oneself in a beautiful garden, saves a lot of us. Immerse yourself in this film. And then come back and tell me what you thought of it.
What: Digital premiere of the film Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf
When: This weekend only, April 24 through April 26, until 11:59 p.m. EST (not sure if they meant EDT)
Cost: Free!
Digging Deeper
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All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing film! What a beautiful way to spend my morning. Such inspiration from a gentle soul who found his calling in the garden!
Oh, I’m so glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. And yes, he definitely found his calling. I was interested to hear how he cast about for a job that called to him, as his wife supported him, until he landed on gardening and garden design. It saved him indeed.
Thanks for the link. Watching now.
Enjoy!
Thanks for the heads-up, Pam! I’ve already watched it and enjoyed it very much.
Yay, glad you liked it too, Kris!
Thanks for the prompt to watch. I greatly enjoyed the entire video. As a native Texan and one time Austinite, I especially enjoyed the Texas Bluebonnet scenes.
Me too! I was so surprised when that scene showed up in the movie.
What a beautiful movie. I understand his plantings better now. I loved it when he said ‘will it save the world? We don’t know. At least it saves me.’ I have often thought this very thing. Especially this past month or so. When the world is so topsy turvy. Another thing he said ‘Plants bring out emotion.’ They sure do. I can see certain plants in a garden and they can take me back to my childhood and to other times in my life. I can see why you enjoyed the wildflowers of TX sequence. It does bring out the joy of the ephemeral. I am so glad you brought this to our attention.
Wasn’t it lovely? I’m glad you enjoyed it too, Lisa.
Pam–thank you for telling us about this wonderful film. I will find time to watch it again tomorrow–so much to see and think about.
You are so very welcome!
Thanks so much for the heads-up. I found it fascinating. What a unique artist.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Caroline!
Thank you Pam! Texas became closer to my heart since one of my sons started attending SMU in 2017. I love Texas wildflowers, and enjoyed the film.
Stay safe and healthy!
Tatyana@MySecretGarden
You have a Texan in your family now — that’s wonderful! Our kids aren’t too far apart; my daughter attends UNT. 🙂
I’m so glad you posted about this film, Pam. It made me look at plants in an entirely new way, but what I liked most was the part about spring in Texas with all of those fabulous roadside wildflowers blooming. How lucky you are to have this going on all around you now!
There’s nothing like a good wildflower season in Texas! The early wildflowers like the bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush that Piet was photographing bloom from late March to mid-April, typically. But now we’re moving into the late spring/early summer wildflowers like Mexican hat, coreopsis, and blanketflower. Hotter colors, but just as lovely!
“There is beauty in decay and beauty in death”. He even laments there are too many flowers, and longs for their skeletons. If the garden mirrors our human life span, then perhaps there is beauty in our own demise.
I was moved to tears more than once.
Nary a tulip in sight, thankfully.
Thanks for sharing that, Julie. It’s a comforting thought, isn’t it? Death is a part of life, and if we can find it beautiful in plants, perhaps we can at least find acceptance of it for ourselves. And I laughed out loud over your tulip-related sigh of relief.
My husband and I watched it last night. What a treat! We visited Vlinderholf in person in the winter of 2015-16. The structure of the garden was intact and the winter colors were so calming. It was beautiful.
How wonderful! I bet it was amazing. I’d love to visit that garden one day.
Thank you SO MUCH, Pam. Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to see this movie? I followed it when it first came out, but it always screened in a big city. When I suggested to other gardeners that we might want to see it, they were less than enthusiastic because they were unfamiliar with Piet Oudolf. Again, thank you!
Oh yay! I can relate. I missed the screening here in Austin at the Contemporary Museum two years ago or whenever it was, and I’ve been longing for another opportunity to see it.
A thousand thanks for telling me about the Oudolf film. I watched it today and was moved to tears, really truly.
It spoke to what garden feels like to me, the emotional feel, the connection to the cycle of life, the seasons, and the beauty of a maintained but natural looking place to live in.
Barbie, it moved me too. I’m so glad you enjoyed it as well.
I can’t thank you enough for this pointer! The film completely takes you out of yourself. Magnificently shot; several of the long garden senses brought tears to my eyes. Thanks again, Pam; we owe you!
It makes me happy to know you loved it too, Nell!
Thank you so much Pam for sharing this. Very restorative! And thank you for writing. I love your blog!
Thank you, Kim! So glad you liked the film too.
So glad you gave us a heads up on this. My mom and I watched it over coffee yesterday morning and were very inspired. I’ve been to the High Line and Lurie Gardens but I’m so inspired by his personal garden. It’s a shame that I didn’t know about him when we lived in the Netherlands.
I wish I’d known about him when I visited the Netherlands 12 years ago too. But it IS wonderful that we have gardens he designed right here in the U.S.
I’d love to see the film – how do I watch it?
Thank you.
Hi Deb. For now, until another organization offers a free online screening, you’d have to organize and pay for a private screening (maybe with a garden club?): https://www.fiveseasonsmovie.com/organize-a-virtual-screening/ . It sounds like the filmmakers are trying to eventually bring it to the movie streaming platforms, but it’s not there yet.