Piet Oudolf Garden Detroit

In 2016, the famous Dutch landscape designer, Piet Oudolf, responsible for New York City's High Line, received a love letter of sorts:  would he ever consider designing a garden for the Garden Club of Michigan on Detroit's Belle Isle?  The answer was yes.  Here is your chance to see his inspiration for this centrally located oasis in the heart of Detroit, flanked by the historic Detroit River. 

Register for Piet Oudolf Garden Detroit

This special place is visited by professional landscape designers and garden designers from all over the world. Join Oudolf Garden Detroit's Duncan Campbell and Richard Thomas as they discuss the park and its spectacular design, with over 36,000 plants and 48,000 bulbs, a green oasis in a very urban setting.

About the Presenters

Duncan Campbell is an engaged and effective community and business leader with polished presentation and negotiation skills and the founder of a business geographic software and consulting company. For Oudolf Garden Detroit (OGD), Duncan is the non-gardener in the group and concentrates on operations and fundraising. He and his team developed OGD Website and the garden's innovative and user-friendly plant database as well as the online plant quiz and sponsor-a-plant crowd-funding effort that has raised money and awareness for the garden. Duncan is an unabashed life-long art lover, and "museum junkie". Duncan has an MBA from Michigan State University as well as an MA in Art History from Wayne State University. He has extensive experience leading boards and nonprofit organizations.

Richard Thomas is the Head Horticulturalist at Oudolf Garden Detroit (OGD) since 2022 and the only paid employee. Richard is also a renowned garden and floral designer, and landscape business owner. In addition, Richard was one of the three signers of the “Love Letter from Detroit” that was sent to Piet Oudolf in 2016. As a founding member of Oudolf Garden Detroit Grounds Crew (which became the organization), he has extensive experience with public gardens, perennial plants, ecological maintenance and volunteer organization. Richard is an expert public speaker and enjoys spreading the word about the garden within the gardening world and wider public community.