Vandalorum Represents Sweden in the Green Cities Europe Award 2025

Piet Oudolf’s Garden at the Vandalorum Museum of Art and Design in Värnamo has been selected as Sweden’s entry for the Green Cities Europe Award 2025, a prize that highlights Europe’s most innovative and sustainable green space projects. The renowned garden designer Piet Oudolf demonstrates at Vandalorum how art and nature can merge into a unified experience.

The Jury Motivation

“The garden’s naturalistic design creates a living art experience all year round, promotes biodiversity, and offers well-being for visitors of all ages. Through volunteer engagement, exchanges, and workshops, the project serves as a platform for learning and as an initiative that strengthens both local tourism and long-term ecological investment.”

A Living Garden All Year Round
Surrounding Vandalorum’s characteristic red exhibition barns — designed according to an original concept by Italian architect Renzo Piano — now extends a vast naturalistic garden that transforms the visitor’s experience from the very moment of arrival. Here, art and vegetation intertwine in a constantly shifting expression: the spring bulbs, the sea of perennials in summer and autumn, and the sculptural seed heads of winter. Paths and resting places make the site welcoming and accessible to everyone.

“A garden is not a painting that you look at, but a dynamic process that changes all the time, something you can return to again and again.”

— Piet Oudolf

Designed by Piet Oudolf
Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf has created gardens around the world, at locations such as The High Line in New York City, Vitra in Weil am Rhein and restaurant Noma in Copenhagen. In 2023, he transformed the area surrounding Vandalorum’s entrance with 26,000 perennials, 47,000 bulbs, and 7,000 trees, shrubs, and hedges, alongside a closed irrigation system that reuses rain and meltwater.

In 2024, a greenhouse was completed, serving as a learning space and home for volunteer activities. In 2025, the second phase of the garden — the courtyard, the heart of Vandalorum — was finalized, featuring an additional 8,000 perennials, 10,000 bulbs, artworks, rest areas, walkways, spaces for educational activities, and a large outdoor seating area for the museum’s restaurant guests.

Biodiversity and Learning
The plantings provide nectar, pollen, and shelter for pollinators, birds, and insects throughout the year. At the same time, the garden serves as a place of knowledge and engagement, attracting around 100,000 visitors annually, including many children, students, and professionals in horticulture. Workshops, guided tours, and a popular volunteer program are also part of the initiative.

“We invited Piet Oudolf to create a garden at Vandalorum as a space for artistic reflection, contemplation, experimentation, learning, and play. For many years, we dreamed of collaborating with Piet Oudolf, whose unique artistic language and approach to cultivation have inspired so many. We are immensely proud that his garden at Vandalorum has now become a reality.”

— Elna Svenle, Director of Vandalorum Museum of Art and Design

The winner of the Green Cities Europe Award 2025 will be selected by an international jury, with the award ceremony taking place on January 28, 2026, in conjunction with the IPM fair in Germany, which is the world's leading trade fair for horticulture.

Piet Oudolf's garden at Vandalorum is made possible by:
Christina Hamrin
Bengt & Gunnel Liljedahl
Mats Skogsfors
Bengt Svenstig

Thanks to:
The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Hjalmar Wicander's Fund
Bertil & Britt Svenssons foundation for lightning
Hasselfors Garden

Photos:
1. Deltavormgroep
2. John Nelander 
3. Magdalena Johansson
4, 5, 6: John Nelander