Planting Fields Adds Its First New Garden Since the Olmsted Brothers, Right Next to Old Brookville

"Gina, my work is very different from what you do here."

Piet Oudolf said that on his first visit to Planting Fields in October 2023. Gina Wouters, president and CEO of Planting Fields Foundation, had asked him to design a garden for the estate. She told the Herald last spring how she answered: "That's exactly the point."

Three years later, the result opens to the public on Saturday, October 17. For anyone in Old Brookville or Upper Brookville, it is the biggest change in decades to the estate on the other side of the village line. It also opens in mid-autumn, and Oudolf's own description of his work covers the period after flowering.

Ninety Years Between Additions

The Foundation's July announcement called the Oudolf Garden the most important improvement to Planting Fields since the 1930s. That was when the Olmsted Brothers finished their work on the site. The fall garden tour describes the grounds as shaped by W.R. Coe, the Olmsted Brothers and A. Robeson Sargent. For about ninety years, the job has mostly been taking care of what they left.

Wouters sees the new garden as part of that care. The Coe family gave the property to New York State in 1955 and set up the Foundation in 1952. She told the Herald that the Foundation keeps "their spirit alive by continuing the rich legacy of patronage of artists and designers they brought to the site." She also said that because the Coes had hired "the best of the best," Oudolf was the only designer she considered.

The garden covers one acre behind the Blue Pool Garden, next to the historic Rose Arbor. It is the first public garden Oudolf has designed on Long Island. His other New York work includes the High Line. According to the Foundation, it is also his first public garden anywhere in New York in more than a decade, following the High Line and Battery Park.

How One Acre Came Together

The Olmsted-era work took years. This acre went from first outreach to opening in about three years, and most of the physical work happened in the last twelve months.

1. 2023. Wouters contacts Oudolf, and he makes his first site visit that October.
2. Fall 2025. Crews begin preparing the four sections around the Rose Arbor.
3. Early spring 2026. Planting beds, paths and rolling berms are laid out.
4. May 28, 2026. Supporters, elected officials and donors tour the work in progress. Oudolf speaks alongside Wouters, Foundation board chair Duncan Sahner, and Kathy Moser, acting commissioner of the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
5. June 2026. Planting starts.
6. July 2026. About 90% of the garden is planted. Roughly 21,000 plants are in the ground, and another 4,000 are scheduled to go in over the summer.
7. October 17, 2026. The garden opens to the public.

The finished acre holds more than 25,000 plants and grasses from over 100 species. The Herald also reported plans for 22,000 bulbs.

Designed for After the Flowers

Oudolf leads the "New Perennial" movement, which uses perennials and grasses chosen for how they look across the seasons and for their structure and color. He describes his process as "a complicated layering of seasonality, energy, endurance, and reward – both before, during, and after flowering."

His own definition includes the period after flowering, so the October 17 opening isn't a garden showing up late to its best season. Over the summer, the July update listed threadleaf bluestar, pale purple coneflower 'Hula Dancer' and purple lovegrass among the highlights in meadow sections anchored by prairie dropseed. In the block plantings, it listed yarrow 'Moonshine,' calamint and ornamental onion 'Summer Beauty.' Visitors on opening day will see that same planting at a later stage of its year.

Wouters has said the garden was made to be "explored, learned from, and returned to throughout the seasons." People who travel to see the High Line usually catch it in one season. Living nearby means you can see this garden in all of them.

The Same Saturday, on the East Lawn

A second new work opens on October 17. Fragment of the Foundations for a Babel Tower by Fiona Tan is a large, maze-like installation on the historic East Lawn, just north of the Main House. Tan is the seventh artist commissioned through the Foundation's annual Catalyst program. Her piece is designed to look half-built and half-ruined, like something partly dug up at an archaeological site.

The installation stays on view through fall 2027. The garden is permanent and the installation is temporary, but both carry on the Coe tradition of bringing artists and designers to the estate.

Fitting a First Visit Into the Rest of October

The grounds are open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Until November 16, Planting Fields charges for parking only on weekends and holidays. The fee is $8 per car, paid at self-serve stations that take cards or exact cash. On weekdays this fall, parking is free.

The guided Gold Coast Garden Tour runs Fridays and Saturdays at 11 a.m. through October 31. Tickets are $18 general admission, $17 for seniors and $5 for ages 6 to 17. Before the opening, the tour only makes "a brief stop outside" the Oudolf Garden. That makes the October 23, 24, 30 and 31 tours the only ones this season that can include the garden as an open site.

The last two weeks of October are the busiest stretch on the Planting Fields calendar, and the venues to the south are busy at the same time:

Saturday, October 24 has the most going on. The Fall 5K opens registration at 7:30 a.m. and starts the race at 8:30. The Kids Fun Run follows at 9:30, along with a DJ and food trucks. The course climbs about 170 feet, beginning at the Carshalton Gates. The Trick or Treat Tours start in the Main House at 1 p.m. the same day, and kids follow a treasure map from room to room collecting candy and facts about the Coe family. Since registration costs $45 until October 23, a family could run in the morning, spend the afternoon at the Main House, and walk through the new garden in between. For a quieter first visit, any weekday works, and parking is free.

The Murder Mystery Party on October 30 is held at the Dunn Speakeasy. Individual tickets are $150, and the table for ten has already sold out. Proceeds go to the Foundation's preservation work. The Scarecrow Garden at Old Westbury Gardens, 71 Old Westbury Road, closes its crowd-favorite voting on October 31. In November, Tilles Center's lineup includes Shanghai Ballet: Giselle on November 1 and An Evening with Jason Isbell on November 6.

Work Expected on Cedar Swamp Road

Separately, the state has planned drainage work on NY 107, Cedar Swamp Road, from NY 25A to the Glen Cove Road merge. It is one of three locations in a roughly $3.8 million NYSDOT drainage project; the other two are in Suffolk County. It covers cleaning the culverts and open channel between Cedar Swamp Road and Glen Cove Road, plus new drainage basins at a spot in Brookville where Cedar Swamp Road floods. Old Brookville and Upper Brookville are among the villages listed on the project.

NYSDOT still lists the project as "In Development." Its estimates have construction starting in fall 2026 and finishing in winter 2027/2028, and the agency says those dates are approximate. The project page does not list work dates or lane closures.

A new permanent garden from a world-renowned designer, open every day next door to the village, adds to everyday life in the Brookvilles. At Team Knoell, we track changes like this alongside the market. If you're curious what your home is worth this fall, get your instant home valuation and we'll go over the numbers with you, just as we'd talk with a neighbor.