The Chicago Park District, Chicago Parks Foundation, and the Garden Conservancy are pleased to announce that internationally recognized garden designer Piet Oudolf will design a new planting plan for Humboldt Park’s historic Jens Jensen Formal Garden. Oudolf is familiar with Chicago as he recently designed the Lurie Garden at Millennium Park.

“We are thrilled to have such a renowned garden designer lend his creative talents and thoughtful insight to our revitalization of the garden, and transform Jens Jensen’s world-class formal garden into an inviting four-season gathering space accessible to patrons year-round,” said Chicago Park District General Superintendent and CEO Michael P. Kelly.

The Jens Jensen Formal Garden, a beautiful and iconic circular garden, was completed by the renowned landscape designer Jens Jensen in 1908. Oudolf’s planting design will be coordinated by the Hitchcock Design Group, the master planner and contractor for the project to revitalize the historic garden.

The planting design is an important part of a joint project of the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Parks Foundation, and the Garden Conservancy that aims to repair the garden’s deteriorated infrastructure, rehabilitate its important design features, and to implement a planting design that reinterprets Jensen’s historic planting palette and famous Prairie style. Members of the Humboldt Park community are providing input on the planting and design.