Moosey, I would be nervous to meet Mr. Oudolf too but I saw him on television visiting with another Iowa gardener (Karen Strohbeen) and he seemed to be a very nice fellow, who loves plants just like we do and probably would be very interested in New Zealand plants, especially any that look good when dead/dormant...since he likes interesting stalks and seed heads in winter. The day we were there his wife Anja was out running the nursery (they sell plants there). She sold us the tickets to go inside their garden and look about. She also told us where the restrooms were. I should say that she told my husband this, as I was too shy to try to speak any Dutch but he had studied it. She may well have switched over to English when she heard his Dutch...
It is so nice to see your garden in summer. Here it is the coldest it has been all winter, -1 degree F. and -21 degrees wind chill. My eyelids were freezing up on the walk home from work this morning. The rest of me was well-enough bundled up for a six-block walk!
Your kittens look so darling racing up the trees! I'm jealous! What a lucky gardener you are. If I could visit world gardens, I'd visit yours, and Ninfa, and everything in England once. At least.

--Kim