“All the gardens are purple and white,” observed Dede Lyons, as we walked the Parrish Art Museum’s Landscape Pleasures Garden Tour. “Is this the new trend?” Not necessarily, we learned from Tony Piazza, Toni Ross’ garden guru. “That’s just what’s in bloom now.” The red roses will follow. No matter, it’s hard to deny the blankets of color, the hardy nepetas provide across the Hamptons.
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Jane and Michael DeFlorio’s property. (Photo: Lee Fryd) |
Dede, whose latest book, “The Joy of Tweeting,” and “Feel Good Express” workshops are illuminated by her own flower photos, feverishly shot her way thorough the gardens of Jane and Michael DeFlorio, Toni Ross, David Kleinberg, and the oceanfront retreats of Robin and Fred Seegal and Eleanora and Michael Kennedy. Watching the admirers wind their way through the paths that open into pools of water, Buddhas, and other delights, Eleanora smiled. Summer is a time for this philanthropist to retreat into her “Zen Sea” garden. “We would do anything for the Parrish,” she said.
The Landscape Pleasures booklet descriptions rival that of any art historian. It’s easy to think of these creations as works of art. The hard-edged square and oval evergreens that Dan Thorp from Laguardia Design Landscape Architects placed in front of the DeFlorio houses are like a Leger painting come to life.
“Around the house, you’re seeing more use of simply green foliage keeping the flowers to the perimeter of the property,” Thorp told Hamptons.com. “So, instead of just decorating the house, you’re seeing a green foreground to highlight it, while keeping the flower and the garden off to the property edges.
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A view of Eleanora and Michael Kennedy’s garden. (Photo: Lee Fryd) |
“The geometric shapes we used to resolve awkward or odd spaces,” noted Thorp. An oval yard between the main and guest-houses, rectifies a rectangular combination of two yards. “When you’re in that space it feels very balanced,” he said. “But, in actuality the space is not centered between the two houses.”
For more information, visit parrishart.org.
