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If you were to mention to someone in Maine that you simply were taking the ferry to Long Island to go to public gardens, they might check out you and think, “What public gardens?” they might raise images of an outpost in Casco Bay populated by people that fish for a living and have little time to garden, and by summer residents who may need alittle kitchen garden , flower bed or hedgerow of rugosa rose. But public gardens? There are none to be found. It’s an easy place where the word “ostentatious” isn’t used fairly often . i prefer Long Island , Maine — my quite people and my quite gardens.
Last year, i used to be asked to travel to the “other” Long Island , the large island adjacent to ny City, for each day Trip. Never having been there — and supported a number of the items I had examine the Hamptons, the world i might be visiting — i actually wasn’t looking forward thereto . Who wants to drive all day, take a ferry, then drive some more to ascertain “McMansions” or rub elbows in an overpriced restaurant with high rollers from ny City? I did make the trip, however, and although it had been quite different from Long Island , Maine, it wasn’t what I had envisioned.
I had a touch time to kill before taking the ferry from New London , Conn., so I took a flash to ascertain the newly completed Athenian garden during a pocket park downtown. With a Greek-inspired mural and sculptures, it had been well well worth the visit. If you’ve got longer to spend in New London , a half-day visiting the Connecticut College Arboretum is also a requirement .
The ferry ride across Long Island Sound to Orient Point proved pleasant aboard the 1,000-passenger MV John H. there have been many interesting sights, including lighthouses and therefore the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Conn., where sub-marines are built and main- tained for the U.S. Navy. one among the subs passed the ferry — something I had never seen in Casco Bay!
Disembarking from the ferry, i used to be ready for the glitz and glitter of Long Island . the primary hour of driving, however, was through rural farming areas in Suffolk County, the leading agricultural county in ny . Tomatoes were ripe on the vine and potatoes were being dug. After another ferry ride from Shelter Island, I pulled into Bridgehampton, where BMWs, Jaguars and Mercedes replaced the toilet Deere tractors of an hour earlier.
No celebrities were sighted, but i used to be immediately taken by the miles of privet hedges, Ligustrum spp., most of them sculpted to sharp angles. They delineated property lines and prevented anyone from seeing through them or over them. I became fascinated with the hedges and tried to hunt out Vincent Simone, an area woody-plant expert whose books I reviewed this year in PPP’s Early Spring issue. Unfortunately, i used to be unable to contact him until I returned to Maine (see the sidebar at left). On every road I traveled, pruning crews high on ladders used power hedge trimmers to sculpt the naturally gangly privet into something that looked almost perfect. Back in Maine on Long Island , a hedge might only get pruned once a year, and sometimes that might be with a sequence saw.
I soon received the Madoo Conser-vancy in Sagaponack and therefore the gardens of Robert Dash, who probably is best referred to as an artist whose medium is canvas. I quickly found that this multi-talented character — i used to be getting to use the term “gentleman,” but I knew he would disapprove — had an uncanny eye for develop- ing landscapes.
“I don’t paint within the way that I garden
or garden as i might employ the comb , although the method is usually an equivalent — both are arts of the wrist, the broadest, largest kind of signature, if you’ll , highly idiosyncratic, the results of much doing, much stumbling, and highly intuited turns and twists initially fits and adheres to the size of one’s intention,” Dash wrote in Notes from Madoo: Making a Garden within the Hamptons (see Book Reviews on Page 132). I felt there might be no better representation of his art than that of his gardens.
In May of 1965, Dash first saw the land that was to become his passion. He bought the parcel — a raw piece of agricultural land with an 18th-century hay barn — and by 1967 was on his thanks to creating Madoo, which in an old Scottish dialect means “my dove.”
Upon my arrival he quickly took me to his gardens, which were designed as a series of rooms. We strolled past the boxwoods of the knot garden and down the rose walk, which features a brick-lined rill. My eye was drawn through hoops entwined with climbing roses to an exedra, a Grecian brick structure with an oculus and a linear mirror to increase the sightline. This was just the primary of the many garden designs befitting an artist. I even have seen ginkgo groves, as an example , but none that utilize tightly pruned boxwoods, or “box balls,” as Dash’s does.
“Rather a wild stroke,” he said.
We passed four quincunx beds, with a fastigiate yew standing at attention at each corner of every square bed. There was a hermit’s hut tucked into another garden, and Dash proudly showed me an oriental bridge surrounded by native plants. As we walked, he explained that the keys to successful growing are many manure and proper pruning.
Pruning? i used to be trying to find privet that didn’t look perfectly square, and that i found what I wanted. Dash has taken mature privet and treated it during a way which will provide a chance for all gardeners with overgrown hedges — a chance to form a press release with plants which will have visitors saying “wow,” as I did. Imagine 20-foot-tall privets — with trunks the dimensions of small trees — pruned up an honest 10 feet.
“Now aged and knobby, they still appear as if the legs of young ballerinas, but young ballerinas wearing old rehearsal stockings, pilled and raddled,” Dash wrote in describ-ing the effect.
After walking through his many other garden rooms, it had been time to possess a glass of wine. The wine led to a discussion of what must be changed at Madoo, and therefore the amount of fruit juice consumed may have influenced the fate of the knot garden. We agreed that it interfered with the view down the rill to the exedra, and it must go!
Running late, I reluctantly left Madoo and received the LongHouse Reserve even as it had been closing for the day. A busload of tourists was being escorted out, which allowed for a glance at the gardens without anyone else present, and therefore the setting sun created lighting conditions that couldn’t are better for photography. But being late also meant I didn’t get to spend much time with Matko Tomicic, the chief director, or any time with Jack Lenor Larsen, who created this excellent landscape crammed with works by artists starting from Lichtenstein to Ono .
Garden enthusiasts come to LongHouse not such a lot for the plant collections as for ambitious landscaping, and for a spread of spaces sometimes mentioned as outdoor rooms. Among them are the Red Garden, the Dune Garden, the Grass Garden and therefore the Lotus Pond, additionally to many allées. LongHouse receives about 6,000 visitors annually.
About 300 daffodil cultivars blossom in April and should , primarily in whites and pinks. The property also features 60 bamboo cultivars, starting from low pygmies to combs 50 feet high; 100 conifer varieties, and 100 ornamental grasses.
The sculptures at LongHouse provide punctuation — and a destination. While many visitors won’t want to steer the equivalent of several blocks to ascertain a replacement tree, they’re often willing to go to the Ono piece at the west boundary of the reserve, or to experience a replacement or famous work, including pieces in glass and ceramic by Toshiko Takaezu and Dale Chihuly.
While this garden art could also be out of reach financially for several of PPP’s readers, the concept are often transposed to most landscapes. LongHouse can inspire gardeners to travel beyond the standard and take the probabilities necessary to form a landscape unique.
Another public garden within the area that’s well worth mentioning is that the Bridge Gardens Trust. The gardens had closed for the season the day before I arrived, but curator Harry Neyens was gracious enough to supply an outline .
“Bridge Gardens Trust has 800 antique and new roses, a knot garden, a historical collection of culinary, medicinal, textile and dyeing herbs, a lavender parterre, an assortment of topiaries, a water garden, two shade gardens, a bamboo grove and specimen plantings,” he said. “(We receive) 1,500 visitors annually.”
The next time I visit Long Island , I’ll make sure i buy there before the deadline of Oct. 31!
If you enjoy visiting wineries, there are many on Long Island from which to settle on . The soil (a rich loam), the climate (like Bordeaux) and therefore the influence of the ocean all bring perfect grape-growing. A stop at the Wölffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack proved how well-suited Long Island is for winemaking. The Wölffer Estate Selection Chardonnay was rated “Best Long Island Chardonnay” by The Wine Enthusiast magazine. albeit you’re not a lover of wine, the landscape and vineyard running alongside the winery make a stop here worthwhile.
There are many options for accommodations within the Hamptons, from bed-and- breakfast establishments to motels. I opted to go bent Montauk on the easternmost tip of Long Island . The town has an old summer beach community feel, with many old-style motels and 5,000 acres of public beaches to enjoy. It also features a lot of history: The Montauk Point Lighthouse was opened in 1787, and Montauk Point is where Teddy Roosevelt and his 30,000 Rough Riders landed after the Spanish-American War .
There are a number of fantastic places to dine in Montauk, and that i asked around about the simplest place to sample local fare. The locals all steered me to the Shagwong Restaurant, and a meal of freshly caught seafood proved their recommendations correct.
What is my most lasting memory of today Trip? The eccentricity of Robert Dash, the privet hedges, the sun setting behind the Chihuly glass wands at the LongHouse Reserve, or sunrise at Montauk Point? None of the above. As memorable as these experiences were, they can’t beat my visit to Marders Nursery.
For a tree lover, nothing can compare to sitting on the rootball of a 20-foot ginkgo able to be installed at the value of $25,000. Yes, $25,000! This nursery in Bridgehamp-ton is beyond belief. it had been started by Kathleen and Charlie Marder a few quarter of a century ago with the aim of transplanting large trees by mechanical means. That they are doing , and additionally to the massive trees they now have a full-service garden center, a landscaping division and an collection on the grounds. If you would like an outsized plant to anchor your landscape, visit them and ask to ascertain the 40-foot arborvitae. If you think that it’ll slot in your landscape, get the checkbook ready, because for about $40,000 it are often yours. And, of course, if Marders plants the tree, it comes with a two-year guarantee.
It was time to go back to Maine. Had I changed my mind about which Long Island i prefer best? Maybe, but I’ll need to visit the ny one a few of more times to fairly judge. Of course, if someone bought me one among those $25,000 ginkgos there would be no contest!
