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Creating an outdoor dining space is one way to maximize outdoor space.
Lighting in another way to enjoy outdoor space into the evening hours. Charles Mayer
I have considered Sag Harbor my home for the past 25 years. Though a “weekender,” I’m someone who has lived, worked, and contributed to this community and I understand the sense of isolation we feel as we shelter in place and watch the sun warm the earth through the window. I have found myself missing the hustle and bustle of the office in New York City. I used to complain about the line of colleagues ready with questions knocking on my office door. Now? Nothing sounds sweeter.
My work as a landscape architect is about helping people extend a sense of ‘home’ to their entire property. More than ever, home is synonymous with shelter and safety. I have a few suggestions for what you can do right now to help make your garden ready for the moment when we can use our homes to gather with friends and family again.
There are a number of ways to reduce your garden’s need for chemicals and make it a safer, healthier place. From attending to the quality and nutrients in your soil, to planting designs that minimize maintenance. See the Perfect Earth Project for ideas on toxin-free landscaping: perfectearthproject.org/
Landscape lighting can make your garden feel as beautiful at night as it does during the day. It can also help you enjoy your garden longer. Lighting could be as simple as stringing café lights in the branches above the table where you gather to eat. Heating elements, where friends can gather around a fire, take the chill off of early spring and late autumn nights.
Create a spot just for meals with friends and family out in the fresh air during the best months of the year. It could be a fancy kitchen or as simple as a picnic table. Take time to observe which spots in your yard are sunny versus shady, so you can plan for comfort. And although you may think first about the convenience of a table right next to your kitchen, consider how special it feels to be away from the house and the journey to the table itself.
In this time of darkness, I’d like to do something optimistic for our community. Until April 29, my firm, Hollander Design Landscape Architects, is providing free virtual landscape consultations to East End homeowners as a way of reinforcing a sense of community, even while we’re isolated from each other. We’d like to give a few ideas on how to improve your outdoor space in anticipation of that moment when our homes once again become places to gather.
How it works:
If you are a resident of Long Island’s South Fork, send your name and home address to consultation@hollanderdesign.com.
We’ll contact as many respondents as we can via email to set up a mutually convenient video call. Then, you’ll ‘walk’ us through your property virtually and we’ll give you some on-the-spot recommendations for getting more out of your garden this year.
Edmund Hollander is president of Hollander Design Landscape Architects, a New York City-based firm recognized by Architectural Digest as one of few landscape architects on its AD100 list. In recent years, he has contributed time and design to several Sag Harbor projects, including initial concepts for the John Steinbeck Waterfront Park.
