Few people know Hamptons landscape design as well as Frederico Azevedo, who has created garden and landscape designs for some of the region’s more beautiful properties. He’s now gone a step further, setting up a nursery where you can buy plants he picked specifically for the region.
Unlimited Earth Care, Azevedo’s landscape design and maintenance company, in May opened its Garden Market at 2249 Scuttle Hole Road in Bridgehampton, adjacent to the Unlimited Earth Care headquarters and Garden Concept Store, which sells garden accessories, planters, sculptures and outdoor furniture. In addition to a modern, barn-inspired structure housing more delicate orchids and planters, the outdoor section features an extensive collection of native and well-adapted plants and flowers.
“I’ve been designing and maintaining gardens in the Hamptons for almost three decades,” Azevedo said of the store, open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. “And I know what thrives here and how the Hamptons garden aesthetic has evolved over time.”
A landscape designer who has won numerous awards, Azevedo talked about “curating” plants both when he designs and at the nursery.
“The Garden Market was always a part of the plan; it’s Unlimited Earth Care’s next chapter,” he said. “I wanted to create a new facet of my firm that would allow more people to experience my designs and the sustainable aesthetic that I’ve developed for the Hamptons.”
The pandemic, he said, has made people more aware of and in tune to the benefits of the outdoors, including gardens. These may be amenities, but they shouldn’t be an afterthought.
“The past year people have really come to understand the value of having a garden and the beneficial impact that living with plants and flowers can make for your life,” he said, calling the new nursery a “resource for longtime gardeners and newly minted plant enthusiasts alike.”
Azevedo said plants such as Achillea, Echinacea and Helenium are “lovely native flowers that bloom in late summer/early fall,” seeming to talk about picking plants a little bit like picking colors when you paint.
“The experience of a garden or a landscape can be like walking through an exhibition at a museum where people are guided to experience the beauty of each piece of art in a certain way,” he said. “I choose which plants should go where and create something unique to that site.”
Azevedo said each person should pick plants that suit them.
“It’s important to choose plants that are right for your property, so think about how much sun or shade the plants will experience, and how much maintenance they will need,” he said. “Attracting pollinators like birds, bees and butterflies is also very important. I love that pollinator gardens are gaining popularity now. I’ve always designed gardens that attract helpful visitors that care for the environment.
While gardens, at their core, are about appearance, Azevedo said choices should combine sustainability, durability and aesthetic.
“If you plant something just for its looks without consideration, you’re taking a risk, but if you’re only choosing durable plants, you may not achieve the feeling you want,” he said, adding that balance is key in landscape design and plant selection.
“Balance bright colors with soft whites, tall, spiked flowers with lower blooms,” he said.
Azevedo wants his nursery to provide a place to see and select plants that beautify a property. Still, they require care to thrive.
“I hope that the Garden Market can ease some questions for people by providing plants and flowers that do well in the Hamptons,” he said. “Making the right choices at the beginning is very important.”
Here are three of the top picks for fall:
ACHILLEA
Achillea is an herbaceous flowering perennial native to New York that blooms July through September. “They have a modest elegance, and I often plant them in my meadows to attract butterflies and other helpful pollinators,” Azevedo said, adding that they are also coastal-friendly and naturally deer and rabbit resistant.
ECHINACEA
Echinacea is a bright North American native that Azevedo said has “a bohemian elegance” that blooms from July to September. It’s a perennial that provides seed for birds, supports native bee populations and attracts butterflies. “It prefers full sun,” Azevedo said, “so it is a good choice for bringing bright color into exposed areas and pathways.”
HELENIUM
Helenium is a native perennial flower with cadmium-gold petals that Azevedo said “stretch delicately” from raised centers. “It has a cheerful appearance,” Azevedo added, “and I usually include them as subtle but rich additions to colorful, curving flowerbeds that highlight trees or for edges of the garden.”
For more information, visit unlimitedearthcare.com, email info@unlimitedearthcare.com for a weekly newsletter about what’s blooming at the Garden Market and get garden design tips or call 631-725-7551.
This article was featured on the cover of the August issue of Behind The Hedges. Read the digital version here.
Email tvecsey@danspapers.com with further comments, questions, or tips. Follow Behind The Hedges on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
