Guild Hall in East Hampton presents the return of Garden as Art on Sunday, September 8. The event will begin with a 10 AM talk by Charlie Marder, owner of Marder’s, in Guild Hall’s Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan Theater. It will continue from noon to 4 PM with self-guided tours of four spectacular private gardens in Wainscott and East Hampton.
The gardens include the garden of Carl Bengtsson and Kathy Sutherland, which was designed and installed by Harmonia Inc. This newly built contemporary construction required a landscape design and installation to make it feel like home. The extensive New York stone entrance of earth tone hues, lined by river birch, early blooming Helleborus, and Annabelle hydrangea, greet you as you ascend to the home entrance. A beautiful allée of white blooming crepe myrtles is the entrée of the extended views of the vast reserve in the distance. The circular patio, complimented by casual seating and a fire pit, is a perfect spot to enjoy the fireflies in the reserve. One of the property’s added features is a custom-built life-size treehouse.
A garden in Wainscott designed by Hollander Design Landscape Architects draws on a distinctive and historically significant part of Long Island’s agricultural history. This home links a Peconic Land Trust area with an agricultural reserve and draws inspiration from a 1938 potato barn originally on the site. The landscape creates comfortable, easy outdoor living for alfresco dining and cooking, lounging by the pool, and a workout space. Naturalized meadows and native plantings throughout the site help the home feel timeless. Green roofs on the home are aesthetically appealing while offering temperature regulation and encouraging biodiversity. A stepped garden between the house and pool invites glimpses of butterflies and birds along the path.
Peek behind the ivy-covered brick wall of a beautiful Main Street East Hampton property, and you will find an immense 90-year-old crimson weeping Japanese maple, a perennial garden bordering the croquet court, which is surrounded by 36 giant boxwoods, and a bubbling pond with lilies and water hyacinths. A putting green adds playfulness to this pristine garden, which includes recent additions of a hidden fort and theater to the delight of the owner’s grandchildren. The first flower show of the Garden Club of East Hampton was held here in 1916, then the home of May Groot Manson, a leading suffragette for whom there is a historical marker in front of this house on Main Street. Galen Williams originally designed the garden, but today, it is cared for by Elizabeth Gardens.
The Woodhouse Playhouse offers garden tour-goers the opportunity to view The Playhouse’s interior and tour the gardens. Designed by Guild Hall founder Mrs. Lorenzo Woodhouse in 1916, expressly to showcase performance art, The Playhouse was praised by noted architect Robert A.M. Stern as “the most perfectly preserved” of the Woodhouse family properties. Mrs. Woodhouse’s public gifts to the community include Guild Hall and the East Hampton Public Library. From 1917-1933, The Playhouse served as a lively performing arts hall whose varied presentations included stage classics by first-tier actors; concerts by string quartets and The Westminster Choir; and dance, including works by Isadora Duncan, and by Ruth St. Denis – whose gauze-clad Denishawn dancers transformed the Playhouse gardens into an ethereal outdoor stage in 1932. The grounds of this nearly three-acre property feature a gunite pool, a serene fountain, and a variety of mature specimen trees such as beech, sycamore, and elm, kept since Mrs. Woodhouse’s days and still providing a private oasis of natural beauty today.
Visit the exquisite gardens at Landscape Details. The landscape was carefully designed with an eye for detail and aesthetics, featuring intricate stonework that complements the building’s architecture, a serene meditation pool that provides a tranquil retreat, and a variety of beautiful plantings that add color and texture throughout the property. Each landscape element was chosen to enhance the overall ambiance, creating a harmonious blend of nature and structure.
Tickets start at $200 ($150 for Members) and can be purchased at GuildHall.org/gaa2024.
