Maple Shade, a farmhouse and garden located in Water Mill, Southampton, is owned and cherished by Dr Mark Kot and his wife, Kelli Delaney Kot, both of whom use the garden as the venue for summer garden parties, languid lazy days by the pool, as well as days spent watering, weeding, and deadheading.
As befits its name, the protagonist in this garden's story is the three maple trees sitting languidly in the garden, each over a hundred years old. It's hard to pinpoint precisely what is responsible for the aesthetic success of this garden, but its use of trees, hedges, and topiary as green architecture has been intelligently placed as a backdrop to a glorious array of plants and flowers.
Its abundant use of incandescent blue hydrangeas gives it a distinct sense of place almost immediately; this is The Hamptons, after all. But, it is far from a pretentious setup, this garden is filled with garden ideas worth copying. It is a riot of color, playful shapes, and heady fragrance. Here, we take a tour around Maple Shade, a British and French-inspired garden in The Hamptons, and look at the garden design ideas that have taken shape here.
Lifestyle writer and photographer Blue Carreon’s new book, ‘The Gardens of the Hamptons, available from Amazon’, features a plethora of stupendously beautiful gardens dotted around this iconic area, including Maple Shade. I asked him to provide some context on the area this bucolic garden resides in.
'The house and garden are located in what we refer to in the Hamptons as horse country,' Blue explains. 'It is surrounded by polo fields and riding stables, where the landscape is simply open fields and paddocks. Then there is Maple Shade, which is a total gem, abundant and overflowing with innumerable varieties of flowers.'
The borders here are choc-full and brimming with color and plants for pollinators, always aflutter with butterflies, bees, dragonflies, and hummingbirds. This bucolic garden punctuates the vast and seemingly barren scenes of empty fields so magically.
'The garden is an adaptation of inspirations and influences to suit the Hamptons' climate. There is an influence of French gardens through the formal parterres and an influence of British gardens through the perennial and annual borders,' says Blue.
'Plus, the sea of hydrangeas that line the swimming pool area and the perimeter of the house which is quintessential Hamptons. Surrounding the house’s porch are an abundance of blue hydrangeas. In the distance is the pool area, which is partially hidden from view by a lush blue hydrangea hedge.'
The house and garden are surrounded by tall privet hedges for maximum privacy. The swimming pool area features flowering perennial and annual beds that are planned and planted by Mark.
'What makes it a true standout is that Kelli and Dr Mark have divided the gardens into two areas which they individually tend to, a sort of horticultural separation of church and state.
'Kelli’s garden room is the formal quadrant boxwood parterre garden filled with roses and peonies, and the beds of the kitchen window. Mark’s garden is comprised of the floriferous beds surrounding the swimming pool.'
Rather than identify plants that feature within this garden, it would be quicker to identify those that aren't. Vines, roses, clematis, jasmines and all manner of exotica can be found here.
Admittedly, the garden is pristinely manicured, and, although lavishly planted, it is neat as a pin, and everything has its place. For some of us, it lacks the sumptuously blousy and ethereal crooked romance we like to see and feel in a garden, but there is a time and place for formal structure and method, and this is the perfect example of just how pretty a garden can be when its owners are as diligent and zealous as Maple Shade's owners are.
A beautiful coffee table book you will actually read from cover to cover, over and over again. Blue has an all access an all-access pass to the most lavish gardens of The Hamptons, and the photos and stories in this book are as sentimental as they are gorgeous. Well worth investing in for yourself or a garden-obsessed friend.
What a delightful space. One can imagine walking around, chilled wine in hand, inspecting the blooms, or flopping on the sunbed by the pool. Heaven!
So if you are planning the ultimate entertaining garden, there's inspiration in bucketloads to be found at this beautiful space.
