Oehme, van Sweden Hamptons Garden

To honor the vernacular of field and forest at this location near East Hampton, Eric Groft of Oehme, van Sweden used generous swaths of grasses like Pennisetum alopecuroides, and low-maintenance perennials such as Rudbeckia nitida ‘Herbstsonne’. A farmhouse in its previous life, parts of the home date back to 1770.

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Rudbeckia nitida 'Herbstsonne', a low-maintenance perennial.

While the garden is conducive to quiet contemplation, it is also designed as a place for entertaining friends and family. Here two of the homeowner’s children prepare the table for an outdoor fête.

A cozy nook under a grape arbor, made from recycled locust trees, bark still intact.

The dinner party, which includes Groft (in blue) and his client (in yellow), also feasts other senses amidst a lush circle of Agastache, Hakonechloa, Chasmanthium and Tricyrtis.

To separate the house and its surrounds from the back third of the property and the swimming pool, Groft stretched a long, low, see-through fence that is less about boundary-making than beckoning exploration beyond. It also supports plantings of blackberries and raspberries.

At the far corner of the lot, the revamped poolhouse is tucked behind a meadow of Joe-Pye weed, Panicum virgatum ‘Northwind and mountain mint.

The 60-foot pool is lined with dark tiles to amp up reflections, and its wide steps invite poolside confabs. By surrounding it with graceful grasses and perennials that creep over the coping, Groft gave it an unobtrusive, pond-in-a-meadow feel.

Groft and home-owner Annachiara Danieli were sympatico in their goals for the landscape — simple, natural and appropriate to the site. Groft even made use of glacial boulders unearthed during construction, placing them as features in the garden and creating a circle for conversation around the fire pit (in foreground).

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