And while an empty lot gives an impression of infinite potential, limitations abounded. A perimeter of protected wetland meant that less than an acre was actually suitable for construction. FEMA flooding protections mandated that the house had to be raised, while the town regulations squeezed it from above, limiting how high it could rise. To avoid a flight of stairs leading to the front door, the earth was gently graded.
Brooks took on this topographical project, and figured out a plan that would address the twin challenges of salt winds and deer. “All but the most native of planting would struggle,” Brooks says, “so I gave a lot of attention to the materiality, and the use of a series of quite small outdoor spaces, where you can anchor yourself and follow the sun through the day.” The perimeter was planted with a mix of viburnum, privet, Baccharis, pines, native cherries, red cedar, and Ilex opaca, with espaliered plane trees shielding the garage, and pleached shrubs adding structure near the pool. Between the main living room and a poolside pavilion, there is a kind of outdoor courtyard—an “orchard.” The garden is still young when I visit; the dunes down to the beach have been planted with skinny tufts of beach grass, and Brooks is frank that there may be quite a bit of turnover for the next three or so years—several trees in the orchard have already been replaced—“and then we may settle down into a survival-of-the-fittest situation,” she says. But there is a sense of correct and natural proportion, and yet also surprise and originality. Hydrangeas, those conventional pillars of many a stalwart Long Island hedge, have been confined to great, weathered terra-cotta pots, and rather than the typical “Nikko Blue” clouds, the blooms are white. The most beloved corner of the garden seems to be what everyone now calls “Julie’s Garden,” a small space outside the primary bedroom, shaded by a pergola and intricately seeded with sun-loving perennials like yarrow, echinacea, eryngium, liatris, monarda, asters, and Perovskia, alongside beach plum and white buddleia—a pollinator buffet for lucky bees.
