Spring Comes to Manhattan, Upper East Side Edition - Gardenista
Images via Elysian Landscapes. What could have possessed Edith Wharton to call New York CIty’s brownstones “drab”? Her LA-based firm, Elysian Landscapes, has a client list that includes Sofia Coppola, nightlife impresario Sean McPherson... ...and the Beastie Boys’ Mike D. Kameon’s familiarity with the challenges posed by an East Coast climate dates to when she lived above John Gotti’s social club in Little Italy. A window box and two L-shaped planters, painted glossy black to match the townhouse trim, are packed with ornamental cabbages, junipers, and variegated creepers. The plant list, updated seasonally, is built around a backbone of perennials that includes Juniperus procumbens ‘Nana;’ Hedera helix ‘Glacier;’ Euonymous fortunei ‘Silver Queen’ (a 1-gallon pot is $16.99 from Green Earth), and Heuchera ‘Purple Palace,’ which is available for $12.48 per plant from Brighter Blooms. The daybed (which is from Kameon’s Plain Air furniture line) on the fourth-floor balcony is where the client, a film producer, reads scripts. The garden’s palette echoes the cityscape, with Plain Air chairs and a custom table inspired by a vintage piece in Kameon’s personal collection. The lavender flowers of Verbena bonariensis “float like wands,” Kameon says, to create a visual counterpoint to the mounded ivies. The planters are made of fiberglass in a shade matched to Benjamin Moore’s Dill Pickle paint color. Planted in the terrace containers are Hedera Helix ‘Gold Child’ ($10.50 per plant from White Flower Farm; ornamental purple cabbages... ...Salvia officinalis ($6.95 per plant from White Flower Farm); Thymus citriodorus ($2 per plant from Amazon); Pinus flexilis ‘Vanderwolf’s Pyramid‘ ($24.95 for a three-year graft from Amazon), and Acer palmatum ‘Crimson Queen’ ($20 for a 1-gallon pot from New Life). A curtain of bamboo screens the back patio from the building behind. The built-in table and banquette are custom, and upholstered in blue Sunbrella fabric... ...inspired by the plum colors and blue-gray tones of the bluestone patio. For more of Judy Kameon’s tips for entertaining in the garden, see Holiday Table En Plein Air.