HC&G: How did you end up settling on Shelter Island?
Vickie Cardaro: I started renting a weekend house in 1989 with a group of friends and moved here year-round in ’99. I had decided to come out for a year’s leave from the city and a career in TV. I wanted to watch the seasons change, and within three months I had started a garden center! It was successful by accident, but I didn’t like shopkeeping, so I segued into the design and build business.
What makes gardening on Shelter Island different from other Hamptons communities?
It’s a very challenging world. There’s one aquifer and no irrigation, and we have a severe deer predation problem too. You can have water trucked in from the mainland and stored in cisterns for that rare customer, but hopefully most people are planting with an eye toward drought resistance. As for the deer, you can either cede your property or plant five basic species: boxwood, ornamental grasses, nepetas, some spireas, osmanthus—though the deer even eat osmanthus now. Sometimes, I try to sneak in a shrub like an oakleaf hydrangea because they might just pass it by, and it gives a garden a little more interest. I’ve tried everything to protect our installations from the deer: cattle grates, double rows of four-foot fencing, and a lot of spraying. Labor Day is the start of rutting season, and all the trees on my jobs get wrapped.
What is it about garden design that inspires you?
Transforming a space: Planting trees and shrubs, doing reforestation, integrating better species, creating bird habitats. It’s almost like being a sculptor in an outdoor room. I even train customers to embrace winter gardens, with masses of red-twig dogwood or a coral-bark maple, and grasses that give off a wheat-y, agricultural look.
How did you get into horticulture?
I’m self-taught and have massive amounts of books to prove it! Visiting local growers, studying gardens abroad in the winter, just doing it. If you have a certain aesthetic as your base, you can transfer that to a garden. Plus, I have a group of people around me who are the best: I subcontract lighting to Nathan Orsman, and I’ve worked with my site installation guy and the same Italian mason for at least a dozen years. My own crew has been with me for about ten years.
How would you describe a Vickie Cardaro garden?
I cannot describe it, really, because it is always changing, but oddly enough it’s the color of a client’s house that often has the most impact. I like all types of design, from modern minimalist to English country to productive and decorative vegetable gardens, and more.
You’re fond of mixing tropicals into your work. How do you integrate them?
I started with patios and decks, adding lush agaves and big bananas. I used to feel more protective about tropical plants and spent a lot of money overwintering them. But now I’m more interested in discovering and experimenting with new plant materials every season.
