HC&G: When did you launch your firm?
Michael Derrig: I started Landscape Details in 2002, strictly as a maintenance business, with just a used truck, a trailer, a few mowers, three guys, and me. Honestly, from a capitalization standpoint, there was nothing at all to begin with.
What kind of work do you do now?
Today we’re a full-service landscape construction firm: We do installations, maintenance, lighting, masonry, and garden structures like pergolas, gates, and arbors. And we’re certainly capable of designing an entire landscape. We’ll do small jobs from $10,000 to bigger jobs for $1,000,000. I’m more than happy to do small scale, like my studio in Sag Harbor, or my own little house in East Hampton, which was on the ARF garden tour this year. I’m very proud of it.
Did you study landscape architecture?
Yes, I’m a registered landscape architect, with a degree from Rutgers University. My background gives me an edge. We install a lot of landscape architects’ projects, and I think they like working with us because I’m educated and experienced in their field.
When did you get into designing gardens yourself?
When I first got out of Rutgers, in 1986, I started designing small projects and doing construction jobs and planting them myself. After a brief hiatus in Colorado, I came back East and started with [landscape architecture firm] Kelly Varnell in Manhattan, then made my way out to the Hamptons.
Is there a common thread or crucial element to your garden designs?
Over the years I’ve tried to make garden plans less complicated by using fewer plants and building materials. I really concentrate on organizing the site and dividing the spaces. In the old days, I would incorporate multiple shrub beds with flowers in them; now it’s more typical to have just a single area with flowers.
You’ve worked some major sculptures into your garden designs. What kind of challenge does that present?
A few years back, I had the opportunity to place a Sol LeWitt sculpture in a garden. It was soon after he died, and I met with his daughter on site. She wanted it in a very symmetrical spot, but I didn’t really want it there, and now it is positioned off to the side and looks great. Most people want things front and center, but it’s important to integrate pieces within the garden, not smack in the middle of it all. It’s an occult balance; it’s something you feel. When it feels right, it feels right.
What’s the biggest difficulty when it comes to designing gardens in the Hamptons?
Coming up with new ideas and keeping things interesting. You can’t get away with cookie-cutter projects. New plants and new design concepts keep the work fresh.
What’s your favorite public garden?
Central Park. It’s amazing that it’s man-made, and that during the period when it was planned, New York City had the foresight to hire Frederick Law Olmsted. A close second for me would be Beatrix Farrand’s Dumbarton Oaks, outside Washington, D.C.
In the off season, how do you relax?
Travel! We’re going to Iceland next month, just to see its natural beauty.
