Gorgeous Shelter Island Gardens

This wide open view from a renovated Shelter Island beach house is enhanced by the artful combination of blue dune grass (Leymus arenarius), Festuca 'Elijah Blue', Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ and pink muhlenbergia, native trees and hardscapes of crushed clamshells, concrete rounds and composite decking.

A metal sculpture on a small sand dune stands out in a lush green space of prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepsis) and autumn olives (Elaeagnus umbellata), river birch (Betula nigra) and bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) on the Shelter Island property of Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler. 

Landscape designer Vickie Cardaro of Buttercup Design Group uses earthy accents like rocks, dune grasses, crushed clamshells, salt-tolerant artemisia ‘Silver Brocade,’ Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima) and other vegetation to celebrate the natural beauty of the island topography.

A minimalist approach to an interior courtyard results in a zen-like retreat where a Japanese red maple (Acer bloodgood) becomes the focal point and an espalier green apple tree, carney rock and crushed gravel add to the austere beauty of the space.