How A Sister Duo Crafts Landscapes Honoring Nature’s Bounty
Sisters Anna and Emilia deMauro take a “no rules” approach to crafting landscapes that celebrate the intrinsic beauty of the East End.
Sisters Anna and Emilia deMauro of landscape design firm deMauro + deMauro.
Establishing a landscape design firm developed as organically for Anna and Emilia deMauro as their gardens do for clients. Daughters of a landscape designer mother, the sisters spent their childhoods on a Pennsylvania farm before moving to the Hamptons after college. They started slowly, designing small plots and containers, but business grew with every season. “Now, it’s full-scale master landscape plans,” Emilia says of deMauro + deMauro, their studio on the cusp of its 10th anniversary.
The sisters’ ethos derives from the natural bounty of the East End: “There’s such magic here, since it’s shaped by the sea,” says Anna. “We focus on native plantings for the habitats they offer but also for their loose, wild and painterly aesthetic, which feels very ‘old Hamptons.’ ” Recently, the deMauros have become known for their cutting gardens—sometimes rendered as formal beds, other times poetically integrated into a larger landscape. Here, Luxe taps the duo for some summer gardening inspiration.
Tips for starting a cutting garden? Pick a sunny location with good drainage. Plant tight for a fuller look and interplant species so you’re not left with empty spaces after cutting. And don’t limit yourself to just flowers! Consider grasses, hostas and ferns for floral arrangements. Herbs make great cut flowers, too.
Any favorite pairings? Roses, raspberries and rhubarb. White cosmos, green fennel and bachelor buttons. Native baccharis and winterberry, because they bloom late and set brilliant red berries, which are an important food source for native birds.
Go-to local resources? The Green Thumb in Southampton; they do beautiful bouquets and are our go-to for veggies and herbs. And Glover Perennials; they’re wholesale, but you’ll find their plants at most local nurseries.
What are clients requesting of late? To make environmentally conscious choices. We get a lot of asks for pollinating species, and we incorporate native plants into all of our work.
Where do you go to find inspiration? We love the Madoo Conservancy in Bridgehampton and Mulford Farm in East Hampton. And of course, the East End’s many beautiful trails, bays and beaches.
PHOTOS: DOUG YOUNG
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