DIRT

(Page 2 of 3)

Joseph A. Hren in East Hampton is as much a park as a commercial nursery, so give yourself time to wander. Don't miss the already well-espaliered 'Braeburn' apple and 'Bartlett' pear trees. They will electrify any outdoor wall. The greatest buys are the 25-foot Heritage River birches with the ghostly white bark gloriously peeling for $795. Young Joe Hren III believes in "old-fashioned" lilacs and you will find a fabulous selection here.

Then there's Spring Close Farm. The entrance to this funky nursery may not captivate you upon arrival, but persevere and you will find very interesting plant material. Big balls of boxwood for $130, nice plant-them-yourself sized Cryptomeria and weeping cedars, plus gorgeous stylized, statement-making gold cone junipers.

On the west side of East Hampton is beloved Buckley's. When you think of this nursery with its family atmosphere and wonderful homegrown flavor, please do not think only of annuals and herbs. Make your way behind the office into the attached greenhouse to see their terrific assortment of tropicals. A particularly divine selection of ferns from fuzzy asparagus to out-of-this-world staghorns lay shaded under the canopy of a 40-year-old rubber tree that has become a neighborhood wonder. Then proceed to the largest greenhouse way in the back to see the big stuff—tropicals of the most pleasing flowering variety, not the venomous, dark and moody sort that I often tout.

Gardenias in shrub and tree shapes look fabulous and smell even better; mandevillas and bougainvilleas jostle toward the sun in an assortment of colors; and primeval tree ferns sidle up to fabulous banana trees. There is enough of everything to make a statement.

There's Marders, of course, in Bridgehampton. Amid the $12,000 spruces, the $28,000 Zelkovia and one heart-stopping $78,000 beech, there are dazzling finds of the smaller but infinitely more transportable variety.