One of the simplest and most satisfying joys of summer is simply to sit out on the deck, sip your morning coffee, look over your garden and fountains and listen for the sounds of birds in the trees.
One of suburbia’s greatest charms is that it affords one a yard which you can develop in any way you want.
I grew up in a garden apartment complex on Rocky Hill Road in Bayside, Queens. Lots of concrete and bricks and cars and traffic noise.
And I remember one summer when I was about 8 when my parents began taking us out to the wilderness of Massapequa Park to gaze at our house as it was being built.
Back then Massapequa Park had dirt roads and it really did seem like a wilderness to a Queens boy. When we finally moved in late that summer
I recall how proud my father was of his lawn, how he had Kentucky blue grass seeded into it and extra top soil and that he installed the neighborhood’s first underground sprinkler system.
My brother and I were enlisted to cut the lawn each week but somehow I don’t recall minding that too much.
A few years later I managed to negotiate to have my father install a putting green and to have him buy a special mover to cut that part of the yard super low. That may explain why I became such a good golfer.
We are now in the year 2016 and are far beyond the simple days of green patches of lawn and lawn mowers. The value of capitalism is that it pushes everything forward into greater states of perfection. And that goes for lawn and garden design too.
Today we have available to us experts to help design gardens, decks, awnings, fountains, pools, backyard entertainment centers, fire pits, and outdoor kitchens.
Here on the Gold Coast of Long Island we are lucky enough to have an award-winning lawn design and installation business for one and all.
Michael and Anthony Zaino run Zaino’s Nursery and Garden Center at 900 Jericho Turnpike in Westbury and they have serviced homes in Sands Point, Port Washington, Old Westbury, Brookville, Lattingtown, Manhasset, Roslyn and East Williston for the past 47 years.
Their dad Louis was born in Naples Italy and when he arrived in the US he decided to open a small nursery. Well that nursery grew in Zaino’s which employs a staff of 20, has five trucks and is busy year round.
I caught up with Michael Zaino at his garden center (right next to Westbury Manor) and asked him about garden design and garden maintenance.
The winner of the Gold Star Award by Long Island Nursery Association told me that he designs yards based upon the home owner’s needs, the size of the yard and how the home is situated on the yard.
I asked him why home owners like to have specialized designs and he said “Firstly a well-designed lawn and garden increases the value of your home a great deal and makes it very easy to sell.
Secondly having a deck, a beautiful garden and a backyard outdoor entertainment center gives the owner a real sense of peace, pride and satisfaction whether they sit out alone or entertain neighbors or friends.”
He told me that home owners now have waterfalls, pools, fountains and outdoor kitchens installed and also use what he called ‘up lighting’ under the trees to make the yard beautiful even at night.
He said that well designed gardens soften patios, give a new dimension to the property and that owners often add something new to the design each year. He went on to say that the newest trend is backyard patio heaters and outdoor TV’s.
I have become just like my own father.
As a kid I didn’t have much appreciation for gardens or flowers or trees. But as I age I have come to love nature more and more.
And I have come to see the value of installing and maintaining this natural beauty around you.
So there I am each morning on my own back porch under my awning , sipping my coffee and looking over my garden and my fountains and hearing the birds chip away.
I have learned of the wonderful pleasures of suburban living and thank goodness I am here.
So goodbye to Bayside and hello to Nassau County.
Thank you Michael Zaino and your intrepid staff that spend their days clipping and pruning and cutting our gardens so that we can enjoy a moment of peace and quiet amid all the chaos of the outside world.
Let’s hear is for backyard life!
