For many of the Hamptons’ most beautiful properties, the garden begins with Frederico Azevedo. As founder of Unlimited Earth Care, he has designed landscapes across the East End known for their sweeping lawns, their vibrant color, and a feeling that they were always meant to be there. Working closely with architects and homeowners, Azevedo approaches each project as a complete vision, from the earliest stages of planning to how a garden evolves over time. Here, he shares his approach to designing in the Hamptons, the role gardens play in how people live, and what continues to inspire his work.
What do you notice first when you walk a property in the Hamptons?
FREDERICO AZEVEDO: The first thing I notice is the soil, the plants, and the views that create the natural beauty of a property. What makes the Hamptons special to me as a designer is the diversity of its environments. The ocean and bays shape the character of the area, while farms, fields, woods, dunes, and ponds add another layer to how the landscape is experienced. From there, I think about how to enhance those elements by creating a view or guiding people through the landscape using variations in scale and depth. For example, to build a sense of place on a larger property, I plant visually heavy evergreens as a frame that leads into trimmed shrubbery, which then guides the eye into textured grasses and colorful blooms. As I walk the property, I think through these design outlines and note what plants and flowers will thrive, which allows me to begin thinking about color.
How do you begin thinking about what a landscape can become?
FA: I design sustainably for the delicate environments of the Hamptons, each requiring a unique approach, while also creating something visually exciting. I identify the views a property already has or those I can create through design. I’ve planted flowering meadows or clusters of evergreens in different sizes and shades of green, designed to be viewed from the house. For one project, I maintained an open green lawn directly behind the house, bordered by tall, lightly trimmed shrubbery. I created flowerbeds with texture and eye-catching color, such as fuchsia lythrums, purple verbena bonariensis, and white Shasta daisies and Phlox David, placed at a carefully chosen distance. This draws the eye across the lawn, bringing color to outdoor spaces and framing views from inside. Through an intentional use of scale and color, garden and landscape design can make smaller areas feel spacious and larger properties with grass lawns feel private and better connected to the flow of the home.
Your gardens are known for their use of color. How do you approach it?
FA: My signature is color. I spend a great deal of time planning palettes using native and well-adapted plants that will thrive together. My work is often compared to painting, but I think about color differently because I have to consider movement. I’m inspired by animated films, where color is textured, moves with the wind, overlaps, and reacts to changing light.
What do you think about the relationship between the house and the garden?
FA: Designing gardens that complement the house is an important part of what I do. I don’t have a formula for this. I don’t assume modern houses require minimalist gardens or traditional houses should have formal flowerbeds. I try to understand the clients’ personal style, how they live, what the property can accommodate, and what colors and views will elevate the experience of both the house and the landscape. Vivid clusters of pink Knock Out roses, azaleas, lythrum, or purple scaevolas reflected in a pool at a modern house can be striking and create focal points, while gardens in different shades of green can create a soft atmosphere for a traditional house without conforming to country garden traditions.
Gardens evolve over time. How do you design with that in mind?
FA: Maintenance is a significant part of what my firm, Unlimited Earth Care, does. I’ve been caring for some of my earliest designs in the Hamptons for many years, and creating healthy gardens and landscapes that grow and change with the seasons is, to me, the mark of a successful design. I’m also very aware of how the environment has changed over the years. I see it very intimately, and I work within that understanding.
How do you create landscapes that bring people outside?
FA: I love designing landscapes that invite yoga in the garden, cooking outdoors, and entertaining among the flowers. I create outdoor living rooms and natural divisions of space that allow for different activities. Lately, I’ve been placing herb and vegetable gardens near kitchens and patios, so that clients can pick fresh herbs and salad greens as they prepare cocktails and meals. When a client calls to describe a sunset dinner party in the garden I designed or an afternoon of yoga on the lawn, those are moments that might not have happened without that intention built into the design.
What makes a Hamptons garden special?
FA: There is a recognizable Hamptons garden look with hydrangeas and hedges, and it’s beautiful and often the right choice for a project. I studied in England, where this soft, impressionistic garden design originates, so I’m very practiced in that aesthetic. It excites me to find fresh ways to interpret it through my own color palettes, creating a garden that feels classic to the Hamptons but also new. That might mean working with vivid pink and purple blooms in a range of hues, or paring the design back to its essentials with tree-form white hydrangeas, trimmed hedges, or a single-color planting that guides the eye and highlights the house or a view.
Describe your perfect summer day in the Hamptons.
FA: I take my French Bulldog, Louis, for a bike ride in his elegant little sidecar. Then, we begin the day outside, taking in the flowers and butterflies. Being in the garden brings me a sense of calm. My children visit often, and we spend our days swimming, barbecuing, and listening to music, with nearly every moment spent outside. For shopping, we head to Blue & Cream and Hank Clothing x Ryland, and for meals, Sunset Beach and Pierre’s are favorites.
You often host events at Unlimited Earth Care. What’s planned for this summer?
FA: Inviting clients, friends, and anyone who loves gardening and design to experience our space and socialize is something I look forward to every summer. In June, we hosted a celebration at Unlimited Earth Care headquarters marking 20 years since opening our Bridgehampton office, along with introducing our collaboration with interior designer Bea Pernia. For summer 2026, our Garden Concept Store features a curated selection of outdoor furniture from Pernia’s Bubble Collection, recently debuted at Design Miami.
What continues to inspire you?
FA: I began planning vegetable gardens in Brazil as a child. I would plant carrots to encourage my mother to bake my favorite carrot soufflé. Seeing my vision come to life filled me with joy, and it still does today with every garden I create.
Photos courtesy of Unlimited Earthcare.
