My passion for everything nature, especially trees, began when my parents moved our family from the suburbs of New York City to The Springs in East Hampton, Long Island, eventually settling in Amagansett. My sister, our friends and I played outside until sundown—we felt like we owned the woods and beaches. That was well before tourism, real estate developments and heavy traffic. It was a marvelous time…

During weekends, after school and school breaks I worked at The Springs Nursery, then owned by Richard Vrana. He became a lifelong mentor and friend who taught me all about plants, soil, and how and when to dig trees and shrubs. Richard showed me how to expertly wrap the root balls with burlap and sisal rope—a method that I have perfected over the years and has proven ideal for very high plant survival rates.

Looking for bigger challenges I decided to start my own landscaping company. I began to dig trees sometimes 20 to 50 feet tall, with a caliber no less than 12 to 36 inches and root balls 8 to14 feet plus. My expertise gained widespread recognition and demand for my work propelled me to travel across the country, transporting large plant collections to my clients’ properties. Notable clients included Chevy Chase, Paul Simon, Elizabeth Johnson with the Dupont family, Sheldon Solo, the Pritzker family, Linda Allard, Ricardo Weissenberg, Martin Tepper and Bob Mnuchin for the Mayflower Inn in Washington Connecticut, Mort Zuckerman, Peter Brant and Stephanie Seymour, Ron Delsner, Lorne Michaels of SNL, Calvin Klein, Patricia Richardson, Lidia Bastianich, Eli Wallach and artists including Willem de Kooning, John Little, Audrey Flack, and Ralph Carpentier.

I developed a decades-long friendship with the painter and sculptor Alfonso Ossorio. He and his partner Ted Dragon had one of the biggest conifer and rare plant collections on the East Coast at that time. Bringing his artist palette and creativity into his garden, Alfonso taught me so much about color and texture—yellows, blues, reds, and purple shades; weeping trees and rare evergreens. We shared ideas and created a beautiful and very unique garden at his home ‘The Creeks’ in Wainscott, NY.

My work drew the attention of Ben and Patricia Heller, whom I had previously worked with in the Hamptons. They had relocated to Sharon, Connecticut and sought a creative mind to transform the gardens of their new residence. Soon after I was introduced to their friends Zena and Michael Wiener, also very passionate plant collectors. The Wieners had purchased a large property in the Roxbury hills where I was subsequently employed to transform what was just woods and a lot of rocks into a wonderful garden, apple orchard, labyrinth and serene setting for beautiful sculptures and speciman rocks. This is where I have remained for the past two decades and continue to work today.

I feel incredibly blessed and grateful for the opportunity to have met and work with so many wonderful people. I will never stop caring for nature and trees, and I am always ready for the next challenge!
With much love, Tommy Verderosa