A PRFCT Summer Evening on the South Fork

There were no pesticides on the lawn, but there were plenty of city-dwellers touching grass, as Perfect Earth Project gathered friends and supporters for its annual summer benefit, Home, Health, Happy, an evening devoted to the idea that a beautiful garden can also be a healthy one.

Held at a private home of Lindsay Caleo Karol on the South Fork, the party made a persuasive case for the cause. As the sun began to set, children rolled across the chemical-free lawn, guests kicked off their shoes, and monarch butterflies fluttered through the garden. As the organization put it afterward, they “couldn’t have asked for a more PRFCT night.”

Founded in 2013 by award-winning landscape designer Edwina von Gal, Perfect Earth Project advocates for toxic-free, nature-based landscaping, encouraging homeowners to ditch synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, plant native species, nurture healthy soil, and give more of their gardens back to birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife.

The evening brought together a particularly strong host committee, including Amy and Chris Astley, Laurie Beckelman, Blythe Danner, Cary Davis and John McGinn, Kyle DeWoody, Stephanie Joyce, John and Justine Leguizamo, David Maupin, Isaac Mizrahi, Julianne Moore, Emily Onkey, Jennifer Pastore, Lisa Phillips, Tony Piazza, Maria Rodale, Brian Sawyer, Cindy Sherman, Lucy and Jake Sumner, Anne Templeton, Sorat Tungkasiri, and Gucci Westman.

The night supported Perfect Earth Project’s growing slate of free programs, from its Living Lands eco site visits, which offer homeowners personalized advice on making their properties healthier and more sustainable, to its demonstration garden at Amber Waves and training for the next generation of land-care professionals.

For von Gal, the goal is not to make gardens less beautiful, but to reconsider what beauty looks like in the first place. Perfect Earth Project’s version of the perfect garden isn’t manicured and sprayed into submission. It’s a living ecosystem, filled with native plants, healthy soil, birds, butterflies, and, ideally, a few barefoot humans enjoying it all.