Blake’s love of plants started at an early age. At age 11, he was the youngest member of the Bonsai Society and also started collecting Orchids, Bromeliads and other Tropical Plants. Seeing his passion for plants and running out of space in the house, Blake’s parents even built him a greenhouse for his ever-increasing plant collection.
Blake moved to New York City in the late 90’s where he earned a degree in communications. While working behind a desk in the Music and Entertainment Industry, he would always remember fondly his time as a child helping out in the gardens of his parents and grandparents. When Blake’s partner Vlad started to think about opening his own landscaping company in The Hamptons, he jumped at the opportunity to leave the office behind and get back in the garden.
Blake is passionate about growing Holistic/Medicinal Plants, Aroids, Succulents, Native Plants and collecting Unusual Plant Specimens. He is also an avid cook who loves to source seasonal ingredients from local farmers, fishermen and from his own home garden.
Vlad has been fascinated by plants and animals his whole life. He started volunteering at the local zoo in his native country of Ukraine at age 10 and started working at the botanical garden as a teenager. His love of plants and animals led him to study biology at University.
After immigrating to The US in the early 90s, Vlad started working in New York’s Flower District on w28th street. In the early 2000s he decided to transition from the cut flower business into live plants, completed an internship program/received a Certificate of Horticulture from The Brooklyn Botanic Garden and worked for several of the premier urban gardening companies in Manhattan.
In 2010, Vlad and his partner Blake opened Garden Angels in The Hamptons. They have established their company as one of the premier landscaping companies in the area, by providing unparalleled horticultural expertise, impeccable maintenance services and fabulous garden designs.