The Gardens of Bunny Mellon: The first study of the gardens and landscapes designed by the famed society hostess

by Linda Jane Holden, Roger Foley (Photographs), Peter Crane (Introduction)

Throughout her long and storied life, Rachel “Bunny” Mellon’s greatest passion was garden design. She and her husband, Paul Mellon, one of the wealthiest men in America, maintained homes in New York, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Antigua, and Upperville, Virginia, and she designed the gardens at all of them. She also designed gardens for some of her dearest friends, including the Rose Garden and the East Garden at the White House, at the request of President Kennedy, and the gardens at both the Paris home and the château of couturier Hubert de Givenchy. All of these gardens are featured in The Gardens of Bunny Mellon, illustrated with Mellon’s own garden plans, sketches, and watercolors, as well as with archival photographs and specially commissioned photographs of Oak Spring, the Mellon estate in Upperville. Author Linda Holden’s text is based on extensive interviews with Mellon before her death in 2014.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

308 pages, Hardcover

Published October 16, 2018

Reviews

[Jenna ✨DNF Queen✨Here, Sometimes... · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library book, Borrowed 3/1/'23
Rating: 4.5 Stars, rounded up for sheer enjoyment

What would have made it 5 stars?
- Remove the extraneous portions about the Jackie O / JFK Memorial / JFK Library Gardens. Didn't feel appropriate for this volume.
- Include much more detail about the actual plants used in some of the borders, etc. This seemed inconsistent, as sometimes there were more detailed lists, and at other times its was... lacking. There was one beautiful photo of a spectacular blue iris, and the photo description just said, Iris. Ok, WHAT KIND???



Read for:
2023 ATY 52 Challenge
2023 Gardening Book Challenge (Personal Challenge)
2023 Tarot Arcana Challenge

March 2nd, 2023: Brief Overview/Review

WOW. *Applause*
This has immediately gone on my list of books to "acquire at some point".

Bunny was truly a talented visionary and left an unquestionably unique mark on the gardening world. It's spectacular what someone with this kind of artistic talent and what essentially amounts to unlimited resources can do.

"Mrs Mellon’s style is sometimes summarized in her oft-repeated phrase “nothing should be noticed,” but equally it was her practice that no detail should be ignored” - 8

I loved the details of how she envisioned and planned a garden, but most importantly, how she took the time to understand everything about both the garden's location and the people she was designing for.

My favorite sections were the opening entries regarding her Virginia Home, Oak Spring Gardens and Farm, and the later descriptions of her work with close friend Givenchy on his Château du Jonchet and their incredibly important and fascinating restoration project of the Potager du Roi at Versailles.

Gorgeous photographs; beautiful details about this fascinating and pioneering woman's life.
See notes below for extensive quotes and in-line thoughts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reading notes & Quotes
(where B. = Bunny)

FOREWARD, by Sir Peter Crane
“If beauty is the harmonious relationship among parts, then Mrs. Mellon, through the gardens and landscapes she designed, was a creator of beauty” -7

- B. amassed an extensive collection of rare books on plants and garden plans

“Mrs Mellon’s style is sometimes summarized in her oft-repeated phrase “nothing should be noticed,” but equally it was her practice that no detail should be ignored” - 8

“She expressed her creativity in three dimensions, embracing the challenge of a living palette that changes with the seasons” -8

GARDENS IN VIRGINIA
Oak Spring Gardens and Farm

“Emerson’s observation ‘The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common’ became ever more meaningful to her in the years to come.” -14

“In the tradition of Thomas Jefferson, Bunny kept a notebook to track experiments.” -16
- Isn’t this a hallmark of any ‘true’ gardener? Experimenting, recording, drawing, and journaling?
- encourages me to keep up with my garden journals and get it caught up for this years crops and new additions.

“Landscapes must put together things of nature that correspond to the person as well as the place. It must inspire calm and peace” -18

- this is a book I’m going to need to hunt down and purchase. GORGEOUS, and loaded with wisdom. I'm also realizing how much I'd like to read more about B and get into her head.

“She laid out the garden with a subtlety that adhered to her design ethos: nothing should be noticed; nothing should be obvious. She wanted it to look natural, as though God had created it. Every branch should have its own space; each plant should complement every other; If a plant wandered in, that was just fine. Perfection is achieved in the imperfect.” - 28
- YES YES YES to all of that!!

“No cameras were allowed, so visitors had only their memory to rely on, which caused them to slow their pace, linger along the paths, and appreciate the moment.” -34

- pansies around the roses: good idea ✔️ Note to track down some white pansies for rose garden.

“One day, stonemason Harold Lovett asked her why she insisted on having so many hardy orange trees and told her that they had ruined his hat. Her response: ‘They are great trees for the birds to build their nests and to go and hide,’ and she offered to buy him a new hat.” -47 😂

“Bunny’s impeccable manners extended to her gardeners (she made them feel like they were family), and whenever she had guests she would conduct a round of introductions” -54
- the way someone treats their staff tells you all you need to to know about them ❤️

“…set of unofficial Oak Spring Garden rules:
Be very careful what you do.
Everything is a flower - until it’s not.
Utilize anything and everything possible. Go slow, take your time; no rushing.
When snipping, pinching, or pruning, follow the template.” -70/71

“The aromas of basil, chervil, chives, leeks, oregano, and parsley waft over the garden’s stepping stone paths and nearby stone wishing well. Chipmunks hide in the cracks and crevices of the stone. At first J.D. plugged the openings, but he was instructed to unplug them so the chipmunks could get in and out freely.” - 71

“[Bunny] cultivated green flowers (green zinnia “Envy”, Nicotiana alata ‘Lime Green’, and lady’s mantle), alternately referred to as “witches” and “mysteries,” in the greenhouse, using them to great in bouquets and flower beds to “deepen, brighten, and add subtlety” to other plantings.” -119

“The original clipping for the myrtle trees came from Mt. Vernon, where Mr. Robert B. Fisher, the head gardener, is generous and carries on he exchange of plants as once George Washington did.” -119

“This library, which includes manuscripts going back to the 1300s amounts to a working collection for it is in continuous use. From it I learned much about pruning, growing, designing, for past methods were often ahead of ours” -154

Trinity Episcopal Church

“Living in France at a young age I was drawn to the small stone churches in villages surrounded by wheat fields, flax, and forests. The doors were always unlocked. The spirit inside spoke of many years of quiet and peace” -166

- Lovely descriptives of the thought process and history behind how the church was designed, including employment of local artisans. Above all, the profound attention to every little detail is incredible.

MELLON FAMILY GARDENS
NYC Townhouse

“The cherry tree in the courtyard unfurled its pink blossoms in the spring, right outside the kitchen window. ‘We ate our breakfast at that window with a veritable aviary on the nearby branches.’” -187

- so much original art in the 70th street townhouse! Sargent, Manet… and decorated by colefax and Fowler ?! Wow!

“She had a good firm handshake - strong hands, and a good grip from all that pruning!” Bryan Huffman recalls. -189

Cape Cod Residence

“The gardeners searched high and low for the Sheepnose apple variety and after successfully locating it, learned at first bite that it was a storage apple, not to be eaten until all the other apples in the cellar were gone, giving the sugars time to sweeten up.” -205 🤣🤣

Nantucket
- I don't care for the Nantucket residence or gardens. This is one area where it feels like Bunny actually might have subconsciously tried to dominate the landscape; the ocean wasn't having it. The ocean giveth, and the ocean taketh away. Nowhere is this more true than Nantucket. Happily this land is now in the hands of the conservation project.

Antigua
“There were stacks of books and fresh flowers everywhere. ‘Bunny’s quest for comfort and informality have been been nurtured with care; a little natural shabbiness in an old chair is sometimes purposely overlooked. The result, I think, is that the house feels lived in and loved” -221

- quite underwhelmed by this home, particularly the décor. The gardens are interesting in a vacuum, but compared to the triumphs in Virginia and later in France, only register as fair-to-middling.

“All seemed to be going quite well until wild goats showed up and began chewing up the trees” -227
- LOL WhAat?!?😅 Well that's one pest problem I don't have!!

KENNEDY FAMILY GARDENS
Rose Garden, White House
“[JFK] wanted an American garden, open and expansive, designed for function and beauty in the traditions established by two of America’s founding fathers - Washington and Jefferson. His wish list included a lawn large enough to hold a thousand people with a continuous display of colorful flowers and a new set of steps to connect his office to the garden. Even though Mrs Mellon considered herself an amateur, she couldn’t resist such an exciting assignment and agreed to give it some thought” -236

“[JFK] was also keenly interested in the floral program and put in a special request for plants named in Thomas Jefferson’s garden journals, which he had read.” -240/241
- I found this quite interesting.

- The selection of the magnolias for the rose garden, and the stealth required to sneak them in during the dead of night, was fascinating. Hilarious and clever story.

“When Mrs Mellon was encouraged to redraw her Rose Garden design for posterity’s sake, she did it reluctantly. ‘It is a bore to go back and redo something … All I really care about is that it turns out well. Then I can turn to the next.’” - 249

As she was fond of saying, “There is not too much that can be said about a garden. Its greatest reality is not a reality, for a garden, hovering always in a state of becoming, sums up its own past and its future.” -249

Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, JFK Gravesite & JFK Presidential Library/Museum
- interesting in a vacuum... but only tangentially relevant to a volume tiled The Gardens of Bunny Mellon. Felt this could have been addressed in a different volume but unnecessary here and skiable.

GARDENS IN FRANCE
Château du Jonchet, Eure-et-Loire

- alright... Givenchy's Eure-et-Loire home, Château du Jonchet?? NOW we're back on track!
- I had no idea a potager existed, in France, at a château, that had been designed by Bunny Mellon and Givenchy. For Givenchy. 🤯🤩

"The château and the four towers at the corners of its courtyard are encircled by a water-filled moat, complete with a drawbridge and graceful swans, and surrounded by dense forest, open fields, and waterways - a storied setting for a fairy-tail enthusiast like Bunny Mellon to work her magic." - 284

"Givenchy credited the inspiration for the geometric design of the lawn to the cloister of seventeenth-century Benedictine Monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, Italy. Ever a man of integrity, Ginvenchy journeyed to the monastery to seek the monks' permission to replicate the design at his château." -292
- I like that

"'A house of this structure, period and noblesse cannot have flowered borders in evidence.' It was better for drifts of narcissus, violets, another woodland plants to appear in swaths under trees." - 292

"On one of Givenchy's trips to the United States, Bunny introduced him to the gardens and grounds at Mount Vernon... Givenchy decided to create a Mount Vernon-style kitchen garden - a potager - at Jonchet. The old had become new again." - 292/293

"The borders are embroidered like the trim of a dress with the purple blooms and tantalizing fragrance of lavender, the moody grays of santolina, and the green (Givency's favorite color) and white shoots of asparagus. 'I dress the garden with a new look each season - just like a collection,' Givenchy once said." - 294

Potager Du Roi, Versailles
"High stone walls enclose the potager and divide the smaller gardens, providing protection from harsh weather conditions and creating microclimates for maximizing fruit and vegetable production both in and out of season." - 300
- this highlights what I'm coming to truly understand about walled kitchen gardening - it's all about MICROCLIMATE

"Quintinie cultivated more than seven hundred fig trees, some of which bore fruit as early as mid-tune, enabling the Gardner to supply the king's table year round." - 300
- astonishingly impressive for the 1630s!!!!

"After Givenchy retired as a couturier in the mid-1990s, he accepted the presidency of the World Monuments Fund France, the mission of which is to protect and restore historical French sites. At the top of his list was the restoration of the Potager du Roa, which was in a state go decay, and for this he needed to enlist the talents of his American friend." - 300

"In september 1990 she commissioned a scale model of the Potager du Roi as it had appeared in the seventeenth century." - 302
- WOW 🤯

"In the summer of 1996 a benefit dinner was held in the garden to honor the Mellons... On her arrival, Mrs Mellon received a standing ovation from the gardeners, which touched her deeply." - 303 ❤️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vocabulary:
- Catafalque

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

To me, Oak Spring is, by far, the most inspiring part of this book. Great historical context too for all of her work for the Kennedy White House. She sounded like an exceptional woman; would have loved to have met her.

[Gabrielle Nolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful photos. Very interesting content, whether you like gardening or history. Bunny Mellon is a fascinating character.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just returned from being transported into the glorious gardens designed by Bunny Mellon, all beautifully photographed throughout this tome. Why stop with redesigning your 4,000 acres at your Virginia home (as well as an Episcopal church for good measure) when you can just as easily create works of art at your other homes, such as those in New York City, Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Antigua? If one grows bored you can always redesign the White House Rose and Jacqueline Kennedy Gardens, as well as the JFK grave site and presidential library and museum. Why stop there when you also have glorious gardens in France to help with. And this is exactly what Bunny Mellon did, as covered in this stunning book. Such a visual treat! If you'd like to learn more about the woman herself, I also recommend Meryl Gordon's stellar biography, "Bunny Mellon: the life of an American style legend".

[Rhode PVD · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a surprise to have a book with such extraordinary photographs also contain rather good writing. Every word was a pleasure, from the stories of Bunny’s youth designing gardens as a small child, to the midnight escapades involved in getting particular magnolias planted at the White House behind the Park Service’s back.

Her character shone through - it’s telling that the gardening staff at so many different places held her in both affection and respect. It’s also telling that her husband wrote poetry to celebrate how much he enjoyed the life she created for him. (One of the poems, crediting her for creating a fun luncheon, is included in the book.)

And it’s fascinating to realize Givenchy adored her despite the fact that she wore serviceable blue jeans and once ordered 100 copies of a single dress to stock her closets in multiple homes with it in an array of colors. That’s not the act of a fashionista, but rather a woman who having found a single dress that works, doesn’t want to have to shop further.

She was clearly hugely intelligent, talented and obsessed with garden design. I was delighted to see so many gardens included, all of which had fairly different flavors, ranging from classic formality with clipped boxwood hedges and espaliered trees, to natural-looking grasses and beach roses she had planted outside the Kennedy Library.

It must have been frustrating for landscape designers who need to work for a living to have this immensely wealthy woman land plum gigs because her friends begged her to do projects. But she seems to have been so dedicated and talented that there were no hard feelings.

This book is a bit too overloaded on one garden - more than half the book focuses on grounds of the Mellon’s country estate in Virginia. The remainder of the book covers 10 gardens! So, it’s a lopsided narrative.

The plants are also not detailed as much as one might hope, although some names are given in the text and one can closely examine pictures. Overall though this is as much of a landscaping and garden architecture book as it is a garden book.

Lastly, lacking good books on espalier in English as we are (and trust me, we are), more technical notes would have been welcome. But that’s because I’m greedy. I want all the things.

Suffice to say, this is a five star book not because it’s perfect but rather because it’s awesome. Highly recommended.

[Denise Prewett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely book about the gardens that Bunny Mellon designed from the Rose & East Gardens at the White House (per JFK's request) to her own homes, it was interesting to learn about the woman and what inspired her work/passion.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oak Spring is my favorite garden featured in this book, but everything is lovely. I wish they talked more about the specifics of her flower selection, but perhaps that’s what the Garden Secrets of Bunny Mellon will hold!

Photographs are *stunning*.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning photography of the many gardens associated with Bunny. Also includes a history.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bunny Mellon's garden's are the fusion of great wealth, great skill and great taste. This book is a treat for those who love to look at beautiful gardens.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful coffee table book with spectacular photography of gardens designed by an American socialite woman with a true talent for vistas, views and gardens. This is a lovely book.