The Gardens of Bunny Mellon - by Linda Jane Holden (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A gorgeous celebration of the gardens and landscapes of Bunny Mellon, written by a leading specialist and sumptuously illustrated with both new and archival photography.

"A tome to treasure." --Architectural Digest

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. Much like one of Mellon's landscapes, The Gardens of Bunny Mellon slowly matured over several years, allowing the gifted landscape photographer Roger Foley to record Oak Spring, her cherished Virginia home, in all four seasons.

The book also features vintage photographs by Horst, Aarons, and others of Mellon's gardens for her homes in Cape Cod, Antigua, and New York. Author Linda Jane Holden's text is based on extensive interviews with Mellon before Mellon's death at age 103 in 2014.

"The Gardens of Bunny Mellon is part guide--with gorgeous photographs by Roger Foley that could make even the least inclined to go hunting for a trowel--part biography, and part social history. Mellon's passion is apparent throughout." --Vogue.com

Review Quotes

"The Gardens of Bunny Mellon reveals the horticulturalist's iconic oases, including her Oak Spring estate in Virginia and the White House Rose Garden." -- "Martha Stewart Living"

"The Gardens of Bunny Mellon is part guide--with gorgeous photographs by Roger Foley that could make even the least inclined to go hunting for a trowel--part biography, and part social history. Mellon's passion is apparent throughout."-- "Vogue.com"

"Bunny Mellon was happiest weilding a pair of garden clippers. Even as a child, Mellon was drawn to landscape design. . . . Mellon's ingenious, often underappreciated body of work should be noticed, and this book is a valuable contribution to that end."-- "Flower"

"For admirers of the inimitable style of "Bunny" Mellon, and the innate design flair that took her--without formal training--to the White House and Versailles, the upcoming book, The Gardens of Bunny Mellon, is a tome to treasure."-- "ArchitecturalDigest.com"

"It could be just one more envy-inducing look at how the 1% live, but instead The Gardens of Bunny Mellon is a tribute to a woman who found her passion in beautiful gardens. . . . The self-taught horticulturist didn't just create beautiful green oases in each of the family homes around the world, she also left her mark on some of the most famous gardens on the planet."-- "American Express Essentials"

"Mellon was the garden design master. She designed not only the gardens at all five of her homes spanning across the East Coast and beyond, but also the Rose Garden at the White House for President Kennedy and the formal and vegetable gardens of Hubert de Givenchy's Chateau du Jonchet. These lavish landscape designs are featured in The Gardens of Bunny Mellon, in addition to her own garden plans, sketches, watercolors and archival photographs."-- "Beach Modern Luxury"

"Takes an insider's tour through the legendary tastemaker's influential green spaces."-- "Veranda"

About the Author

Linda Holden is the author of Presidents' Gardens.Roger Foley is an award-winning garden and landscape photographer. Sir Peter Crane is the inaugural president of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation and former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.