July 20, 2020
Previously unpublished photographs and journal musings from the archive of gardening designer Rachel “Bunny” Lambert Mellon (1910–2014) are beautifully paired in this collaboration between writer Holden (The Gardens of Bunny Mellon), designer Huffman, and Mellon’s grandson Lloyd. Seeking to honor Mellon’s unfulfilled wish, found posthumously in her journals, to write a gardening book, the authors touch on Mellon’s childhood introduction to gardening, initial sources of inspiration (primarily books and illustrations), and the development of her “trial-and-error method of cultivation.” Her garden designs (including her signature “Little Herb Tree” topiaries of myrtle, rosemary, and thyme) expressed her understanding of the need to, in her words, join “the things of nature that correspond to the person.” Mellon’s journals stress the importance of note-taking (believing that happenstance observations can be one’s “greatest teachers”), long-term planning, and working with the “bones” of a garden, such as existing trees. A quote from one of her famous clients testifies to her pragmatic methodology—former first lady Lady Bird Johnson, admiring Mellon’s design of the White House’s Kennedy Rose Gardens, described her as having a “working-at-it kind of knowledge” of her craft. Celebrating Mellon’s life and legacy, this intimate rendering evokes nostalgia and adds nuance and depth to the public portrait of a late, great gardener.