Holiday Book Giveaway: Bunny Mellon, the Life of an American Style Legend

It’s giveaway time at New England Home and Garden. We’re pleased to introduce you to legendary American landscape gardner, Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, whose life and style are the subject of the newly released biography, Bunny Mellon: The Life of an American Style Legend, by Meryl Gordon.  Two lucky winners will be randomly selected to win a copy of this book, available just in time for the holidays!

Heir to two great American fortunes, Rachel “Bunny” Mellon was one of the most admired style icons of the Twentieth Century. Her gardens, art collections, and houses were envied by the social elite, yet she remains virtually unknown to most Americans. A deeply private woman, Mrs. Mellon rubbed shoulders with the famous and powerful, but was happiest in her garden, nurturing her plants. 

What do you and I have in common with Mrs. Mellon? Quite a lot, it turns out. If you love beautiful gardens, interiors, architecture, and art, you’ll be inspired by her accomplishments. You may be surprised to find that you can borrow many of her ideas for your own home and garden. Although she lived and gardened on a grand scale, her designs are easy to translate to a smaller garden, as shown in the photo above.

Like many of us, Mrs. Mellon fell in love with gardening and nature at an early age. As a young child, she was given a tiny plot of land to nurture, and a gardener was born. Her grandfather encouraged her growth, and her creative vision grew such that she left her mark on the American landscape. At heart, her spirit was tied to nature, where she sought both inspiration and solace.

You may be surprised to discover that some of Mrs. Mellon’s decorating ideas were quite humble. She collected baskets and arranged them haphazardly in a hallway near her gardens and greenhouses, ready for floral arrangements. Baskets make excellent decor, hung on walls, or overhead. Try this inexpensive idea in your own home, placing the baskets where they are most useful to you. Covering walls with ordinary garden lattice lends a garden feel to any space, and is a budget-friendly option.

Mrs. Mellon commissioned tromp l’oeil images of plants, tools, and lattice on the walls of her garden room. You can achieve this look in your home by hand-painting or wallpapering. Incorporate aged materials, like the slatted garden chair, and put potted plants in baskets. Many of the pieces in the room above could easily fit into any interior or garden room.

She may also be credited with popularizing miniature topiary. After a rare interview with The New York Times in the early 1980s, where she’s pictured in her greenhouse surrounded by miniature topiaries of myrtle, rosemary, and santolina, the form became widely available. Now, it’s possible to find rosemary and lavender standards at mass retailers like Home Depot.

A woman with soil under her nails is a true gardener, regardless of her social status. Although Mrs. Mellon could afford to hire out work, she preferred to get her hands in the dirt, literally, creating and maintaining her gardens. She did have help, of course, because her gardens were so extensive. The hired gardeners often knew she was working nearby because they could smell her perfume.

Reading the book, I found Mrs. Mellon increasingly relatable. Like her, I’ve scribbled dozens of ideas for landscapes and interiors on scraps of paper, waiting for the right time and budget to bring them to life. You’ve probably done this too. The project she’s most famous for tested her confidence and creativity. When she was asked by President Kennedy to redesign the White House Rose Garden, she was humbled by the trust invested in her, but she worried that the project was beyond her ability. She had designed her own landscapes, but never one so large or important. She put off the project for several months, until the President gently insisted on seeing plans. The final garden flourishes to this day, a living testament to both Mellon’s creative talent and Kennedy’s vision. The original plans for the garden, above, were sketched on scratch paper that was later saved by Mrs. Kennedy.

Jacqueline Kennedy admired Bunny’s style, and asked her to design floral arrangements for the White House. Mrs. Mellon would arrive at the security gates in a truck laden with flowers and greenery from her greenhouses in Virginia, which she used to personally create arrangements for family rooms and state dinners. In her role as trusted friend and advisor to Mrs. Kennedy, she designed the floral arrangements for both the President’s and Robert Kennedy’s funerals.

It turns out that it’s very possible to relate to Bunny Mellon. Readers of this blog share with her a mutual love of gardening, nature, art, and interiors, so that she almost becomes one of us, a dreamer, designer, and gardener with dirty hands.  In her 103 eventful years, she defined American style and left behind a legacy of beauty and respect for nature.

It’s a pleasure to feature designers and style makers our readers might not be familiar with. Bunny Mellon avoided publicity during her lifetime, but her accomplishments were important, and she deserves to be better known. Regardless of whether you enter the giveaway, it’s worth picking up this book and reading about an extraordinary woman.

Enter the Giveaway Below

Enter the giveaway via the raffle below. Two winners will be randomly selected on November 16, 2017. Book giveaway sponsored by Grand Central Publishing Company, but all favorable opinions are strictly our own.  Books shipped directly from the publisher to winners.  Terms and conditions apply.

 

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