The Gardens of Bunny Mellon

Very interesting book. Learned a lot about Bunny Mellon.

Beautiful book! Heavy and well made. Bought as a gift.

I didn't know much about Bunny Mellon prior to purchasing this book but was recommended to me by a friend of mine, with spring and gardening season right around the corner. I could not put this book down (and haven't) since I purchased it! Linda Jane Holden does an absolutely amazing job covering so much of Mrs. Mellon's contributions to horticulture and landscape design; with much research and extensive interviews, this book is part coffee table book, part history, part biography, wrapped up into a piece of detailed prose.A must-have for any lover of design - whether it be through landscaping, architecture or anything else that radiates timeless style. Bunny Mellon was all these things and more, and this book captures her legacy perfectly.

I purchased this book as a coffee table book and instead read it cover to cover in 3 days, spread out on my breakfast room table so that I could admire all of the lovely photographs. This book is a wonderful history of Bunny Mellon’s beloved gardens, along with some personal details that offer a glimpse into the extraordinary life of a very private person. Yes, Mrs. Mellon led a life of unimaginable privilege, but she was also immensely talented and entirely self-taught, and this book really captures her immense artistic capabilities and her dedication to her craft. This book was a wonderful way to pass several afternoons and it will look gorgeous on my coffee table, where I plan to refer to it for color combinations and other planting ideas. I am so glad I treated myself to this gorgeous book.

Just love her style and the photos are absolutely beautiful! Definitely getting lots of inspiration for my garden! Beautiful coffee table book as well!

I adore everything about this book. It is not a coffee table book but a thing of beauty, that could be. I cannot put it down. The well done written word is informative and quite thoroughly descriptive. The photographs are so incredibly dreamy. Bunny's work as a garden designer/builder makes my heart beat faster; it makes me want to pick up my shovel and go out to dig. Here is a woman who did not rest on her laurels. She was a maker and doer who was naturally endowed with an eye for balance and a feel for the green world. I will be buying this book as gifts for dear friends who love gardening and landscaping.

I have many, many garden books but this one is one I rate highly because you can actually try what is written here. The pictures are stunning and the book is very detailed as to history of each garden listed.In reading though( nothing to do with gardening:), I got nosy as to what happen to Mr Mellon and his 2nd wife's ex husband since they were friends. Interesting to say the least..Oh well, I should probably mind my business and knock it off.:). Very good book and highly recommend.

There's an element of the emperor's new clothes in this book. Mrs. Mellon certainly had a lot of technical proficiency, but there are much more beautiful gardens in the world, some of them family-owned and maintained in the deep South. I doubt that she would have been as celebrated if she hadn't been so unimaginably wealthy. There is a photo on page 208 of Mrs. Mellon in great age, being gently attended by three servants as she examines a fake tree made of small pieces of lumber, meant to substitute for a real tree that couldn't survive in that location. I am glad she was well cared-for, because she did a great deal to benefit others, but the photo said a lot to me about privilege and subservience. I expected breath-taking beauty, but her gardens were more like public landscapes. Perhaps they were much more personal when she was alive.

Gave me a lot of ideas for my garden

A truly interesting publication which looks at the houses and gardens of Rachel "Bunny" Mellon and her husband Paul Mellon. A very engaging text provides details on the history and development of their private residences and of other gardening projects undertaken by Bunny Mellon. Marvellous photographs are a joy and give insight to how she developed a natural artistic talent through landscape. Money will buy large and showy estates or, indeed, pay others to create them for you, but the interest in this book is the exceptional and refined taste of Mrs Mellon and which she focused on creating gardens of a rare subtlety. Highly recommended.

Well written, gorgeous photos, very informative.

Foto splendide, testo solo in inglese ma va bene. Bunny Mellon una persona sorprendente, anticipatrice dei giardini naturali,una vita "da film". Peccato sua biografia solo in edizione inglese, avrei comprato subito anche quella.

What a gorgeous book to own for anyone who loves gardens +++++