Inspired by Bunny Mellon

INSPIRED BY | MASTERS & MUSES | WORLD OF CABANA 

Over the course of her career, philanthropist and art collector, Bunny Mellon, became one of the most influential landscape designers of her time, famously redesigning the White House Rose Garden under the patronage of President John F. Kennedy. Violet Caldecott explores her life, legacy and exceptional gardens, all captured in The Gardens of Bunny Mellon by Linda Jane Holden. 

BY VIOLET CALDECOTT | MASTERS & MUSES | 14 NOVEMBER 2025

Bunny Mellon photographed in her garden © The Gardens of Bunny Mellon, Vendome.

Bunny Mellon needs little introduction. A renowned philanthropist and art collector, she counted influential figures such as Jacqueline Kennedy, Hubert de Givenchy, and Diego Giacometti amongst her inner circle. Alongside her husband, Paul Mellon, she built up one of the most impressive private art collections of the 20th century, featuring works by Mark Rothko and Richard Diebenkorn among other greats.

In a public capacity, the Mellons donated more than 200 works to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, including pieces by Edgar Degas and Paul Cézanne. Yet, despite her noteworthy philanthropic contributions, Bunny’s true passion and most enduring legacy lay in her work as a landscape gardener.

Over the course of her career, Bunny Mellon became one of the most influential landscape designers of her time, famously redesigning the White House Rose Garden under the patronage of President John F. Kennedy.

A light-filled garden room at Bunny Mellon's home © The Gardens of Bunny Mellon, Vendome.

Born Rachel Lowe Lambert in New York City to Gerard Barnes Lambert, heir to the Listerine fortune, and his wife, Rachel Parkhill Lowe, Bunny’s love for nature was cultivated at her family’s estate, Albemarle, in Princeton, New Jersey.

At just 12, she began designing and maintaining the gardens under the watchful eye of her father. "I learned the most about gardening from him,” she recalled in an interview with the New York Times in 2011. But she was also self-taught, using the 17th and 18th-century gardening guides she had amassed as a basis for her work.

In 1948 Bunny married Paul Mellon, heir to one of America’s greatest banking fortunes. He had been a close friend of hers and her first husband Stacy Barcroft Lloyd Jr. whom she had divorced earlier that year. This marked a turning point for Bunny who was able to hone her horticultural prowess working on her and Paul’s homes in Virginia, Nantucket, Cape Cod, New York, Washington DC, and Antigua.

All images © The Gardens of Bunny Mellon, Vendome.

The couple’s favorite property, and perhaps Bunny’s most celebrated achievement as a landscape gardener, was Oak Spring, a vast 2000 acre estate in Virginia. Nestled against the stunning backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Oak Spring was not merely a residence but a masterclass in horticultural design. 

The estate featured a serene white garden, filled with Chinese wisteria, hosta, plantain lily, and Japanese painted fern as well as a rose garden adorned with white roses, surrounded by clusters of pansies. The vegetable gardens brimmed with artichokes, broccoli, cabbages, onions, spinach, and sorrel. A canopy of crabapple trees, a Victorian-style greenhouse, and a butterfly garden further added to its charming simplicity. Bunny was close with the gardeners on the estate and they worked tirelessly together to maintain this horticultural haven throughout the seasons.

During their time at Oak Spring, Bunny and Paul hosted royals, presidents, and dignitaries (including Queen Elizabeth I) who would come to admire the gardens as well as the house itself which showcased Bunny's sharp eye for interior design. The rooms were simple yet elegant, furnished with the couple's vast art collection, cementing Bunny’s reputation as a bastion of good taste (it’s said that Jackie Kennedy frequently sought Bunny’s advice on art and antiques during her renovation of the White House).

One of the most noteworthy features of the property is Oak Tree Spring Garden Library, which was gifted to Bunny by Paul to house her extensive collection of horticultural books and manuscripts. Housed behind the pale oak doors of the library were Bunny’s most treasured possessions, including a green scrapbook from Jackie Kennedy, a present for designing the White House Rose Garden. 

Beyond the realm of her own properties, Bunny was high in demand with various influential figures seeking her horticultural expertise. Hubert de Givenchy enlisted her to work on his estate, Le Manoir du Jonchet, just outside Paris.

Additionally, Jackie Kennedy requested Bunny's skills to landscape her late husband's gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery. Upon the completion of the White House Rose Garden, Lady Bird Johnson praised Bunny as "one of the great authorities on gardens, on planting in general, and a working-at-it authority, a planning creative authority." 

One of Bunny’s favorite sayings was, “Nothing should be noticed.” This mantra captured  her philosophy, in gardening and in life. She believed in subtlety and refinement above all else. Her gardens were impeccably designed but never flashy—nothing demanded attention. Instead, she worked with what was in front of her—light, sky, space, and perspective—to create gardens which were impactful in their restraint and simplicity.

British photographer Derry Moore, the 12th Earl of Drogheda who had been married to Bunny’s daughter Eliza, reflected in Bunny Mellon: Style: “It was very fortunate that she [Bunny] had limitless funds and extraordinary taste, two things that almost never go together. I would also say that, among her faults, vulgarity was totally absent.”

Despite her social standing and reputation as a paragon of taste, Bunny never sought the limelight. She led an exceptionally private life and seldom gave interviews, preferring instead to let her designs and work speak for themselves. This only serves to enhance the allure of her multifaceted legacy—as a philanthropist, collector, tastemaker, and, most importantly, a gardener—making it all the more captivating and enduring.