Bunny Williams: On Garden Style

The garden section of my library is woefully slim, which is likely due to the fact that I'm not a gardener, nor do I consider myself much of a gardening enthusiast. I come by this lack of fervor honestly. First, neither of my parents are into gardening. Our house always had lovely landscaping, but a professional was brought in to handle it. And second, I'm a city girl through and through, with most of my adulthood having been spent in residential buildings, where gardening means planting a few pots for the balcony.

That being said, I do admire beautiful gardens and landscapes. It would be strange if I didn't considering that gardens and interiors have much in common. I also admire beautiful gardening books, although they have to be particularly inspiring and dreamy for me to want to add them to my library. I found such a book in the newly revised edition of Bunny Williams On Garden Style, which was first published in 1998.

In the book's introduction, Williams says that she was inspired to write On Garden Style because many gardening books dealt more with horticulture and "few communicated the importance of a garden's whole design."  This is one of the reasons why I so enjoyed this book.  Had the book been bogged down with horticultural minutiae, it would have sent me packing.  Instead, it taught me much about considering a garden's overall structure as well as achieving the desired mood, or personality, of a garden.  Williams makes a point of treating gardens as outdoor rooms, and it's that comparison which particularly resonated with me.  I now realize that well-conceived gardens are about so much more than the flowers and plants that grow in them.

Speaking of well-conceived gardens, there are plenty to gaze at in this book.  Featured gardens include those of Williams, Piet Oudolf, Oscar de la Renta, and Jack Lenor Larsen, to name but a few.  Also, there is much visual diversity in the photos, for they're not all depictions of flowers or plants.  There are paths, fences, espaliered trees, hedges, and more, which means that all of us- even those, like me, who are gardening clueless- can find something to appreciate.  By the way, all of the photos in this revised edition are new, so if you own the original edition of this book, you'll have plenty of new material to savor.  And savor is likely what you'll do with those photos.

If you're a hardcore gardener, then I believe you will learn as much from this book as I, the novice, did.  But as informative as this book is, it also has that quality which I mentioned earlier: dreamy.  When read before bedtime, On Garden Style will lull you into a verdant dream world.


*I recently learned that Bunny Williams and John Rosselli's beloved garden store, Treillage, will close at the end of June.  The last event that will be hosted there will be a book signing event for On Garden Style on April 14.  A sale will begin the next day, April 15.   

Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne at Home

If your work week was anything like mine, then we all deserve a restful weekend. And what better way to wind down the week than with these bucolic photos of the rural home and workshops of the artist Claude Lalanne and her late husband François-Xavier. Located near Fontainebleau, the Lalannes' home was a 19th century dairy farm that they purchased in the late 1960s. (You can just barely make out the farm in a foggy photo, below.) Unfortunately, I don't know if Claude still lives on the farm after the 2008 death of her husband.

What might be even more enchanting than the 19th c. buildings are the Lalannes' sculptures that were dotted throughout the landscape. François-Xavier's bronze and stone sheep stood guard beneath a sculpture of the garden goddess Flora (see photo above), while Claude's copper and bronze alligator chair provided a nice perch upon which to sit and take in nature's beauty. It really does look like a magical forest.




A François-Xavier bronze bird amongst the grapevines.




The 19th century dairy farm that they called home.




François-Xavier's blue hippo has a basin in its mouth and a tub in its stomach.




This bronze garden chair, designed by Claude, was made for the Lila Acheson Wallace garden in Williamsburg.





Claude's copper and bronze alligator chair.




Claude wearing her work uniform of white overalls and a denim jacket. Upon her head is a pink-patinated bronze butterfly hat that she made.




All photos from House & Garden, December 1988, Alexandre Bailhache photographer.

Verdant Vistas

What a pitiful winter we've had here in Atlanta. With temperatures consistently in the 60s, I've worn my winter coat all of two times this season. Is it any wonder that this never ending warm snap has turned my thoughts to the outdoors? I'm already contemplating what I will plant on my terrace this Spring, although no decisions have been made as of yet. I'm considering buying both some tomato and Mara des Bois strawberry plants. Will this planting scheme turn out to be a folly? More than likely, yes. But let's not dwell on that. Instead, let's turn our attention to a different kind of folly, one that is far more attractive than any tomato plant. Here, a few follies and gardens scattered around Europe.


Image above: The Nymphaeum at Château de Wideville, Seine et Oise; c. 1635-40.


The ornamental and utility gardens at Château de Villandry, Indre et Loire.




Bosquet de l'Encelade, c. 1675-77, sculpted by Gaspard Marsy. Located in the gardens of Versailles




The Grand Cascade at Caserta, Naples, in the gardens of the royal residence. The gardens date to 1752-80.




The Bath of the Doves at Schwetzingen, Baden-Württemberg, in the gardens of the residence of Elector Palatine; c. 1753-80.




The Summerhouse in the gardens of the residence of the Bishop-Prince of Wurzburg, Veitschöchheim, Bavaria; c. 1763-91.




The Oriental summerhouse, also at Veitschöhheim, Bavaria. Designed in 1768 by Ferdinand Tietz.



All images from From Folly to Follies: Discovering the World of Gardening by Michel Saudan and Sylvia Saudan-Skira.

Jardin de Brécy

While I was on my quest for photos of silver orange tree tubs, I found a Veranda article on the gardens at Château de Brécy in Normandy. Unfortunately, I can't figure out from which issue I pulled this article, but I do know that the beautiful photos were taken by Jacques Dirand.

Barbara and Didier Wirth, the current owners of the château, were encouraged to purchase it in the early 1990s by Hubert de Givenchy. Givenchy had considered buying the property in the mid-1950s, but because he was a young man at the time, he found the amount of work needed to restore the property to be daunting. The gardens at Château de Brécy are some of the few remaining French gardens dating back to the first half of the seventeenth century. The main garden is made up of five parterres. There is also some beautiful ornamental stonework. Unfortunately, not much is known about original plantings as little documentation about the gardens' design survives.

As you can see in the photos, the Wirths have done a remarkable job restoring the garden. I'm now curious about what the interiors of the house look like.
























All images from Veranda, Jacques Dirand photographer.

Bold and Beautiful Fountains

I could lie and tell you that the idea for this post on cascading fountains came from reading something high-brow. But, no, the inspiration came from watching The Bold and the Beautiful. (I don't feel so guilty about admitting that from time to time I watch soap operas, especially after learning that the courtly author Shelby Foote and artist Robert Rauschenberg both watched them.) In a recent episode of B&B, Brooke was lamenting losing her husband, Ridge, because it was believed that Brooke had slept with her adult step-son while both were stranded on a deserted island. In fact, Ridge's son lied about the affair, doing so in order to become the majority shareholder in Forrester Creations (one of the world's premier fashion houses) after being promised the shares by his grandmother, Stephanie, who orchestrated the lie because she happens to be Brooke's mortal enemy. But then Ridge found out the truth and came home to Brooke's Beverly Hills estate to reunite with her, finding her seated at the bottom of an extremely long cascading fountain. Ridge, romantic guy that he is, sent rose petals floating down from the top, alerting Brooke to the fact that Ridge had come home. So you see, as transfixed as I was with the drama unfolding before me, I was equally as mesmerized by the cascading fountain.

Of course, not many people have the land nor the means to install a cascading fountain like those at Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. Now those are dramatic! My taste, though, is for something less baroque. That's why I prefer the more classical fountain at Ballyfin in Ireland (see above.) I think that a fountain like that is really quite doable, though perhaps on a smaller scale.

And going back to Brooke's cascading fountain- after a little research, I think that I've determined that the one shown on B&B is actually that at the Kern estate in Beverly Hills. The house was designed by George Washington Smith in the 1920s, although I don't know who designed the fountain. In fact, the fountain graces the cover of Jeff Hyland's The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills. Now really, any soap that shows the fountain at the Kern Estate can't be all bad, right?




The Great Cascade at Peterhof




The Marly Cascade at Peterhof





The Dragon Cascade at Peterhof




A detail shot of the Terrace Cascade at Peterhof



A cascading fountain at Chateau de Villette in France that was designed by Le Notre.




The grand Neptune Fountain at Villa d'Este, Tivoli.



An old photograph of the cascading fountain at the Kern Estate, Beverly Hills. Ridge's rose petals certainly had a long way to travel.

The French Laundry Garden

Let's wrap the week up with a tour of The French Laundry garden. I have yet to dine at French Laundry, though I do hope to do so soon. I did, however, recently spend two lovely mornings walking through their garden which sits right across the street from the restaurant. After seeing the rhubarb, artichokes, squashes, and chickens (yes, chickens), I'm ready to start gardening and designing a chicken coop. Well, sort of. But whether you're a gardener or not, you can't help but to be inspired by such a glorious garden.

I would like to thank Diane Dorrans Saeks (aka The Style Saloniste) for encouraging me to visit the garden. She knew that I would enjoy a stroll through this special place, and indeed I did!









































All images are the copyright of Jennifer Boles/The Peak of Chic