The Magical Gardens of Bunny Mellon with Jennifer Yates

Program Type:

Lecture

Age Group:

Adults
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Program Description

Event Details

Darien Library welcomes landscaper designer, Jennifer Yates, who will delve into the life of Rachel "Bunny" Mellon and the themes in Mrs. Mellon's work, which were aesthetics learned in France through colleagues, traveling, and a vast library of books written by French landscape architects and other horticultural titles she collected. Mellon's work influenced the Olmstead Brothers, Hubert Givenchy, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis among others,  As a matter of fact, it was Jackie Kennedy, who asked Bunny Mellon to redesign the White House Rose Garden.

Bunny Mellon was a gifted gardener with exquisite taste. Bunny's grandfather, Arthur Lowe (the inventor of Listerene), was instrumental in teaching Bunny a love of nature, ecology and land conservation and restoration. While Bunny’s lifelong passion for gardening took her to many places near and far, she was very much at home at the 4,000 acre Oak Spring estate in Upperville, Virginia that she shared with husband Paul Mellon.

Come learn of the legacy she left at the Oak Spring Foundation as well as the projects which earned her major design awards during her lifetime albeit without a college education, as Mrs. Mellon was self taught.

About Jennifer Yates

Jennifer Yates is an award-winning landscape designer with seven years of higher education obtained from the Rhode Island School of Design. She also minored in Architecture. Jennifer subsequently trained for two years at New York Botanical Garden and other institutions. Jennifer loves creating artistic, impressive designs which are often organic, and she also concentrates on the concepts of formality, naturalism and sustainability where possible . Her work helps the Earth be healthier too.

About Oak Springs Foundation

The Oak Spring Foundation is dedicated to sharing the gifts and ideas of Rachel Bunny Mellon. Its mission is to support and inspire fresh thinking and bold action on the history and future of plants including the art and culture of plants gardens and landscapes."

Need to Know

Reminder: Daytime Parking

During the day, parking is available in Darien Library's parking lot. If the lot is full, there may be street parking available on Thorndal Circle. 

Library patrons may not park in the Nielsen or Michael Joseph's parking lots; violators will be towed.

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