Bunny Williams's Connecticut Garden Is as Chic and Stylish as Her Interiors
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“You have to be patient in a garden—something I don’t have a lot of.” Designer Bunny Williams’s confession, which she divulged in a 2021 PBS documentary about her brilliant career produced by the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art, resonates a little too deeply for me, conjuring shameful memories of false starts in the garden with everything from shrubbery to simple herbs. (My husband teases me about wanting to want to garden more than actually wanting to garden.)
But while one glance at my garden (or lack thereof) is proof of my lack of patience, Williams's magnificent garden in the Connecticut Berkshires indicates she has cultivated quite a bit of patience over the years—along with deep knowledge and ingenuity.
The designer first shared her garden and bedroom addition in the March/April 2023 issue VERANDA. She has followed that with an in-depth, intimate look at her garden and the lessons she has learned over the 40 years she has been planting, designing, tending, and nurturing it, in her new book, Life in the Garden.
Bunny Williams: Life in the Garden
amazon.com
$39.81
The humbling nature of gardening is a perennial theme throughout Williams's book, beginning with her acknowledgement that her interior design prowess did not directly translate to planning a garden. "I had to take a step back and become a student again, and although I made—and corrected—many mistakes over the years, the process was never dull," she writes.
Williams is nothing if not committed to learning through discovery and exploration, so she set about educating herself by creating a garden library comprised of works by the likes of Vita Sackville-West, Gertrude Jekyll, Christopher Lloyd, and Russell Page. The interior designer also writes about the lessons she learned from annual pilgrimages to the great gardens of the world.
With her latest book, Williams takes on the role of garden mentor to the rest of us, sharing everyday wisdom—"It's just as well I didn't have a clear plan at the outset because nature had a plan of its own"—alongside tangible takeaways like seasonal care schedules for vegetable and cutting gardens and resource guides for sourcing. The interior designer also generously shares her garden expertise with VERANDA as a guest judge for our 5th annual World's Most Beautiful Garden Awards.
Here, a look inside the spectacular series of garden 'rooms' Williams has created at her Connecticut home.
Sunken Garden
The sunken garden is the most formal part of the landscape with boxwood hedges forming a network of parterres and lush perennial borders are planted with a mix of bulbs and annuals.
Parterre Garden
Tulips bloom in Williams's parterre garden, which owes its structure to boxwood and hornbeam hedges. After the tulips finish blooming, they are removed to make way for colorful summer annuals.
Garden Path
Williams's new bedroom addition overlooks a diamond-patterned path and contoured yew hedges inspired by gardens of Belgian designer Jacques Wirtz.
Potting Shed
The potting shed is positioned next to the greenhouse and the kitchen garden.
Kitchen Garden
In the kitchen garden, Red Russian and Redbor kale, Maxibel filet beans, and Belstar broccoli are among the crops flourishing alongside the barn.
Greenhouse
The greenhouse was intentionally furnished like a room, with a place to rest among a magnificent plant display—including scented geraniums, rare succulents, and begonias—that changes with the months.
Chicken House Pavilion
The chicken house pavilion is situated close to the kitchen garden.
Poolhouse
A woodland poolhouse perches on a hill with columns fashioned out of white oak trees.
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