Life in the Garden By Bunny Williams
As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast:
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
Life in the Garden by Bunny Williams
And now, my dear garden enthusiasts, let us turn to today's book recommendation, one that I believe deserves a place of honor on every gardener's bedside table.
You know, darlings, there are garden books that tell you what to plant, and then there are garden books that teach you how to see. This volume firmly belongs in the latter category. Rather like finding an experienced gardener's private journal, Williams' book is both a memoir and a master class in garden design.
What fascinates me about Williams' approach is how she draws upon the principles of classical Italian garden design - those same principles that inspired Edith Wharton's "Italian Villas and Their Gardens" - while creating spaces that feel intimately personal rather than formally intimidating.
Let me share this particularly delicious passage:
A garden is like those pernicious machineries which catch a man's coat-skirt or his hand, and draw in his arm. his leg, and his whole body to irresistible destruction.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
After college, I wanted more than anything to move to New York City to pursue a career in interior design, a dream that had in the back of my mind since was a teenager. Living in the city was exciting and stimulating for the first few years, but when married in my late twenties, I longed for a small place in the country because I missed the open space and the feeling of being a part of nature. We were very lucky to be able to rent an 18th-century farmhouse on big piece of property in Massachusetts, just over the Connecticut border, where I planted vegetables and created my first cutting garden. We lived there for several years, but as I became more serious about gardening, I realized that I should do it on property we owned. Thus began the hunt for a permanent home.
As fledgling interior designer, I arrogantly thought that designing garden for myself would be easy. I had to take a step back and become a student again, and although I made-and-corrected many mistakes the years, the process was never dull One thing I learned is that it's just as well that I didn't have a clear plan at the outset, because nature had a plan of its own.
Now, isn't that fascinating?
Williams is doing something quite revolutionary here - she's giving us permission to let our gardens evolve naturally, to embrace what the Japanese call "wabi-sabi," the beauty of imperfection and age.
For those of you planning your spring gardens - and isn't autumn the perfect time for such dreaming? - Williams offers several paradigm-shifting suggestions:
- Begin with the bones - invest in structural elements that give winter interest
- Consider movement patterns before plant placement
- Create what she calls "garden rooms" - intimate spaces with distinct personalities
- Embrace the power of repetition in planting schemes
What makes Williams' work particularly relevant is how she bridges the gap between the grand tradition of estate gardening and our modern need for sustainable, manageable spaces. Rather like Gertrude Jekyll adapting formal garden principles for the emerging middle class a century ago, Williams shows us how to create magic in whatever space we have.
Her chapter on autumn gardens is particularly relevant right now. She writes about the importance of planning for late-season interest, suggesting combinations of:
- Ornamental grasses catching low autumn light
- Late-blooming salvias providing crucial pollinator support
- Structural evergreens becoming more prominent as deciduous plants fade
- Berry-bearing shrubs offering both visual interest and bird food
What I find most compelling is Williams' insistence that a garden should reflect its keeper's soul.
She writes,
Your garden should make you happy when you look out the window, not anxious about maintenance.
Isn't that liberating?
For those implementing Williams' ideas, she suggests starting with what she calls a "borrowed view" exercise. Take time this week, while our gardens are shifting into autumn mode, to sit in each room of your house and note what you see through each window. These views, she insists, are as much a part of your garden design as the beds themselves.
In an era of instant gratification, Williams reminds us that the most satisfying gardens are those that develop over time. She encourages us to document our gardens' evolution through photographs and journals - a practice that feels particularly poignant in our digital age.
Her chapters on sustainable gardening practices align beautifully with what we learned earlier from Neltje Blanchan about creating wildlife-friendly spaces.
Williams demonstrates how formal design principles can coexist with ecological responsibility.
SI HORTUM IN HORTORIA PODCASTA IN BIBLIOTEHCA HABES, NIHIL DEERIT.