Rachel Lambert Mellon

Rachel “Bunny” Lambert Mellon (1910–2014) was an American horticulturalist, art collector, philanthropist, and style icon. She famously redesigned the White House Rose Garden and built an extraordinary garden library. Explore her life, influences, and enduring impact.

Introduction

Rachel Lambert Mellon—often known as Bunny Mellon—embodied refinement, discretion, and devotion to beauty. Though she was born into great wealth, she preferred to stay behind the scenes, letting her gardens, her collecting, and her philanthropic vision speak. She left a quiet but profound legacy through her horticultural work, her art patronage, and her influence in design and conservation.

Early Life & Family

Rachel Lowe Lambert was born on August 9, 1910, in New York, New York. Her father was Gerard Barnes Lambert, president of Gillette Safety Razor Company and cofounder of Warner-Lambert; her grandfather, Jordan Lambert, was a chemist known for inventing Listerine. Her mother, Rachel Parkhill Lowe Lambert, affectionately nicknamed her “Bunny,” a name that stuck for life.

She had a brother (Gerard Barnes Lambert, Jr.) and a sister Lily McCarthy. Her parents divorced in 1933, and both remarried.

Bunny attended Miss Fine’s School in Princeton and later the Foxcroft School in Virginia.

Marriages, Children & Personal Life

On November 25, 1932, she married Stacy Barcroft Lloyd Jr., with whom she had two children: Stacy B. Lloyd III and Eliza Winn Lloyd. They divorced in 1948.

Shortly after, on May 1, 1948, she married Paul Mellon, the philanthropist, financier, and art collector. Through this marriage, she became stepmother to Catherine Conover Mellon and Timothy Mellon.

The Mellon family maintained multiple residences—Annapolis, Virginia, New York, Paris among others—and a large estate in Virginia called Oak Spring Farms.

In later years, tragedy struck when her daughter Eliza was struck by a truck in 2000, suffering severe brain injury and paralysis. Eliza lived under continuous care until her death in 2008.

Career, Interests & Achievements

Though she never pursued formal training in horticulture, Bunny Mellon became a highly respected gardener, collector, and patron.

Gardening & Landscape Design

• Her earliest exposure to gardens was at her family's Princeton estate, watching Olmsted Brothers gardeners.

• She amassed one of the largest private collections of rare horticultural books.

• She designed landscapes at Oak Spring Farms, their Virginia estate, incorporating French influence and refined botanical palettes.

• In 1961, President John F. Kennedy asked her to redesign the White House Rose Garden. Mellon opened the space for ceremonies, changed plantings, and introduced magnolias and other American species.

• After Kennedy’s death, Lady Bird Johnson asked her to continue work on the East Garden. She collaborated with gardener Irvin Williams, who, in a famous anecdote, transferred magnolias from the Tidal Basin to the White House premises secretly to realize her vision.

• Later projects included gardens for Jackie Kennedy's properties, the John F. Kennedy Library, River Farm (headquarters of the American Horticultural Society), and work in France (e.g., assisting with potager du Roi in Versailles and gardens for Givenchy).

For her landscape contributions, she received honors such as the Department of Interior Conservation Service Award (1966), Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society, Henry Shaw Award, and others.

Art & Collecting

Bunny and Paul Mellon were generous patrons of the arts. Together they donated over a thousand artworks, especially 18th and 19th century European paintings, to institutions such as the National Gallery of Art and helped found the Yale Center for British Art.

She was an early and private collector of Mark Rothko works—at one point purchasing 13 paintings directly from his studio. One of her Rothkos (Untitled, or Yellow Expanse) sold for tens of millions after her death.

Her art collection, jewelry, furniture, and decorative objects were auctioned in 2014 for over $158.7 million, with some pieces sold privately before the auction for around $250 million. Proceeds supported her foundation and philanthropic causes.

She also donated significantly through the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation, named in memory of her father.

Philanthropy & Legacy

Bunny Mellon was a generous donor—to art, education, gardens, conservation, and scholarship. She founded the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, which works to share her ideas and collections, supporting research into plants, landscapes, and garden culture. She insisted on privacy and rarely gave interviews; she once said, regarding garden design, “nothing should be noticed.” That phrase became emblematic of her design aesthetic and her approach to life. She was also named to the International Best Dressed List (1975) and honored by French arts orders.

Personality & Style

Rachel “Bunny” Mellon was known for elegance, restraint, sensitivity to detail, and a profound respect for nature.
She merged high taste with humility—eschewing ostentation in favor of quiet harmony.
Her design philosophy favored subtlety, balance, and letting nature express itself—gardens that seemed timeless, not forced.
In public, she remained private. She shunned the spotlight, disclosing little of her personal life, yet cultivated deep, lasting friendships—most notably with Jacqueline Kennedy.

Famous Statements & Philosophy

While Bunny Mellon left few public quotes, some of her remarks have become memorable:

“Nothing should be noticed.”
— Her guiding principle in garden design.

Her taste and discretion, more than spoken declarations, are often considered her voice: gardens that don’t shout, art that complements life, and a life lived with restraint.

Lessons & Inspirations

1. Modesty in design
   Her philosophy teaches that beauty need not be bold—often the most powerful designs are those that feel effortless.

2. Life-long learning and refinement
   Without formal training, she studied gardens, plants, and art over decades—demonstrating that curiosity and dedication can yield profound mastery.

3. Balance between public and private
   Mellon shows that one can exert influence through vision and patronage while preserving personal boundaries and dignity.

4. Cultivating legacy through care, not display
   Her gardens, library, and foundation outlast her. She built things to nurture future generations, not merely to impress contemporaries.

5. Harmony across disciplines
   Mellon integrated art, horticulture, architecture, and collecting into a unified aesthetic worldview.

Death & Posthumous Impact

Rachel “Bunny” Mellon passed away on March 17, 2014, at her home in Upperville, Virginia, at age 103. Her funeral was held at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville, a church the Mellons had gifted to that community. At her funeral, her friend Frank Langella eulogized her influence—not just in gardens, but in how she taught respect, humility, and loyalty. Her collections were dispersed, her gardens and library maintained, and her foundation continues to advance botanical understanding and design.

Conclusion

Rachel Lambert “Bunny” Mellon stands as a luminous figure in American horticulture, art, and philanthropy. Though born into fortune, she made her own mark through quiet conviction, aesthetic sensitivity, and absolute integrity. Her redesign of the White House Rose Garden, her Oak Spring Library, and her relationships with artists, gardeners, and thinkers cement her as a bridge between nature and culture—someone who taught us to notice less and feel more.