Bunny Williams, Falls Village, CT

A world-renowned interior designer and author, Bunny Williams has received House Beautiful’s Giants of Design award, among other prestigious honors. Her latest book, Love Affairs with Houses, describes “affairs” with fifteen properties from the most recent phase of her career. Her own intensively planted fifteen-acre estate has a sunken garden with twin perennial borders surrounding a fishpond, a seasonally changing parterre garden, a year-round conservatory filled with tender plants, a large vegetable garden with flowers and herbs, a woodland garden with meandering paths, and a pond with a waterfall. There are also a working greenhouse, an aviary with unusual chickens, and an apple orchard with mature trees. Bunny’s garden has been participated in Open Days every single year since our program began in 1995. She also founded Trade Secrets, a rare plant and garden antiques sale and festival held every year in Lakeville, CT, with proceeds benefiting victims of domestic violence.

“I would love for visitors to my garden to leave knowing the importance of good bones, good structure. It all starts with the plan, the drawing, the concept. The greatest gardens are a combination of great design as well as great plants.”