Sponsored by de Gournay
The Garden Museum is delighted to host a celebration of the life and legacy of Rachel “Bunny” Lambert Mellon, the pioneering American garden designer, horticulturist, and philanthropist who shaped some of the 20th century’s most iconic landscapes, including the White House Rose Garden.
This special event will include contributions from designer and author Charlotte Moss, Sir Peter Crane, and Rachel Heslop of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, offering personal insights into Mellon’s visionary world. Discover the story behind her private garden at Oak Spring, her extraordinary botanical library, and the new Bunny Mellon Collection by de Gournay, a tribute in hand-painted wallpaper and porcelain to her love of plants, art, and the handmade.
Join us for a chance to explore how Mellon’s legacy continues to inspire beauty, creativity, and care for the natural world.
Speakers
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Charlotte Moss
Charlotte Moss
With a career spanning over three decades, Charlotte Moss is considered one of the most celebrated and respected interior designers in the industry.
Since launching her eponymous firm in 1985, Charlotte’s name has become synonymous with Southern warmth and hospitality. She has designed private residences and executive suites across the United States and abroad, and her retail stores have achieved wide acclaim.
Moss’s designs are heavily influenced by her travels and her love of history. She has used her experience culled throughout her career to design licensed collections with Century Furniture, Fabricut, Stark Carpet, Pickard, P.E. Guerin, Soicher-Marin, IBU Clothing, Artemis Design Company and more.
Known for her timeless aesthetic, layered interiors, and keen eye, her work is celebrated in eleven volumes, the most recent title with Rizzoli publications: Charlotte Moss Flowers (2021) and Home: A Celebration: Notable Voices Reflect on the Meaning of Home(2021) which benefits the non-profit, No Kid Hungry. Her forthcoming book, Charlotte Moss At Home, will come out in the Fall of 2026.
Charlotte supports a variety of causes and sits on several boards; she is Emerita Trustee of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, on the Board of The Bone Marrow Foundation, The Madoo Conservancy, The Garden Conservancy, and the International Council of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens.
Charlotte’s designs have been featured in many major publications. Accolades include the New York School of Interior Design’s Centennial Medal, The Royal Oak Foundation’s Timeless Design award, and Elle Décor’s Grand Master’s List of Designers. Charlotte holds an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, her alma mater, as well as The New York School of Interior Design.
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Sir Peter Crane FRS
Sir Peter Crane FRS
Sir Peter Crane FRS is President of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation in Virginia (osgf.org), the estate of Rachel Lambert Mellon that includes an exquisite garden as well as an exceptional library focused on the history of plant science, plant exploration, and the development of gardens and landscape design. He is known internationally for his work on the diversity of plant life – its origin, fossil history, current status, conservation and use.
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Rachel Heslop
Rachel Heslop
Rachel Heslop is the Senior Project Coordinator at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. With a background in archaeology, history of art and a decade in the rare book trade, she then retrained for a new career in the horticultural industry. She worked for the landscape architecture firm Oehme, van Sweden in Washington, DC and was part of the project team that led to the renewal of the White House Rose Garden in 2020. Between 2021 and 2023 she conducted the landscape report at Oak Spring, looking in detail at the development of the walled garden and its immediate surroundings.
