Rosemary Verey: The Life & Lessons of a Legendary Gardener
Rosemary Verey: The Life & Lessons of a Legendary Gardener
Thursday, May 2, 9:30 to 11:30 AM
Barbara Paul Robinson will speak from her personal experiences gardening with Rosemary Verey, as well as from the research she gathered in the process of writing her book,, “Rosemary Verey: The Life & Lessons of a Legendary Gardener”, which was published by David R. Godine in August 2012.
Rosemary Verey was an internationally acclaimed garden legend. Although she embraced gardening late in life, she quickly achieved international renown. She was the acknowledged apostle of the “English style,” on display at her home at Barnsley House, the “must have” adviser to the rich and famous, including Prince Charles and Elton John, and a beloved and wildly popular lecturer in America. A child of a generation born between the two World Wars, she went on to create the gardens at her home that became a mandatory stop on every garden tour in the 1980s and 1990s.
At age sixty-two, Rosemary Verey wrote her first book, followed by seventeen more in twenty years. By force of character, hard work, and determination, she tirelessly promoted herself and her garden lessons, traveling worldwide to lecture, sell books, and strengthen her network. A demanding and sometimes truculent taskmaster, and a relentless perfectionist, Rosemary Verey, in her life as in her work, was the very personification of the English garden style.
During a sabbatical from law firm Debevoise & Plimpton where she was the first woman partner, Barbara Paul Robinson worked as a gardener for Rosemary Verey at Barnsley House. A hands-in-the-dirt gardener herself, she and her husband created their own gardens at Brush Hill in northwestern Connecticut, featured in articles, books, and on television. Barbara has published articles in the New York Times, Horticulture, Fine Gardening, and Hortus; she wrote a chapter in Rosemary Verey’s The Secret Garden, and she is a frequent speaker.
There will be a book sale and signing following the lecture and an assortment of tea and scones will be available on the breakfast porch.
$18 Member, $23 Non- Member
Click here to register for this event.
-
Wednesday, May 15
- Wednesday, June 19
Introduction to Watercolor -
Saturday, May 25
Behind the Scenes Tour -
Saturday, June 01
Growing a Cutting Garden: I
Upcoming events
Follow Blithewold
-
Marjorie’s dove tree turns 40
(May 16, '13)
It’s a lucky visitor whose gaze turns east along the path between the mansion and the Enclosed Garden, instead of west across the blooming North Garden and Great Lawn to Narragansett Bay. The western view is a compelling one to be sure and even I am caught up short by it every time I walk ... -
The Costume Collection
(Jan 07, '13)
Many of you already know about the fabulous collection of gowns and accessories belonging to Bessie Van Wickle McKee that came home to Blithewold last year. Forty-one dresses with accessories, coats, and hats, had been given to the Colonial Dames … Continue reading
From Our Blog
