12 April 2022

Free Flier: Bunny Williams

Bunny Williams is an in-demand interior designer. Life may be a whirlwind, at times, but her garden acts as her retreat, and flowers her panacea. In addition to her award-winning design work, she’s an author, entrepreneur, master gardener, and the unofficial mayor of Birdhouse Village (more on that below). We asked Bunny to share some of her garden faves. Should you want to see first-hand what she’s done with her 12-acre slice of earth in Falls Village, Connecticut, the garden is on the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days tours.

Janet Mavec: What’s your favorite part of having a garden?

Bunny Williams: The early morning tours with a cup of coffee and my dogs.

JM: What’s your favorite season?

BW: Spring … because you know it’s all beginning

JM: Favorite plants ?

BW: Passion flowers, tuberose for the scent; and woodland peony.

JM: What are some of your favorite “rooms” in your garden in Connecticut?

BW: My garden is made up of four district areas: the sunken,

parterre, woodland, and vegetable gardens.

JM: What’s the one garden tool you can’t live without?

BW: A bamboo rake - there is always cleaning up to be done!

JM: Which gardens have influenced your own?

BW: Russell Page’s garden in Normandy and the Wirtz gardens in Belgium

JM: What’s one of your favorite resourceful/inspirational books on gardening?

BW: I always come back to Russell Page’s book The Education of a Gardener.

JM: What’s new or coming up for you in the 2022 that you’d like to mention?

BW: I’m continuing to develop my birdhouse village (on her acreage, this spot contains her birdhouses’ collection enveloped by apple and pine trees, and seats made of branches. And naturally, free-flying birds).

Also, this May 14th the garden show she founded, Trade Secrets, is back on after a pandemic pause. The three-day event sells rare plants and garden antiques and is the primary fundraiser for Women’s Support Services (tradesecretsct.com). It is a DO NOT MISS event! It is the GARDEN EVENT of the year in the Northeast.

Bunny wearing Janet Mavec's fabulous oyster ring.