The Garden Queen

Charlotte Moss is a force of nature. In her ninth and newest book (and her favorite so far, she says), Charlotte Moss: Garden Inspiration (Rizzoli, $50), the designer tours us through her own lush East Hampton gardens where she applies her design prowess as surely as she does in the many homes she has decorated.

Relaxing nooks, color and richness, light and vistas, and placement of sculpture and objects are all part of the landscape. Moss has studied gardens around the world for decades and this knowledge and her exquisite eye inspired this lush book.

After one such trip to France, Moss invited Gilles Guillot, head gardener of the Prieure Notre-Dame d’Orsan in Maisonnais, France to visit her in East Hampton to recreate the rondel-like windows he had carved into the hedging. Willow branches were dutifully delivered to Moss’s home by her gardener, and Guillot fashioned them into hoops and inserted them into the hedges creating perfect windows. In one memorable section of the book, Moss showcases the work of 10 women gardeners throughout history, from Edith Wharton to Nancy Lancaster and Vita Sackville West, and in another section, there are breathtaking gardens from around the world. 

Moss will be in Houston for a talk and visual presentation, and book signing Thursday evening, March 10, 6 pm cocktails, 7 pm talk, at Canopy restaurant, 3939 Montrose Blvd. The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA) brings her to town. ICAA members gratis, nonmembers $20, payable at door or online. To rsvp and purchase tickets go here classicist-texas.org, under Houston events. For information email info@icaatexas.org.

If you cannot attend and would like a signed and inscribed book, email curatebooks@papercitymag.com. Also available to be signed and inscribed,Charlotte Moss: A Visual Life: Scrapbooks, Collages, and Inspirations, $60.