Rosemary Verey, Landscape Architect
(Specialty: English Formal Gardens)
Rosemary Verey (1918-2001) was an internationally known English garden designer, lecturer, and prolific garden writer whose most famous garden design was that of her own home, Barnsley House, near Cirencester, in Gloustershire. In 1970 she opened the garden for one day to the public for the National Gardens Scheme, but eventually it was open six days/week to accommodate the 30,000 annual visitors. In 1984, when her husband David died, she began designing gardens for American and British clients. Most notable are HRH the Prince of Wales, Sir Elton John, Princess Michael of Kent, the Marquess of Bute, and the New York Botanical Garden.
Rosemary Verey was well-known for taking imposing elements from large public gardens and bringing them into scale for the home gardener’s use. Her laburnum walk at Barnsley, which has been photographed numerous times, is an example of this technique. Verey is also noted for making vegetable (ornamental potager) gardens fashionable once again. The potager at Barnsley was inspired by that at Villandry, on the Loire in France.
Verey was awarded the OBE in 1996, and in 1999 was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honor from the Royal Horticultural Society, the highest accolade the Society can award.
Links
Barnsley Garden with Its Creator Rosemary Verey
For Rosemary’s books on Amazon, click here.
