From the Archive: C.Z. Guest's Gardening Philosophy in 1977

C.Z. Guest lived her lavish life unapologetically. Among Truman Capote’s swans, the socialite never shied away from following her passions. She pursued acting, horseback riding, gardening, and writing. The latter two endeavors, and the recently wrapped-up limited series Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, have inspired us to revisit a story featured in House Beautiful’s January 1977 issue. It zeros in on her gardening philosophy and the role plants played in her life, which she explored in her 1976 book First Garden. While the feature delves into gardening as a form of therapy and connection, it also gives readers insight into her favorite types of flowers and gardening methods, the women who inspired her, and her life advice for happiness. Plus, it details what it was like to have tea with C.Z. at her Long Island estate.

Explore the original story below.

“Honestly,” C.Z. exclaims as she prepares to arrange a basket of just-cut flowers for the house (right), “have you ever seen anything like these roses?” Her favorites are John F. Kennedy (white) and the Duke of Windsor (coral).

By Elvin McDonald

Word reached me nearly three years ago that C.Z. Guest was writing a book about her gardening experiences, with sketches by Cecil Beaton. It sounded like a wonderful idea, but I heard nothing more until an editor friend called me last June: “You’ve been invited to C.Z.’s for tea.” Of course, I accepted, but then I began to wonder, “Who is she exactly and why am I excited about meeting her?”

In the garden, C.Z. believes in deep mulching and wide spacing to nurture healthy roses and her hybrid yellow lilies.

Well, C.Z. Guest is a super gardener and her book, First Garden, is a delight. In fact, I found it inspiring—because she makes you understand why gardening is the world’s greatest therapy and because she, one of the press’s favorite socialites, expresses so well the role plants play in her life.

Gloxinias and amaryllis, plus orchids, brought to bloom in one of her two small glasshouses, make every room of the house a garden.

Tea with C.Z. meant the real thing, iced to a frost and sprigged with orange mint home-grown at Templeton, her estate on Lond Island. But when C.Z. says, “Sharing is what gardening is really all about,” she means it. So tea with her also meant I would leave with a bouquet of the Duke of Windsor roses that surrounded us as we visited like two old gardening friends who know that discussing bone meal at tea time is not in the least eccentric. C.Z. Guest is the gardener with Style.

C.Z. Guest: A Gardener With Style

The day that we photographed C.Z. Guest's garden was publication day for her new book, First Garden–and, by sheer coincidence, for mine, Plants as Therapy. And, although C.Z. and I had met for the first time only a week before, the message of both books was essentially the same: An involvement with gardening is a natural way of coping with life, no matter whether you’re up or down. In C.Z.’s case, she first began to write when she was down physically, “recuperating from a riding accident. So many of my friends kept calling for gardening advice, I decided it was the perfect opportunity for me to write down my system, which I call the C.Z. system, to show what simple gardening has meant to me.”

C.Z.’s primary advice is to simplify. “If your garden is populated with too many kinds of flowers, it may become a huge chore instead of a delight. Specialization can help you become a good gardener without even realizing it.

“That’s how I developed a nearly mistake-proof system for growing my roses. Spring is by far the best time to plant. Buy container-grown roses; they are the easiest to plant and will bloom the soonest. Good drainage is essential. Fertilize in the spring with a little bone meal and once again in the middle of June. Then get some mulch and spread it underneath the bushes at least two inches thick to keep the ground moist. Prune them back eight to 10 inches from the ground; remove all weak and thin wood.

“Always begin in the spring with a clean garden. As soon as the bushes have been pruned, drench the canes, the bud onions and the immediate soil area with a spray of fungicide/insecticide to kill the overwintering spores and insects. Phaltan, isotox or benlate mixtures seem more effective than dormant spray and are less likely to burn. Spray immediately. Repeat in week. After pruning them, just make sure that your roses get plenty of sun and water during the dry months, and spray once a week, in the early morning before the sun gets too hot, to avoid the sunburn of wet leaves. I do it Tuesday so I don’t forget. This is part of my system."

C.Z. also has a system that produces spectacular flowers from her Dutch hybrid amaryllis. “They spend the summer outdoors with the pots sunk to the rim in a partly shaded bed next to the vegetable garden. We bring them in before the frost and dry off in the pots for a rest of at least two months. Some go into an old refrigerator set with controls at the warmest indication on the dial, which is well above freezing. By storing the bulbs this way, I have amaryllis in bloom whenever I want them, simply by bringing the pots to light and warmth and keeping soil moist. The flowers open within a month."

And, always having flowers is something C.Z. considers a necessity of life, especially if they are fragrant. "The way I start my day off right is to wake up, open my eyes, turn my head and see a flower next to my bed. It starts me off with a smile. My favorites are orchids, roses, lilies, peonies and freesias. I find it difficult to sleep without flowers."

In fact, one cannot know C.Z. for long without realizing that flowers and nature are in all the rooms of her life. "We must get gardening courses into all the schools, not as an extracurricular activity, but as one of the basics. We need people in this world who know the value of growing things. I consider it impossible to have enough interests in life. If you're not interested, you're not interesting. And gardeners are by nature interested."

On the subject of style, C.Z. says, “Simplicity is a vital part of living well and style is nothing more than pure simplicity. Being yourself. An individual, not a copy. Of course, many people shape our lives. I've been greatly influenced by Diana Vreeland and the Duchess of Windsor—watching how they run their houses and gardens. Estée Lauder taught me to think positively, helped me with my make-up and appearance. Mainbocher taught me style, how to dress; 'Never overdo, it's vulgar.'"

Diana Vreeland (left) and C.Z. Guest (right) arriving at a wedding in 1964.

C.Z. Guest and Estée Lauder at a book launch party in 1985.

C.Z.'s idea of floral vulgarity is an overdone, fixed flower arrangement. "Flowers in a room should make you want to rush up, touch, and smell. They should be relaxed. Never stake orchids straight up; they like to bend a little. I love to have two or three vases of flowers on a little table. I just let the flowers fall the way they will. If I see a gardenia or another flower wired in a bouquet, I'm likely to take it apart on the spot, even in public."

As C.Z. tells me this, I realize that the glorious flowers surrounding us as we visit in the elegant living room are in fact arranged in all kinds of old and new bottles, not in vases. "It's something my mother always did with flowers all around the house. Some of these bottles you see on the tables are nothing more than empty olive-oil and instant coffee jars. Wine jugs are great, too, for they are big enough to anchor a stem of lilies or even a heavy spike of orchids."

On the subject of First Garden, C.Z. reflects, "My book has brought me out. I thought I couldn't talk with people I didn't know. Now I'm talking about my book, not C.Z., and discovering a whole new dimension about myself. Sharing is what gardening is all about. Sharing flowers, plants, experiences, knowledge. It's a way of giving joy."

Of her new career as a working woman, the president of Willy Rizzo (the Italian furniture designer) New York Inc, C.Z. says, "I've always been an individual with many interests. My new work life is thrilling. I'm enjoying it immensely." And, in addition to the furniture ("our new collection has some great pieces for the garden"), there's C.Z.'s Fragrant Insect Repellent spray (to keep the bugs ogg while you're gardening) and a drip-dry jump suit (pale yellow or pale blue) by David Crystal, with C.Z.'s initials stitched into the hip pocket; both items are being sold through leading department stores, B. Altman in New York, for example.

C.Z.'s parting advice is, "Don't take anything for granted. Live each day for today. Only for today. I do the best I can today. Follow these life rules and you'll be happiest. And, by the way, tell people to keep all their plants in as natural a state as possible. They'll all do better."

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